Really enjoyed the atmosphere, setting and feel of the book, very much read like watching an 80s Italian giallo.

I received an ARC of this upcoming novel through NetGalley. Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley.

This book just wasn’t for me. I was expecting a mystery in an intriguing setting (a music conservatory in Belgium). But this was more of a slasher satire, similar in tone to the movie “Scream”. Students are killed in gory, ridiculous ways, but the other students are fairly blasé about the whole “serial killer on the loose” thing and have no qualms about putting themselves in danger’s way.

Oh, the melodrama!

So I’ve seen a few people complain that this book is too melodramatic and over-the-top. Well, yes…it’s an homage to the giallo and it’s definitely the kind of thing that has you yelling at the main character and telling her not to be stupid as she makes bad decision after bad decision!

And, to be honest, there’s one death that had me rolling my eyes and muttering curses under my breath.

But the book is fun! It’s highly suspenseful, kept me guessing for quite a long time, and is simply entertaining – just like a giallo should be!

Is it for everyone? Maybe not. But if you can suspend your logic sensors for a bit, you may enjoy this one!

*ARC via Publisher

Enjoyment (stars): 3.5
Total rating (stars): 4

Eve arrives in Belgium to train at a prestigious music conservatory under a world-renowned professor.

She arrives just in time to hear about the gruesome murder of a student pianist, found strangled with a piano string and a carefully placed polaroid of her perimortem face next to her body.

Soon after, she is drugged at a party and blacks out. But when another body is found, she knows it's her hand shown in the picture around the second victim's neck.

Is she being set up to be framed or a victim?

Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds got on my radar because it is sold as a Giallo-inspired book. Giallo is a horror movie subgenre that is a perfect mixture of murder-mystery, horror and thriller. Always with a mysterious killer and often with slasher and sexploitation elements. I mention this because the book delivered exactly what it promised.

I wouldn't think it's fair to fault a book for not liking an aspect I knew beforehand would be part of the narrative - in this case, sexploitation. So be warned. Any non-Giallo-inspired book that objectified women to this extent and glamourized unbalanced sexual relationships so nonchalantly would be heavily criticized by me. I wasn't here for that part of the narrative but anticipated it.

Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds was the perfect blend of uncomfortable, stirring, entertaining, shocking and clever. Great homage to 70's Giallo and Horror movies.

Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for providing a copy of Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds.

John Everson delivers another exceptional horror novel that sits comfortably between Bava’s Blood and Black Lace and Argento’s Profondo Russo with its nods towards the Giallo whilst giving the book a 1980’s horror stalk and slash vibe. Everson masterfully combines his genres to give a great book with some exciting kills that fit well within his phrase to the Italian written giallos of the 60’s through to the 70’s.

The characters are well developed within the confines of the genre that they are in though Everson does do something different with his characters that are not normally found in Giallo, he gave his female characters strength, confidence in their sexuality and are more than murderous fodder for the killer. I salute Everson to give this an update as it has been pointed out again and again that normally the females are victims of the male gaze. The characters are all very self-aware and have strong three-dimensional personalities which helps the reader identify with them and feel a bit of loss when the victims start passing off the mortal coil.

The plot and narrative are very intriguing and keeps the reader reading until the final pages. The twists and turns are natural within the confines of the story and keeps the reader guessing on who the killer is and why. Everon masterfully crafts this together with enough red herrings to keep you guessing and more importantly when the big reveal happens, it all makes sense because he peppered enough information to point in this direction and enough misdirection to keep the reader guessing. This is not an easy feat and Everon does this expertly.

This is a book written by a fan of Giallo and a writer who has the gift of writing to pull this off. Everson has shown time and time again that he is a new name of horror, and he delivers time and time again. Excellent novel, excellent nod to a genre that needs to be remembered and love the kills as it brings me back to the novels I used to read as a teenager such as Richard Laymon. Loved the book and highly recommend this at all costs. Beware of the black gloves.

This is my second read by John Everson and I really enjoyed it! Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds gave me some great Suspiria vibes.

Eve Springer is a pianist (from New York) that is accepted at The Eyrie; a prestigious music school in Belgium to study with the world-famous Professor Ernest Von Klein. (See the Suspiria vibes? Love it!) Little does Eve realize the nightmare she’s in for. Another pianist was brutally murdered before her arrival (with a piano wire). What
really unnerves Eve is that she seems to be taking her place; especially with her spot in the elite jazz group: the Songbirds.

