Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

The ending was the only part of the book I was actually invested in - the rest of the book was slow and confusing. I like the idea of time travel/manipulation, but if the authour doesn’t explain/incorporate their “rules” into the plot it’s just frustrating… I was frustrated most of the book.
Also, the extreme fatphobia made it so hard to read!!! You can tell the authour is extremely discriminatory towards larger bodies through how he writes about people in the book - it was so much it was hard to read!!

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kacheekah's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Loved the idea of this book and was super invested for the first 30% or so, but the amount of fatphobia that appeared was ridiculous and so hard to read through. Apart from it being cruel and gross, it’s not interesting or relevant to read these comments every other sentence.

The end really let me down, it didn’t feel satisfying and felt like it relied on a lot of cliches that you’d never have been able to predict. I was invested enough in the story to keep going but I wish I hadn’t.

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kirtreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This book has such a fun premise, the setting is fun, and it has some great twists throughout. The author does a good job of capturing the Agatha Christie vibe very well.

However, this book has some issues. First, there are so many characters and all have small details that you need to remember. It gets very complicated and some of it feels redundant. The main character says his head feels full to bursting by the end and I agree.

Second, this book had some characters that just did not meet to be in there. I think we could have done with one or two less perspectives and had a tighter grip on the details as the reader. I often felt lost in the plot and then info dumped on.

Lastly, the big plot reveal for Aidan.

You are telling me this man gets trapped in this hellscape, doesn’t remember who he is, then he learns this woman is a friend, but she betrays him for a reason we really don’t know, gets cool with that real quick, learns she murders his sister in some horrific way and still decides, yeah, I’ll go on the run with this woman? At no point did I ever feel these two were connected that deeply so the ending felt forced. I get letting her escape but now having to run away and spend his life on the run for this woman is crazy. I get what the author was doing and that the two died to themselves but you gotta make me believe it a little bit more.

Overall, despite the issues it was a fun pool read that I will still recommend to people I know love Agatha. Not the best book I have ever read, but very fun.

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johannanina's review against another edition

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I got through half of the book, but the main character war absolutely insufferable. I was annoyed with him most of the time.

Plus, I couldn't help but to roll my eyes every time the only fat character was mentioned. I understand that writing a fatphobic character isn't the same thing as supporting fatphobia, but making the only fat character a slimy, greasy, disgusting man, seems purposeful. I couldn't stand the over-the-top descriptions used for that character. Unless there is some great reveal in the second half concerning this, he just seems like a tired stereotype.

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jordynjohnson's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I really wanted to love this book because I love murder mysteries but it was so convoluted and confusing. This was a groundhog day kind of story and there are so many different characters and the events aren’t told in the order in which they happen. I still liked it but it was pretty hard to follow.

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proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Ett ensligt beläget gods. En dag som upprepar sig. Ett mord som måste lösas för att bryta cirkeln. Låter tillräckligt udda för att locka mig att vilja läsa den här deckaren!

Jag har mestadels lyssnat på boken (utmärkt uppläsning av Anders Jansson), men eftersom det är ett stort persongalleri så var jag tacksam att jag även hade den fysiska boken tillgänglig. De sista kapitlen, med upplösningen, struntade jag faktiskt helt i ljudboken.

Vi får lära känna en mängd mer eller mindre udda karaktärer, alla med helt egna personligheter och temperament. Däremot är det bara en berättare, Aiden Bishop, och honom får vi veta minst om, hur konstigt det än låter. Man kan säga att det är en pusseldeckare, men en väldigt originell sådan och mer komplex än t ex Agatha Christies dito (som för övrigt var en stor inspiration till den här boken, enligt författarens efterord). Den kräver fokus och koncentration, kanske lite mer än jag var villig att ge, för jag blev i alla fall överraskad av upplösningen (tack och lov - jag brukar bli besviken om jag kommer på lösningen i förtid!).

Det här är en bok som det passar att gå in ganska blind i. Jag visste egentligen bara att den var annorlunda på något sätt och det brukar räcka för mig. Det gjorde också att jag till en början inte hade någon aning om vad som försiggick och jag bjöds på flera överraskningar längs vägen. Att det var så många karaktärer inblandade gjorde mig ibland förvirrad och jag fick gå tillbaka för att se vem som var vem, men Turton gjorde verkligen ett bra jobb med att ge alla speciella egenheter. Jag är grymt imponerad av att det här är en debutroman!

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