Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

17 reviews

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was a marvelously creative and captivating murder mystery. A creative twist in the premise helps shake things up, but it is far from the only trick this book has up its sleeves. A fun workout for the brain with a great narrative voice and complex mystery that will appeal to all fans of the genre, with a surprisingly poignant message at the center of it all. Would be a 5 star if only it fleshed out its message just a bit more, and the occasional moment that raised my eyebrow (but didn’t quite offend).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

nellkristen's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol

spookily's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Torture, Medical content, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

lydiakach75's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

If I could give this a 6 out of 5 I would. It was amazing. You know that quote by Lady Gaga that goes "amazing, incredible, never done before, etc" it's like that. Also be aware that this takes place probably around the early 1900s and because of that the use of queer is used to mean weird but not as an insult. There is something else one has to be aware of as a content warning because mention of rape but never telling of the rape.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Rape

davidrb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I waffed on what to give this, but I decided that despite my reservations, this thing slaps beyond belief. It completely shifted my perspective on what a good mystery can be, and what a good book can be in general. It was engaging, and I have a feeling I'll get even more out of rereads, but it also has a solid heart: more than I thought it would. Do yourself a favor and pick this up! It's fun.

Points deducted for being kinda slow to start (took me a few tries before I got into it) and a weird, prolonged section of fatphobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

When Dr. Bell wakes, he is in a forest, with no memories—not the previous day, not his family, not even his own name—just the name Anna. He hears a woman calling for help and then a gunshot, and then a mysterious person (a murderer?) hands him a compass and tells him to go east. Following these dubious directions, he arrives at Blackheath, a crumbling estate currently hosting a reunion of sorts. On the following day, Bell wakes up as the Butler, and learns that he is not Bell, and it is not the following day. He is someone else entirely, but he will be trapped in a new body every day for eight days—but really just the same day, re-lived eight times from eight different perspectives. The only way to escape: he must solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle, who dies every evening like clockwork. But there are others in the house also trying to solve the murder—and only one can escape. There are many secrets in Blackheath, and Evelyn’s is not the only murder.

I could barely keep track of all the characters, let alone the twists and turns of the plot. Everything was a red herring, but also nothing was, because there were so many details and so many awful deeds and characters up to no good. This book reminded me a bit of <i>The Guest List</i> because both books consist of a group of unbearable characters trapped in one place. Both have dark, twisting plots and new details (and crimes), both past and present, are slowly revealed as the story progresses.

I The ending really threw me off though, because it felt totally different from the rest of the book. The worldbuilding was half-baked at best, and so few details were given about the world outside of Blackheath that I thought there was little point in giving any at all. Why introduce Anna/Annabell and Aidan’s backstories and then barely use them? I did appreciate the anti-prison stance the story took, as well as the themes of forgiveness and the ability of people to change for the better.

I think I’ve mentioned this in other reviews, but I’ll say it again: while it’s not a bad thing to have a male author, it is a red flag for me if I can tell that the author is a man from the writing alone. This was one of those books. I mean seriously, you’re going to have your protagonist jump between eight different bodies and not one of them is going to be a woman? I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I could also tell from the way Turton described his female characters...so yeah, that rubbed me the wrong way on occasion. There was also some fatphobia in his descriptions of Ravencourt, so if that’s a trigger for you, I’d avoid this book. 

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the vibe of the ending):

Like… sort of happy? I guess? I liked the message of the ending, but it wasn’t exactly satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

anolissa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Alcoholism and Suicidal thoughts