Then, the Songbirds begin being murdered one-by-one. Eve begins to question if this opportunity is really worth it, or if she should just go home. The faculty isn’t doing much to help and with fear and tension mounting, Eve must face a stark reality; she may not make it out of here alive.

Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds kept me reading and wanting to know what was going to happen next. I did have the ending pretty much figured out (who the murderer was), but I did second guess it a few times. All in all, it’s a solid thriller with a good ending!

Thank you so much to John Everson and NetGalley for my advanced copy!

Perfect reading for the giallo fan! John Everson really delivered the violence and mystery that comes along with the genre. It is fast-paced and the twists are great. There's quite a bit of action and I could only imagine the Goblin or Claudio Simonetti score blaring in the background as I feverishly read the scenes in front of me. This will make a fantastic read for any horror fan but it's particularly special for those of us who really love the giallo.

Thank you NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an ARC of this book. The instant I saw the cover, the word "giallo" came to my mind. Having watched many gialli, the book definitely appealed to me. This book offer a more subtle type of horror, just like the movie genre that inspired it. For those familiar with the genre, it is a nice book which could translate nicely to the screen. Also, some of the names of the characters are a direct reference to said movies, which was a nice touch from the author. The setting, a music school, reminded me a bit of Suspiria, with an American student as the main character. The page of the story was in line with the subgenre and allows the reader to analyze the various suspects. For horror readers looking for something different, this book is a fun ride.

A prestigious music school housed in an older building makes for a wonderful setting for this book. And the string of mysterious murders certainly has a classic movie feel.
I didn't connect with this book as well as I have with others I've read by the author, though. Maybe it was from the pacing. The murders are shown in full vibrant violence, but the interspersing passages are perhaps a little too life-as-normal. For me, the contrast was so stark I had difficulty handling the violent parts (especially one murder in particular). Or maybe it's because a lot of the horror I read has some paranormal aspect and can therefore be more easily shelved in my mind as fiction that couldn't actually happen.
It's a good read, overall. I was never quite sure who was responsible until the reveal. If you don't mind some graphic violence in your horror/mystery reads, it's worth picking up.

John Everson's new book, FIVE DEATHS FOR SEVEN SONGBIRDS, offers an homage to the gruesome, violent, and immensely beloved giallo genre. Reminiscent of films like Argento's SUSPIRIA (1977) and OPERA (1987), the story follows Eve Springer, a talented young pianist from New York who begins her first semester at the prestigious Royal Conservatory in Belgium. Unfortunately, Eve's dream of starting her musical career stops short when she stumbles into a string of murders. As she continues to meet her new peers and professors, everyone soon becomes a suspect.

Everson clearly admires the history and traditional features of giallo. As with many of the classic books and films, the killer hides behind black leather gloves, dark sunglasses, and a mask. In FIVE DEATHS, we also get creative, tense, and often psychosexual kill-scenes with students dying by the same instruments they practiced in life. The story succeeded in keeping me on my toes and setting up a puzzling mystery where I did not guess the killer's identity until the very end. I had my suspicions, of course, but that is the purpose of a giallo — for the audience to solve a puzzle alongside the book or film's characters.

FIVE DEATHS lives up to the expected fast pace and page-turning plot of any thriller. Each time the point of view changed to the murder victim, I knew to anticipate some kind of chase scene that would leave me anxious to see what happens next. Overall, the action-focused writing and short chapters made this a quick, casual read.

Unfortunately, the focus on action left, for me, a huge gap in character development. For most of the book, I struggled to pinpoint the characters' motivations. The first part that raised an eyebrow was the school's reaction to the murders. Everyone responded so casually, as if they just heard that the cafeteria wouldn't be serving their favorite meal anymore. There was no sense of urgency, danger, or extreme loss, which didn't seem like a believable response to murder.

I also felt disappointed with the portrayal of female and LGBTQ characters in this book. Although most of the characters felt sort of one-dimensional, I couldn't help but feel the women were the least thought-out. Most of the women seem totally self-absorbed and focused primarily on sex and romance. For example, Eve (as well as most of the other women) seemed to quickly succumb to intense jealousy whenever she felt her new romantic relationship was threatened. This happened so often that jealousy seemed to override every other emotion for the first half of the book, including fear or sadness caused by the murders.

I understand that slashers in general don't have the best reputation when it comes to representing women, but I really hoped that a "modern giallo" would fight to empower its characters rather than fall into outdated stereotypes.

