A review by softanimal
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

A novel way of approaching a murder mystery. I liked some of the characters but I think I prefer to really adore the investigator in mysteries. At first I found myself frustrated by the characters that were not astute enough to pick up on clues I felt were obvious. I put together a lot of the big pieces on my own and then the middle of the book seemed to lag behind. I also struggled with the overt ableism and fatphobia and veiled homophobia in one section of the book and graphic imagining into the mind of a rapist in another section. I do appreciate a mystery story that you can solve from the information provided and that the final missing piece is slotted into place at the very end was satisfying. But the other elements plus some heavy handed soap-boxing made it feel simultaneously icky and trite for me overall. This is one of those books that upon completion I think, "Gee, I really wish this had been written by a woman."
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