227jamesward's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
emreeca's review against another edition
4.0
This book is completely bonkers, and I still can't decide if I love this story, or if I hate it. My rating keeps changing the more I think about it. After finishing the book, I still think the premise of the story is brilliant, but goodness is it hard to follow the story as it progresses. Let me explain.
The story begins with a blank slate of the main character- in a dark forest, a man wake up with no recollection of who he is, or how he ended up there.
Remembering his name later, he learns that he is Aiden Bishop, and is currently trapped in a body that is not his own. A masked figure (later called the 'Plague Doctor') informs Aiden if he wants to escape and return to his body, he must solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. He has eight days to accomplish the task, but at the end of each day he will wake up in the body of another person.
Eight days. Eight different people. Eight different personalities.
And to make things worse, each day that Aiden spends in a different body, the more his own personality, and thinking disappears, overwhelmed and confused by the memories, and thinking patterns of the other people he is inhibiting.
It soon becomes apparent that Aiden is not the only person who is tasked with solving the murder, and a fast thinking footman with a knife is along for the ride, determined to stop Aiden in his each life before he solves the mystery.
So, as I said- the premise is so very interesting, but at the same time - completely bonkers.
-=-=-
However, as I began to get into the story I quickly encountered problems that plagued the entirety of the book.
1. The structure of the book -
How the book was structured was greatly confusing as you tried to follow the days passing. What should've occurred was following from Day 1 all the way to Day 8. What happened instead, was that that days appeared randomly. At one point the story would be at day 1, then be on day 4 for example - as initial or key hints that were later expanded on in the story that were vital to uncover the plot, Aiden would begin travelling to specific times in the day (7:12pm) to aid in the uncovering of the mystery. Not only that, with the footman not too far behind, Aiden would often fall unconscious or get murdered in his lives, which of course cut his days short, but again wouldn't almost move to the next day - it would often flip back and forth between days.
It. Was. So. Confusing. To. Keep. Track. Of.
2. You need a REALLY GOOD MEMORY
You know what the problem is with so many characters in a story, with so many different personalities, memories and thinking patterns? You get an overload of information. You are struggling to understand what is relevant, and what is not.
The story also constantly was giving hints, and more and more information that continuously lead nowhere or turn out to not be relevant - especially as you learned about the characters Aiden was inhibiting.
Not only that, there were many characters that were visiting the mansion while Aiden was trying to uncover the mystery - but every single one of them had secrets and something that they were trying to hide. Not a single one was trustworthy, and all had horrible personalities. Blackmailers, rapists, drug dealers - you name it, they were there. But there's a inherit problem with so many unscrupulous personalities - no one is honest.
Here's the problem with characters that are untrustworthy and constantly lying - while you are trying to uncover one story (namely - how did Evelyn Hardcastle die?) you are also uncovering 12 stories trying to pick the lies and movements of people apart.
And the story expects you to remember, and understand past moments that is being referenced - even if the reference is like 200 pages ago. There is no pause stop in the story that details information that has been uncovered so far - like in Everyone In My Family Has Murdered Someone (by Benjamin Stevenson).
So, you need a really good memory to actually keep track of what goes on in the story - otherwise it gets really confusing very fast.
3. The story was really LONG and DRAGGED at points
The book was 500 pages long and having tiny hints of information that led nowhere only to get more information that repeated on this cycle got boring really fast. At first, the story was engaging but these tiny hints of information that kept heading into dead ends quickly turned the story from exciting to mind numbing - which was really sad because the story itself and the concept was quite interesting. It's just that the excecution made it hard to continuously kept reading.
BUT, in the last 200 pages or so, the story finally started picking up and actually expanded on the clues in a direction that went somewhere, so the clues and twists finally started getting interesting.
So in conclusion, the story for me was a bit of a mess. Some points were fun, some points were hard, confusing and made me drop the book for a while, before being stubborn enough to get back to it. I still wanted to find out who murdered Evelyn Hardcastle - its just that the journey to find out was so complicated.
Or maybe that's how murder mysteries are, and I just don't have the mind to follow them. The again, I have read a few mysteries before and they were not nearly so hard to get through.
I suppose it's up to you, dear reader. Despite the trouble I had with this book, I ended up rating it four stars out of five, because the ending I felt really made it all worth it. It did have it's positive points too, it just that the negatives held a big detraction from it all.
So, did I enjoy the story at the end? Yes. Did I love the execution of it? Not really.
The story begins with a blank slate of the main character- in a dark forest, a man wake up with no recollection of who he is, or how he ended up there.
Remembering his name later, he learns that he is Aiden Bishop, and is currently trapped in a body that is not his own. A masked figure (later called the 'Plague Doctor') informs Aiden if he wants to escape and return to his body, he must solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. He has eight days to accomplish the task, but at the end of each day he will wake up in the body of another person.
Eight days. Eight different people. Eight different personalities.
And to make things worse, each day that Aiden spends in a different body, the more his own personality, and thinking disappears, overwhelmed and confused by the memories, and thinking patterns of the other people he is inhibiting.
