If you want more information before deciding to read, or don't mind learning about the premise, or just want to know my opinion on the book, a regular review is under the cut.
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle takes place at a mansion known as Blackheath that is owned by the Hardcastle family. Although Blackheath has been abandoned for nearly a decade, the Hardcastles spruce it up for a massive party to celebrate the return of their daughter Evelyn to England from France, where she's spent most of her life.
As you might guess from the title, the party tragically ends with Evelyn's death, and it's up to our protagonist to get to the bottom of it.
But this isn't a traditional detective story, or really, a traditional story at all. There are two major twists to the premise. First, the protagonist is stuck with a "Groundhog Day" loop. He has to experience the date of Evelyn's death over and over again until he solves it. You might think that this makes solving the murder trivial, but that's where the second twist comes in: the protagonist has no body of his own, and instead experiences Blackheath through the perspective of eight of the party guests. First he controls and experiences the day through his first host; once his first host's day is complete, he spends the day the day as his second host, all the way to the eighth host. There's a bit more nuance to the rules that allow him to jump between hosts a bit, but the bottom line is he experiences one day as each host. However, if he completes all eight days without solving the murder, his memories are wiped and he returns to square one in his first host.
It should be clear how this forces the plot to become very intricate very quickly. Even though the book calls itself a time loop, it's not one person experiencing the same day eight times, but essentially eight people experiencing the same day. This also provides an extraordinarily effective vehicle for presenting and resolving mysteries. One host might experience a mysterious event, and then another host can learn the reason behind (or perhaps even cause) that event. This creates lots of intrigue as the mysteries pile up, and gives us a concrete feeling of pieces falling into place as they're resolved.
The complicated plot mostly sorts itself out by the end. I wasn't sure where one plot development came from, and maybe I just missed it and would have understood if I had been paying a bit closer attention. But I also feel like, considering how complex the plot is, I probably would have found at least one or two more errors if I had been paying closer attention. So I don't mind just calling it even.
A large cast shouldn't be surprising given the intricate plot, but unfortunately none of the characters get particularly deep development. The hosts each only get one eighth of the book. Even Aidan, the protagonist (the name "Aiden" itself doesn't mean anything and I don't want to spend the entire review calling him "the protagonist"), can only be seen refracted through the personality of his hosts, so it's tough to get a grip on the man truly at the center of it all. The villain could have used a bit more development, and their personality shift once they're unmasked feels a bit disconnected from the rest of their character.
Turton also goes a bit too far in the ending. He doesn't just give Aidan a happy ending; he bends over backwards to give Aidan a perfect ending. So that's what it ends up feeling like: a resolution bestowed upon the characters by the author in order to end things nicely, rather than a prize that the characters obtained through their own efforts. Over the course of the climax, Turton tells us repeatedly that the characters deserve the ending they receive, but there's a large gap between that and what we're shown. It's a shame, because Aidan does deserve a happy ending, so the resolution would have felt satisfying rather than contrived if Turton had just dialed it back a bit.
There's actually a moment where Aidan is told a massive plot twist, and basically just dismisses it because it wasn't shown to him. It's a twist that will hold little weight for the reader, because it's only told to us, so I thought the way Aidan has the same reaction was brilliant writing. Unfortunately, although Turton does skillfully align Aidan's and the reader's feelings, the fact that that feeling is "apathy" makes the moment only work on an intellectual level and not an emotional one. I still liked it, though. This book also has one of the best "messages left at a crime scene" ever, so there's also that.
The time loop brings us through the same day eight times, which means there's a fair amount of repetition. This is a delicate balancing act, as you'll likely need reminders of everything that's going on (unless you're taking detailed notes), but rehashing old ground gets boring. Turton strikes the perfect balance of keeping events clear without getting repetitive. Certain hosts are able to notice things that other hosts missed, so when experiencing an event a second time Turton usually just gives us the new information and then skips to the end.
In a lot of time loop stories, the protagonist is given an initial quest, but as the story progresses the time loop itself grows in importance, sometimes even becoming the primary goal. The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is not like that. Near the end of the book we learn the general reason behind the time loop and... that's about it. We don't learn how it functions, the nature of the supernatural phenomenon, or any supplementary details. And I think it's mostly okay. Sometimes you have a story you want to tell that happens to take place in a setting with supernatural elements, and you just want to tell that story without getting bogged down with the nitty-gritty details of the magic. Aidan focuses his investigation purely on Evelyn's death and not the nature of the time loop, so even though the book doesn't fully explain the time loop, it doesn't feel like it's breaking any promises.
In the first paragraph of this review I compared The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle to Zero Escape, and I really think that is the best analog. Both involve murder and mystery, but aren't fair-play detective stories. Rather, they're about elegantly and logically resolving convoluted situations... with some supernatural elements.
What makes The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle unique is its commitment to and number of simultaneous arcs. This makes the book an extremely fun ride as we see the mysteries and the full truth of that day at Blackheath come together piece by piece. But the mystery at the center of the book is just okay. So overall, it's like an average treat in exquisite packaging. Even if it's not a mystery masterpiece, I still think The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is worth reading for the unique concept.
No comments:
Post a Comment