For readers drawn more to complex characters in their books, maybe grab something else off your TBR shelf for now. But if you frequently return to Argento, Fulci, Bava, Martino, or any of the greats for your weekly movie night, FIVE DEATHS FOR SEVEN SONGBIRDS offers a treasure trove of hidden-giallo-gems any superfan would appreciate.

Thank you to Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for an advanced review copy! FIVE DEATHS FOR SEVEN SONGBIRDS is scheduled for release on February 22, 2022.

While I enjoyed this read, I felt that it was seriously slow-moving. All of the action was saved until the end, the rest of the plot felt like a waiting game. I wasn't pleased with the characters as I felt they were largely inconsistent. With this being said, the story elements are that of a formulaic thriller, enticing the reader to keep reading to reach a conclusion. Overall, this isn't a memorable read but, I would recommend it.

This was a good thriller novel. Different for this author, but I had to read it. I'm not big on thrillers as they all seem to follow the same paths. This one was decent. Good for a read if you have nothing else.

The evocation of "Giallo" (films and novels) in cover and copy isn't exaggerating. There are some familiar tropes, but they're fresh and crackling here. An American in Europe caught up in a complicated mystery? Young women endangered by a black gloved, black masked killer? Everyone being weirdly blasé about serial murder? A generous splash of kink? Thrilling chases and murders that are occasionally and exceptionally nasty? Checks across the board - and I loved it.

Everson has done a fantastic job here creating horror/mystery/thriller mélange. For the genre fan, the environment evoked is practically a cozy mystery it's so familiar, and has Pat Metheny playing in the background - but it's kept fresh with frequent twists and propulsive chases and murders. You don't need to be familiar with the Giallo genre, but if you enjoy the novel, you're in for a read treat if you seek out the films.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy and this is the third novel I've read by Everson. It finds me picking up four more before I was finished.

Eve Springer has left New York and come to Ghent, Belgium for a chance to learn at the prestigious Royal Conservatory (aka the Eyrie), and her head is stuffed up with dreams and opportunity. However, she arrives to tragic news. A promising piano student has been murdered on school grounds, the killer and the motive for the crime are both as yet unknown. Silver lining: the local student jazz band now needs a new piano player, and the school's star professor/composer is impressed enough with Eve to suggest she try out for the position. She does and succeeds in becoming a part of the group. However, joining a band called the Songbirds in a novel titled Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds does not bode well for one's longevity and/or sanity. Eve will find herself tested, tormented by, falsely accused of, and ultimately performing her own investigation into several brutal crimes over the course of this work. Some of her new friends will die, many will fall under suspicion. But who is the killer?

Could the killer be Professor Von Klein himself, a man who might have had more than a simple professor/student relationship with one of the victims? What about Elena or Erika, the spooky soprano saxophone playing twins, one of whom really likes the color black? Could it be Eve's new boyo Richard, who almost has as much of a love for the kinds of torture chamber accoutrements that were used over the ages as he does for his sax? Maybe it's Gianna, the Songbirds' aggressive and competitive sax player? Perhaps the local coffeehouse owner Claude possesses the necessary clue to shed light on the guilty party and their motivation … John Everson keeps the mystery up until a final climactic revelation and confrontation.

Last year, I saw some giallo film touches in Sarah Pearse's The Sanitorium. They were subtle, possibly unconscious additions to a serial killer storyline. There's nothing subtle nor unconscious about the giallo touches found in John Everson's novel, Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds. This is a novel steeped in the glorious genre of the 1960s and 1970s, which kicked off with Mario Bava's Evil Eye (1963) and only got weirder, wilder, bloodier, and more disquieting as time went by. Sure, there were a series of novels with an indicative yellow cover that first got the name giallo (some of which inspired film adaptations), but it's the films that seem to be fueling Everson's novel. It is both referential and affectionate, a love letter to the works of Bava, Argento, Fulci, Miraglia, and others.

It is peculiar to me to compose a fiction review that is chock full of film references, but that's the kind of book this is. This is not suggesting the book stands completely removed from the horror fiction field, but the clearest connections are to the film. Readers interested only in losing themselves in something that is both versed in genre fiction's history and offering up endless nods to current and classic practitioners will probably be left wanting here. The story is a solid one, a gruesome mystery that appeals on its own. However, it is enriched not by a love of horror fiction's history but of film. Italian film. Italian suspense/thriller films.

