The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton

"The future isn't a warning my friend, it's a promise...That's the nature of the trap we're caught in."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wow. Just wow. I can't believe that this is Turton's debut novel! It is so polished, so well written and utterly, mind-bendingly brilliant!

Blackheath is a crumbling estate, full of secrets and unsavoury characters who have all been invited for a mysterious masquerade ball. At 11pm Evelyn Hardcastle, the daughter of the house will be murdered. She has died before and she will die again. Aiden Bishop is doomed to relive this day again and again unless he can solve the mystery of who killed her, but each new dawn he wakes up in the body of a different guest making his momentous task even harder. On top of this there is someone desperate to see him fail, and they will do anything to stop him leaving.

I truly believe that this novel and its author deserve all the praise and the awards they have received. I applaud (and envy) Turton's brain for coming up with such a brilliantly complex and enthralling plot that 100% merits its own police style investigation board in your home, complete with sepia photos and interweaving red strings pinned in place!

Turton has exhibited a mesmerising ability to assault with language and conjure with imagery throughout this sinister cat and mouse chase. The atmosphere is chilling and tense, never letting up in all 500 pages. He has skilfully created a sprawling ensemble of players whose distinct and distinguishable (if often highly unlikeable) personalities, not only provoke strong emotions in the reader but cleverly facilitate the whole innovative storyline. His artfully repeated chess motif is symbolic of the intricate nature of the plot, and the forward thinking required of the characters in the game in which they are pawns.

I loved this book because in great crime writing style, it is question piled upon question, mystery upon mystery. Your trust and sympathies are stretched and challenged around every dimly lit corner, after every mind blowing epiphany. Every conversation is an Easter egg, each casually offered detail important in a way that you can't anticipate yet, and as soon as you think you have one thing figured out, it becomes clear you don't know your up from your down, your arse from your elbow!

Please excuse my frankness but I don't think any words I can write will really do this crime thriller justice, you'll just have to read it for yourself!

H x