The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Val Penny ♦ April 17, 2020 ♦ Leave a comment

I was given this book for Christmas by my daughter. It is one of her favourites and I was charged with reading and reviewing it.

I have to admit that when I started The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle I found it really hard going and could not understand its appeal. The story is set at a party thrown by her parents, where Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed – again. In fact she has been murdered hundreds of times, and every day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. The only way to break this cycle is for him to identify Evelyn’s killer. But when every day begins, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different party guest and someone is desperate to stop him ever escaping Blackheath.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is one of those books you stay up until 2 AM reading and then spend the next day thinking about. It is complex and really confusing in parts but it is definitely worth persevering and reading to the end.

I will not write a summary or any thoughts because the less you know about the story going in to it, the better. I will just say this, the idea of this book is really compelling and if you like a good murder mystery then this book is definitely for you.

The Author

Stuart lives in London with his amazing wife and daughter. He drinks lots of tea. ​When he left university he went travelling for three months and stayed away for five years. Every time his parents asked when he’d be back he told them next week, and meant it. Stuart is not to be trusted. In the nicest possible way.

He’s got a degree in English and Philosophy, which makes him excellent at arguing and terrible at choosing degrees. Having trained for no particular career, he has dabbled in most of them. He stocked shelves in a Darwin bookshop, taught English in Shanghai, worked for a technology magazine in London, wrote travel articles in Dubai, and now he’s a freelance journalist. None of this was planned, he just kept getting lost on his way to other places.

He likes a chat. He likes books. He likes people who write books and people who read books. He doesn’t know how to write a biography, so should probably stop before he tells you about his dreams or something. It was lovely to meet you, though. Stuart’s debut novel is called The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Val Penny