Everson is obviously a fan of giallo films, and stocks his novel with some sly references to various elements and creators involved in those pieces. For example, there are some plays on the colors found in Bava-inspired films:

The room was a revolving wash of primary colors. In one corner, a lava lamp beamed the walls with an electric shade of blue, as blobs of color hovered and shifted in the clear center. On the desk, a lampshade was draped in a red silk blouse, dimming the light and warming the room with a rich subdued ambiance. In another corner, Gianna had a tall LED lamp which oscillated slowly across the spectrum, throwing a kaleidoscope of primary colors across the white ceiling. Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds, Location 1144

Everson even manages suggestions of the occasional intercut closeups that appear in giallo films, bringing our attention to the blobs in the lamp, say.

As well, we are not surprised to see the look of the killer, dressed to kill.

She couldn't tell if it was a man or woman. The figure blended into the shadows thanks to a black long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans, along with black leather gloves and something equally dark pulled down to cover his or her face. It might have been nylon, because while she couldn't see features clearly, she could see the glint of eyes through the upper half above the jut of the nose.

The long sleeves and gloves were enough of a tip-off that something here was very wrong, btu the face mask or hood sent Anita's stomach to her feet. Whoever was back there did not mean her any good. Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds, Location 795

In all the closeups, I'm sure it's Everson's hands in those gloves (as all the gloved hands in Dario Argento's giallo films are performed by the director himself).

However, the homages are not restricted to visuals. There are little teasers all throughout.

A musical piece called "Piano Concerto in Profundo Rosso" offers a wink toward the Italian title of Argento's Deep Red (1975).

In these pages, we also find Simonetti Scholars, a prize that invokes the name of Claudio Simonetti, one of the founding members of the group Goblin, and responsible both for giallo/horror film scores with that band as well as on his own.

There's a prestigious scholarship several students are vying for, named for the famed composer Ennio Morricone, who is responsible for the music for several Dario Argento films (e.g., 1970's The Bird With the Crystal Plumage) as well as various giallo films such as
1975's Autopsy, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971), and Short Night of the Glass Dolls (1971).

Even the title is one of those lengthy things that perfectly encapsulates the story it's trying to tell. It fits right alongside a variety of giallo titles, including the body count promises of Five Dolls For An August Moon (1970) or The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972) as well as the more evocative ones like Your Vice Is A Locked Room, and Only I Have The Key (1972) or The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2014). Of course, there is an animal there that might sit easily on the same shelf as Argento's animal trilogy, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971), or Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971).

If a reader can get into the film inspiration side of the book, then they may well find part of the fun of the book is dream casting the various characters. Eve herself could be Jessica Harper from 1977's Suspiria (which is not actually a giallo but certainly informed by Argento's giallo work). Gianna is, in my mind's eye, Asia Argento circa that actress' appearance in Trauma (1993) or The Stendhal Syndrome (1996). Inspector Martino is played by a somewhat slimmer (but no less snarky) Corrado Gaipa from Crazy Desires of a Murderer (1977). Professor von might be John Saxon with an outrageous accent.

Everson's writing is clean and clear. He excels at setting mood and executing those kill set pieces. He infuses the book with some blackly comic touches as well, which are nicely done. He also shows his love of Belgian beers throughout the book—one of which, Delirium Tremens, I wholeheartedly agree is a tasty brew indeed.

The book is composed of fifty different sections: forty eight chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue. None of them is terribly long. The writing is brisk, but it never gets terse the way James Patterson's writing can be in his thrillers. Everson establishes his scenes and runs through them well, then breaks and moves on to the next. In that way, the chapters are often like single scenes or sequences found in films, playing out before we cut to something/somewhere else.

Everson's writing uses the music theme running throughout to good effect. We get a sense of these students' passion for the music, the nuts and bolts approach to both music and the conversations that come about around it, as well as the macabre ways musical instruments can be employed for murderous purposes. For example, the novel's prologue concludes with the killer saying, "'Live by the piano, die by the piano'" to the dying girl. (Location 73) This sentiment will be echoed later, when various victims are dispatched by the instruments they were mastering in increasingly gruesome fashion. Who among the jazz ensemble will be next to fall? Everson does a fine job of keeping the plot and subplots rolling along, punctuating the investigation and budding/building relationships with occasional forays into murder. He also keeps the suspects shrouded in mystery until the end, peeling away layers on some but not all of them before the final reveal. We seldom go too deep into the subject of music, it's composition, or its performance, but these topics nevertheless inform the text. Everson did some homework, and it shows.

