“How lost do you have to be to let the devil lead you home?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB: Tonight, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed ... Again
It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.
But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden - one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party - can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.
The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK REVIEW
You will like this if you like:
~mystery
~ mind bending plots
~ Magical realism
~ Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries
To Note: Alternate title: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Plot: 3.5/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 4.5/5
Personal Enjoyment: 4/5
Overall Rating: 16/20
I was excited to read this one, as I had come off of a huge binge read of Agatha Christie books at the time, and I had heard that this was a story in the same vein. I was expecting a cosy whodunit. But I got something so much more intricate and convoluted in the best way!
The story starts with with the main protagonist Aiden, waking up in the body of another house guest. He is disorientated and so are we. It becomes a slow, confusing piecing together of what is happening to him as well as the murder he needs to solve. I particularly liked how every host he found himself in influenced him somehow. Their personalities did not fully disappear, often resulting in internal conflicts or limitations. While others had skills that were beyond his own capabilities allowing him to see certain things clearer.
The atmosphere of the house was very well done, it was sufficiently eerie to make you suspect the very house they were staying in, it had such a malevolent presence. I thought this had an amazing cast of characters, all with their own secrets and motives. There were enough vile characters dotted throughout, that there were plenty of suspects: a must for a good murder mystery. Without mentioning spoilers, there were certain characters that were hugely effective in cranking up the creepy factor of the book as a whole.
The plot itself was fascinating, it left me second guessing what I truly knew, who could be trusted and wondering how on earth Aiden was going to untangle all the different mysteries. Because there were many stories to unravel not least who was going to commit the murder. I found I could not make a single guess as to what was going on! I thoroughly enjoyed being that confused. It meant it kept me reading, page after page, late into the night trying to uncover all the answers.
The writing style was a challenge at first, jumping times and hosts meant we constantly experienced fragments of information that was often out of sequence. Highly impressed with how the author executed that and seamlessly brought all the different threads together in the end. Talking of ends, I have to say I did not particularly liked the ending, it felt like it came from nowhere and I felt personally it was not adequate. Some decisions made by certain characters somehow did not ring true, it did not feel like it was something they would accept, especially in light of all their actions leading up to it. However that is definitely a personal preference, I feel others may find the ending mind blowing.
Overall though I thought it was a fantastically convoluted, well conceived, deliberately misleading mystery that I have read in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Would definitely recommend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~