A review by janetreads
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

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.