As well, the Belgian setting is explored in a couple of sections to good effect. Most often, the characters venture out of the school for gigs at a local coffeehouse (cheekily named Heavy Beans). Still, there are some trips into the city proper, and Ghent has enough of a presence to color the whole narrative in fun ways. It's there in our introduction to Eve, who appears in an opening trip through town that echoes a similar journey in Suspiria: a student who is stuck with a cab driver who refuses to admit he understands her speech (in the film, it's German; here, we are told most Belgians speaking Flemish, French, and English). Later on, we get some walking tour of a local castle and other locations to round out the setting. Again, we seldom go deep into the Belgian location as a character, but the author sprinkles enough little reminders throughout to keep us aware that we aren't in New York anymore. Is it authentic? I cannot say. For all I know, it is the equivalent of those Italian productions that are set in some remote city (Freiburg, Germany say) which visits the location to capture a few exterior shots and then interposes them into other footage taken on good Italian sets/locales. We might have a weird blend of settings (some moments seemed a tad more American than European), but I honestly cannot say how authentic any of it is. Not that authenticity necessarily matters in a story like this.

If the book has a stumble, it's in the character of Eve Springer herself. She's kind of bland and only holds the interest when pulled into events outside of her control. This too is remaining in spirit to a lot of giallo flicks, where the protagonist is nowhere near as interesting as the quirky suspects and characters he/she interacts with. David Hemmings' role as the beleaguered protagonist Marcus Daly in Deep Red is never as fun or enchanting as Daria Niccolodi's performance as his girl Friday, Gianna Brezzi. However, here we get some will she/won't she sexual tension stuff that could be made more interesting if Eve weren't so … prosaic.

Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds is a wonderfully perverse and gloriously gruesome mystery/thriller. In other words, it's a solid entry in the giallo genre to which it is also a love letter. Aside from all those movie references and homages, John Everson has crafted an entertaining read with plenty of mystery and mood to spare.

4 Stars!

I have been a fan of John Everson’s work for years and he never fails to deliver. When I got a copy of Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds, I was intrigued by the old-fashioned cover. This did not look like Everson’s normal brand of horror that walks along the border of extreme. I know how good he is, though, and jumped in hoping to be scared silly.



Eve Springer’s dream was finally coming true. She could not believe that she had been accepted into one of the world’s most prestigious music conservatories, The Eyrie in Belgium. As a pianist, she would be working with the world-famous profession Ernest Von Klein. It was everything she could ever dream of as the students of The Eyrie were set up for great things in the world of music. She arrived in Belgium in a daze as her dream began to unfold. Then it turned into a nightmare.



The head piano student in the school was murdered right as Eve arrived to the conservatory. While tragic, it at first seemed like an isolated incident and life carried on. Even was invited to join an off-campus group of musicians, the Songbirds, and was thrilled even when she learned she would be replacing the murdered pianist. Just when things seem to be returning to normal, there is another murder. Then another. The only connection between the victims is that they are women who attend The Eyrie and they are all Songbirds. It seems as if death is closing in on Eve as the murders mount and The Eyrie is being forced to close to protect its students. She must try to not just save her dream but her life as well.



Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds was not what I was expecting at all. Everson is known for his strong and even bizarre horror that borders on the extreme. Most of his work is as full of cringe-inducing scenes as much as it is for plot twists and that is what I have come to expect from him. While there are some scenes of strong violence in this novel, it is a quiet novel that has the air of a murder mystery more than a horror novel. In fact, I do not think that this can really be classified as a horror novel to me. Some may label it such due to the murder scenes being more graphic than would be expected in a traditional mystery novel but I would not agree with that designation. The heart of Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds is a whodunit that Eve needs to solve in order to save herself and her friends. It is a puzzle with a lot of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. And it is done very well.



Different and unexpected do not mean bad. In fact, Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds just may be my favorite Everson novel. I would have to put some more thought into that before making the proclamation because I like all of them, but it really is that good. The book is described as “Everson’s homage to the stylish Italian mystery thrillers” by the publisher and this hits the nail on the head. I am not going to say that this is a perfect book but it is a fun read and shows Everson’s versatility as a writer. Everson creates an interesting and suspenseful world in the novel and keeps the action flowing smoothly even while throwing enough twists and turns into the story to keep the reader guessing. I would definitely recommend the novel to anyone looking for a good read. I just do wonder if some of Everson’s fans are not going to be enamored with this novel as it does stray away from his normal stories. An open mind and a bit more time than is normally needed for one of his books, though, will be well rewarded with an entertaining story.



I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds is scheduled to be released on February 22, 2022.

This is a love letter to the Giallo genre! If you like Pieces, Suspiria, Opera, Tenebrae or Deep Red you’ll really like this book. It has a great mystery and things get intense as the body count rises! I also really love the setting of it, it really gives you the vibes of that genre! This has turned into one of my favorites by Everson!

