Books time – The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton

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The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is one of the most original books I've read in the last months. It's a mystery, there's a murder to solve, it plays with psychology and it deals with time rewinds. Does the mix sound intriguing to you? So let's dig deeper into Evelyn Hardcastle's story.

Now, if you ask me, before buying it don't read the back cover summary, because it spoils the first 100 pages of the book. I mean, in this book there is so much more than a bunch of names, but still, the back cover summary reveals the name of the narrator, which is actually a mystery to the reader until roughly page 100. So well, according to me, that should have been left out, but it is just my opinion.

The narrator of the book wakes up in the first chapter in a wood, calling out loud the name of “Anna”. That is the only thing he remembers though, as he finds out he lost all of his memories. As he tries to recollect his thoughts, and understand where he is, and why, he hears a woman shouting. Thinking she might be the “Anna” he was calling, tries to reach her, and sees a man following her, a gun in his hand. Then he hears a shot, and no more sounds. Frozen by fear, the man does not know what to do, until he finds a compass on the ground pointing east, which he follows, and after a while he reaches a big villa.

Knocking frenetically at the door, he is opened by a butler, who stares at him in surprise, while the protagonist blabbers about a dead woman, a murder, and a killer in the wood. In that moment another man reaches them, and calls him “Sebastian”. The protagonist tells this man that he completely lost his memories, but that he just witnessed a murder, and Anna is dead. Nobody knows who Anna is, and as more people reach the small group, they all think that Sebastian is a bit drunk and has mistaken a bad dream for a murder, but seeing how shocked the man is, they promise to go look for her.

Sebastian spends the rest of the day in the villa, trying to recollect, without success, his memories. As he wonders around he meets Evelyn, and she throws some light on the reason why Sebastian is there: she is the daughter of the villa's owners, the Hardcastle, who decided to organise a party to celebrate their daughter's recent return from Paris. There are several guests at the villa, and they all are her parents' dearest friends, including Sebastian. He really doesn't remember anything, but he feels affection for Evelyn, and thinks they must be close friends, so he sticks with her and hopes for his memories to come back soon.

The following day Sebastian is awaken by insisting knocks on the door, so despite the early hour he wakes up and opens the main villa's door... just to find himself in front of him. He talks about lost memories, a murder, and a killer hidden in the woods. “Sebastian” is shocked, doesn't understand what is going on, but looking at himself in the mirror he finds out he is not Sebastian anymore, he is the butler who opened the door to him the previous day. And that he is living all over again the previous 24 hours, but in another body.

At this point a mysterious character, wearing an odd Plague Doctor costume, appears, and makes important revelations to our confused protagonist: yes, he woke up in another man's body. Yes, he is living again the same day, and yes, he lost his memories. His memories are not important, because his true mission is to solve a murder. That night, the night of the day he is living again, Evelyn Hardcastle dies, murdered by a mysterious killer, and he has to find out who did it. To solve the mystery, he has a week: for seven times he will live all over again the same day, wearing a different body (a person who stays in the villa, so every day he will be one of the different hosts), seeing the events under different points of view, until he solves the murder. If at the end of the 7^th day he fails in finding the murderer, he will start the cycle again, wake up in the woods on day 1, the memories of the previous week deleted. He will need to start everything from zero once more.

The protagonist starts his investigation, waking up every day in a different body, trying to make the most from his hosts strong point and weaknesses to understand who kills Evelyn. But he also tries to retrieve his memories, to remember who he is, and who Anna is, the only name he can remember, a woman that, he feels deep inside, is very important to him.

I will stop here now, as I am worried that I might say too much and spoil the reading, but I really, really suggest this book to you. It is beautifully written, you will turn every page finding another piece of puzzle, but not knowing where it goes. Every clue unveils a new question, and feel time ticking away, as the protagonist does, when he wakes up every morning in a new body.

Seriously a good book, let me know if you read it already and what you think!

Talk to you soon,

M.