It soon becomes apparent that Aiden is not the only person who is tasked with solving the murder, and a fast thinking footman with a knife is along for the ride, determined to stop Aiden in his each life before he solves the mystery.
So, as I said- the premise is so very interesting, but at the same time - completely bonkers.
-=-=-
However, as I began to get into the story I quickly encountered problems that plagued the entirety of the book.
1. The structure of the book -
How the book was structured was greatly confusing as you tried to follow the days passing. What should've occurred was following from Day 1 all the way to Day 8. What happened instead, was that that days appeared randomly. At one point the story would be at day 1, then be on day 4 for example - as initial or key hints that were later expanded on in the story that were vital to uncover the plot, Aiden would begin travelling to specific times in the day (7:12pm) to aid in the uncovering of the mystery. Not only that, with the footman not too far behind, Aiden would often fall unconscious or get murdered in his lives, which of course cut his days short, but again wouldn't almost move to the next day - it would often flip back and forth between days.
It. Was. So. Confusing. To. Keep. Track. Of.
2. You need a REALLY GOOD MEMORY
You know what the problem is with so many characters in a story, with so many different personalities, memories and thinking patterns? You get an overload of information. You are struggling to understand what is relevant, and what is not.
The story also constantly was giving hints, and more and more information that continuously lead nowhere or turn out to not be relevant - especially as you learned about the characters Aiden was inhibiting.
Not only that, there were many characters that were visiting the mansion while Aiden was trying to uncover the mystery - but every single one of them had secrets and something that they were trying to hide. Not a single one was trustworthy, and all had horrible personalities. Blackmailers, rapists, drug dealers - you name it, they were there. But there's a inherit problem with so many unscrupulous personalities - no one is honest.
Here's the problem with characters that are untrustworthy and constantly lying - while you are trying to uncover one story (namely - how did Evelyn Hardcastle die?) you are also uncovering 12 stories trying to pick the lies and movements of people apart.
And the story expects you to remember, and understand past moments that is being referenced - even if the reference is like 200 pages ago. There is no pause stop in the story that details information that has been uncovered so far - like in Everyone In My Family Has Murdered Someone (by Benjamin Stevenson).
So, you need a really good memory to actually keep track of what goes on in the story - otherwise it gets really confusing very fast.
3. The story was really LONG and DRAGGED at points
The book was 500 pages long and having tiny hints of information that led nowhere only to get more information that repeated on this cycle got boring really fast. At first, the story was engaging but these tiny hints of information that kept heading into dead ends quickly turned the story from exciting to mind numbing - which was really sad because the story itself and the concept was quite interesting. It's just that the excecution made it hard to continuously kept reading.
BUT, in the last 200 pages or so, the story finally started picking up and actually expanded on the clues in a direction that went somewhere, so the clues and twists finally started getting interesting.
So in conclusion, the story for me was a bit of a mess. Some points were fun, some points were hard, confusing and made me drop the book for a while, before being stubborn enough to get back to it. I still wanted to find out who murdered Evelyn Hardcastle - its just that the journey to find out was so complicated.
Or maybe that's how murder mysteries are, and I just don't have the mind to follow them. The again, I have read a few mysteries before and they were not nearly so hard to get through.
I suppose it's up to you, dear reader. Despite the trouble I had with this book, I ended up rating it four stars out of five, because the ending I felt really made it all worth it. It did have it's positive points too, it just that the negatives held a big detraction from it all.
So, did I enjoy the story at the end? Yes. Did I love the execution of it? Not really.
mlgallegos's review against another edition
2.0
That was a slog. The end was pretty clever, but I feel like after all the twisty buildup, it fell a tad short in the payoff for sitting though it.
pheonixlovesbooks's review against another edition
Nothing made sense and it could be way shorter. One of the main mysteries in the plot was revealed in the synopsis which was frustrating
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Death
warren_chu's review against another edition
5.0
I love when I read a book and the concept feels completely new. A little more than halfway through, I started to suspect the prison angle—much like the Black Mirror Christmas episode—but the time travel and different bodies was still so fascinating and fun. Not entirely sure I love the ending, but it's really difficult to tie up such a complicated story in a completely satisfying way and it was still pretty good!
magsrenee's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
langbookjo's review
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? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
orygunn's review against another edition
3.0
Agatha Christie meets Groundhogs day in this interesting twisted tale. It is a very slow build and with so many days and characters can get convoluted in the head.
kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
This is a macabre mystery that has a lot of moving parts, and maybe it's just me, but I felt pretty mentally exhausted by about seven-eighths of the way through. I had stopped trying to figure out the puzzle and I was just waiting for the book to end. It's one of those stories where you aren't told what's really happening until close to the end, and I don't find these kinds of plot twists appealing. It's very atmospheric and it's an interesting concept. It made me think of both Groundhog Day and The Cabin in the Woods, and I guess that's really what bothers me about it, is that it seems more like a movie and less like a book. As a reader I was watching action unfold and that was it. I like less complicated books that get deeper into emotions and motivations, so I can only conclude that this book isn't really for me.
alyssamarief9's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0