The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

I enjoyed The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, but I’m not going to lie, I had to concentrate. There is a lot going on in this story, there are loads and loads of characters and the plot twists and turns are complicated.

Long story short, each time Aiden Bishop wakes up over the course of a day he is in a different person’s body, eventually learning that he has been tasked with solving Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder within a week (for Aiden, the same day repeats over and over during the seven days). If he can work out who murdered Evelyn before two unknown competitors can, he will be free to return to his own life. Aiden can remember everything his host bodies see and do from when he was in their bodies and heads, but his memory of who he was/is as ‘Aiden’ and why he is at Blackheath House has gone.

The story is set during the 1920s. Lord and Lady Hardcastle, Evelyn’s parents, invited a large number of people to a house party at their crumbling mansion, all of whom were at Blackheath when the Hardcastle’s small son was murdered 20 years ago. Every night at 11pm in Aiden’s present time, Evelyn, now a woman in her twenties, is killed.

As his week passed, jumping in and out of the minds and bodies of his various hosts, Aiden realised that he could view the events of the week from many points of views. Aiden’s past and present hosts and a mysterious housemaid assist him, but another competitor, a sinister footman, kills or disables Aiden’s hosts to prevent him from solving the mystery.

My understanding is that the author holds Agatha Christie’s works in high regard and the Golden Age feel of this story certainly pays tribute to her influence.

The plot was ingenious, but I would also have preferred it to be simpler. I tried reading this book in sections, then in one go, but short of taking my own notes I couldn’t remember everything that was going on. I also found myself skimming over descriptions that sometimes got in the way of the urgency of the story.

I’m very fond of time loop or time travel stories, and although I didn’t enjoy this as much as Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, or the film Groundhog Day, I did appreciate the cleverness of the plot, liked the writing style and will definitely read other books by Stuart Turton.