Surely there should be more? A chase, fear, a warning of some sort. We shouldn't simply die. It feels like a swindle. So much paid, too much asked.
Rating: 4/5
Trigger Warnings: violence, rape, animal abuse, gore/blood, death
Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t read the book, this review will contain spoilers so it’s up to you if you continue…
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle had me absolutely hooked. The concept by itself was incredibly intriguing, a murder mystery with an amazingly original twist. Whilst the changing point-of-view (and reason for it) didn’t quite line up with my expectations, the set up of the world was better than I imagined it would be. My assumption from the blurb was that we’d have an Agatha Christie style murder but Aiden Bishop would view the day repeatedly from other people’s perspectives until he woke up in his own body and solved the murder, having already lived the day and learnt from the witnesses by being inside them. Instead, the idea of a bigger organisation being behind his appearance at Blackheath created a whole world - one which I’d love to have learnt more about (more detail on that later) - rather than simply being set in the high society of the past. The world was wonderfully vivid and filled with details that made it feel authentic.
The whole cast of characters was similarly realistic, with different skills, styles of speaking, and flaws. Not only Aiden’s various hosts but everyone within the house was wonderfully varied. Sometimes it was a little difficult to keep track of all the characters, but exploring their complexities was actually a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the differences in the ways the characters thought; I especially enjoyed Gregory Gold’s ability to see beauty in everything, and Dance’s questioning mind. Daniel was an especially interesting character and my suspicion (about him being or, later, not being Aiden’s host) was always countered by a measure of sadness that Aiden may become like him. The double crossing, along with a number of other things expected in a murder mystery, was a brilliant adherence to the conventions of the genre, but nonetheless an exciting turn of events followed.
What stops me giving Evelyn Hardcastle 5 stars, as I thought I would most the way through the book, is the ending. I don’t entirely understand the motivations behind everything. Evelyn was just...a very broken young girl? I guess? That explanation didn’t feel worthy of the mystery that surrounded it. The intricacies of the murder, the difficulty of unravelling it, didn’t exactly match up to the motivations at its heart. I was disappointed and confused at the end of the book, which was frustrating because it was otherwise brilliant. The writing style, the characters, the world was all brilliant, but the ending wasn’t quite satisfying enough for me to give it the full five stars it otherwise deserved.
On the topic of disappointments, however, I do have to mention the lack of understanding of the outside world. I earlier praised the creative inclusion of the Plague Doctor and, though I stand by that, I must mention my irritation at not knowing more of this world. If Blackheath is a form of prison which seems to be duplicated to a lesser degree for prisoners of lesser crimes, who is in charge? What technology puts Aiden, Anna and Daniel in this world? What crimes did Anna and Daniel commit to have them placed in the worst prison possible? How did the Plague Doctor end up in charge there and who is in charge of him? Some of these questions can go unanswered, a book need not answer everything, but I am very intrigued by the world Stuart Turton has created. The irritation I feel is due to our lack of knowledge of Anna's crimes - without which I cannot judge if she should be freed. I didn’t think she had proved herself to be a particularly good person - surely anyone told they must solve a crime to be free would solve it? She tortured and murdered Aiden’s sister and what little we know of her life outside Blackheath suggests it wasn’t a one off...not that I don’t believe in redemption, but I never felt like I really understood who she was.
Honestly, I’m not sure how Turton ever wrote this book. It is amazingly intricate and must have taken years of planning. I commend him. And also really enjoy his Goodreads biography and am about to check out more of his writing on his website, I suggest you do the same!
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