Reviews

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

janetreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

I wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did. Since finishing it I’ve been trying to figure out exactly where my frustrations were. I found myself both needing to take breaks from it and feeling like I have to dig back in and push through because I was intrigued even if a bit bogged down. I won’t give away the murderer but I feel like a lot of my critiques will necessarily have to be spoilers so here goes: 
 

the trick of the whole thing that you are put into different bodies is totally brillant— especially for people like me who have read so so many mysteries. It was a delightful twist in the quest of how do you solve it and how do you write it.  But the instability of who this inner person was ended up being a bit distracting from the mystery. But obviously kind of necessary and at moments interesting to know where one person ends and the other begins. But IM SORRY WHAT THE HECKITY HECK WITH ANNA! Why do we need to weirdly make this a retribution for (from what I can tell) a genocidial mastermind?? Who murdered his sister?? Like can people change sure, but really? Why such extremes? And if such extremes why such a weird short lived moment in an otherwise detailed and slownpaced book?? It just seems to take so much away from what could have been a decent book. 

jackslynn's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 stars. There's a lot of characters and a lot of jumping around which left me confused at times. It was good but not a page-turner for me.

ahembored's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

lylahxx's review against another edition

4.0

“How lost do you have to be to let the devil lead you home?”

Aiden Bishop is trapped in a loop. Everyday he'll see Evelyn Hardcastle die and unless he solves the mystery surrounding her murder, he'll never be released.
With him waking up in the body of different hosts everyday and a killer hunting him, his stay is no less than hell.
With a friend along the way, allies and acquaintances he'll have to solve Evelyn Hardcastle's murder and free himself from the bloody loop.

sarahjamack's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

chrass's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

kurzel's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

devoured this in one sitting. Aiden a better man than me, i’ll say that

amlegomo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

faith_schmitt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

this book was complicated and challenging because it’s so long and there’s so many different characters with their own stories and events that while they build off each other, are still their own and make it complicated. as far as liking the characters, because there were so many for shorter periods of time, you didn’t get attached to them as easily. in addition, in my opinion, a book not told from the perspective of the character doesn’t make me as attached to the characters, and because this book was basically told that way due to someone living in someone else’s body while they experience things, i also didn’t get as attached to the characters because of that. of course, as in many books, because the main goal is to wrap it up rather quickly, i didn’t understand how they arrived at that conclusion and it seemed a little unbelievable, but in my opinion, that’s just how most mysteries are, or at least that’s how little my brain is able to catch up to them. that being said, this book and the plot is extremely original, and definitely not the average murder mystery. it was long and challenging but not extremely hard to get through, and i would definitely recommend it to someone looking for an original murder mystery with a twist.

hgillespie131's review against another edition

3.0

At first I was a bit confused. It definitely helped to listen via audio book. I think it wrapped up well. I wish we could see what happened to the characters after!