This book is described as “a modern Giallo”, an “homage to the stylish Italian mystery thrillers”, but its direct inspiration is clearly Dario Argento's Suspiria, a movie about a young American student who enrolls in a prestigious dance academy in Berlin plagued by a series of dark events. Here, a young American student (Eve) enrolls in a prestigious music conservatory in Belgium plagued by a series of equally dark events. Whereas the original film (and its sequel) do a masterful job of conveying a sense of dread through its surreal setting and quirky characters, forcing our all-American heroine to negotiate a foreign, at times eerie landscape, this novel proves atmospherically challenged. There’s nothing particularly unsettling about the new world protagonist Eve encounters. The setting and her fellow students are so unremarkable that the story could have taken place anywhere in North America.

This casual tone is also reflected in the attitude of the characters who, in the face of a mounting body count, go on about their lives as if the bloody events are nothing more than curious developments rather than anything to be alarmed about. On her first day at the conservatory, Eve is informed that a student was murdered there the night before. But there’s no heavy police presence. The school is not shut down. No one is struggling with the emotional baggage of having to come to terms with the death of someone they knew. Instead, everyone is fairly nonchalant, discussing the murder as if it were the equivalent of a juicy piece of high school gossip. At first, I thought this was a hint that something was very wrong with these students, a red flag signaling some macabre conspiracy, but when Eve didn’t clock this as strange in any way, I began to have my doubts - which were cemented when, in a later scene, Eve and her new friends go to a cafe where they are welcomed by the barista. It’s been a while since he’s seen them. He greets them warmly, is introduced to their new member Eve…but there is no mention of the girl who died the night before. Surely, he would have known her too. And surely he must have heard about her death. Yet she isn’t even mentioned. Apparently, it just wasn’t a big deal.

These characters don’t act like real people. Throughout the book, these young women think nothing of walking through the dark environs of the conservatory, alone in the dead of night, despite the recent murders. And they pay the ultimate price, getting killed in grisly, over-the-top, often silly fashion complete with arch commentary on the part of the killer. Things reach a crescendo of nonsense late in the novel when a trio of characters, trapped in the building with a killer on the loose, elect to split up and search for a missing friend rather than get the hell out and contact the police.

This book would have worked better as a parody. In its present form, it reads like a half-heated tribute to a much more accomplished original.

I am a fan of John Everson 's writing. This book while not one of my favorites is still very interesting. The writing is good as usual. My only complaint is that events would never have been allowed to unfold the way they happen in this book. Some form of authority would have stepped in long before they were allowed to continue.

If you are able to suspend disbelief please give this book a try. It is well worth the effort.

Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds
By John Everson
3 out of 5 stars

Eve Springer arrives in Ghent to begin her education at a prestigious music academy just in time to wander into the middle of a good old-fashioned slasher. Someone is knocking off Eve’s classmates in increasingly ham-fisted ways (a pianist strangled by piano wire, a saxophonist…well, you get the idea), and our heroine finds herself at the center of the rising body count. Will she survive the semester? Who will be unmasked as the killer? Who the hell is in charge of security at this school?

This is my first time reading John Everson, and my understanding is that Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds is a bit of a genre shift for him. I must also note that my review is from an advance copy almost certainly not in its final, edited form. With that said, and with all due respect, until I looked up Mr. Everson after I had finished reading Five Deaths, I had assumed it was a debut novel by a promising young author. Some of it was in the writing and stilted dialogue, but what most took me out of the experience were the characters, whose motivations I found either inconsistent or inscrutable. No one has anything beyond a superficial reaction to the fact that a serial killer is leaving corpses strewn about the school like ghoulish dioramas; Eve, for one, doesn’t let her suspicions that a professor may be the killer keep her from meeting him – by herself, after hours, in a dark building – upon the promise of sheet music. One of the more interesting characters takes a heel turn so preposterous it borders on offensive.

And yet, Everson understands what makes the bones of an effective thriller and Five Deaths is a propulsive read. If you aren’t coming for a gut-wrenching meditation on the human condition, it’s an entertaining mystery built for passing the proverbial rainy day. Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds doesn’t live up to its potential, but I ain’t mad at it.

I guess I assumed based on description that I was In for a fun campy giallo….this was not not. That being said, if you’re into fairly gratuitous violent slasher type mysteries, then I’ve found the book for you! Trigger warning for sexual violence that comes out of nowhere.