As soon as I heard the premise for this book, I couldn't wait to read it. It was a thriller, a mystery, and also (strangely) fantasy all wrapped up into one. The idea of being able to solve a mystery by viewing it through the eyes of multiple different witnesses is a very clever one, and it had so much potential for a fantastic plot.
And I really did enjoy the book. The way the whole network of 'hosts' was established, and the way the intricacies of this impacted upon the plot throughout the whole book, were very intriguing, and that part of the story was consistently very neat. However, I found in many chapters that there was just too much going on. In Turton's eagerness to have a believable web of characters, I feel he confused the plot a little more than I would have liked. This is already a plot that requires a lot of attention in order to be followed fully, and I think certain aspects of the story made this unnecessarily worse. I loved the concept behind the story, and the way we follow Aiden Bishop through his hosts. I just wish (and I almost never say this) that the plot had been simplified just a little bit. This would have allowed the reader to follow the complex story wholeheartedly, without pausing to try and work out which character is which, and whether they've missed anything important.
Rating: ✫✫✫✫
✱
Evelyn Hardcastle is destined to be murdered. She has already died, many times, living the same day over and over until somebody can solve her murder.
Aiden Bishop has another chance at saving her. Trapped in a cycle where he witnesses the murder through the eyes of other people - 'hosts' - Aiden begins the cycle again. Waking up every day as a different witness should give him the clues he needs to solve the murder, and escape his eternal prison.
But things aren't quite so simple, as Aiden learns that he is not the only person trapped in this world, looking for the culprit. And the competition may not be as keen as him to win the race fair and square.
*spoiler alert*
The Plot
As I've already said, I really did love the idea behind this novel. I'm just relieved that I had a lot of time on my hands when I originally sat down to start reading it; if I hadn't had the opportunity to read 200 pages in one go, I would have found it a lot more difficult to follow the complex plot. There were many points while I was reading it where I could sense that something significant had just happened, but I had no clue what that could be. It was very enjoyable, particularly due to the fluid writing style that accompanied it, but it was very complicated - unnecessarily so, in my opinion.
That being said, the idea of the different hosts was one that I loved immediately. Solving a murder by experiencing it through the eyes of multiple witnesses is so clever. The intricacies of our hero, Aiden Bishop, being all of these people and having to follow each day through to a very specific end; it was very precise, and just the kind of complicated and detailed plot that really excites me. I did find myself very early on wondering why the title was The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, seeing as the Plague Doctor had specified there would actually be eight hosts, and I'm not really sure if that was ever really explained. However, with so much else going on in the story, it's very possible I may have missed why that was. One of the most interesting elements to this entire host setup was that when Aiden fell asleep as one host, he would be reverted back to a previous host, and finish his day with them. It's incredibly difficult to follow, but it does stop the book from becoming predictable. When our main character jumps between hosts, it does make it more interesting, and offers the full range of perspectives on the actual events of the day. Hard to wrap your head around, yes, but effective nonetheless.
Yet there were still several plot points that confused me. The situation with Anna, although intriguing, was too vague to really add anything meaningful to the overall story. It seemed that every time her path crossed with our current host's, Aiden just continued to mull over who she really was. That's all well and good for a while, but it began to get a bit tedious, and I just wish the process of discovering her true identity had been sped up a little. When we finally do reach the end, it all feels a little bit surreal. I'm still not quite sure how I felt about it. I'm not sure if there were any clues that may have indicated that Madeline was Evelyn, but it all felt a little forced to me. It was as if the author had revealed a huge truth at the end, but because it hadn't been set up enough in the first place, it fell a little flat. Perhaps I'm being too critical by expecting too much from the book, but I was disappointed with how the story was wrapped up. I was much more satisfied with the explanation that Michael played a part. I found it very believable that he was desperate enough to act. As a reader, after this explanation, the scene where we find out about Madeline was rather an anti-climax. Especially seeing as this isn't really the end of the book, as we are still yet to find out the truth about Anna. The big showdown with Madeline is not really the real finale after all.
Nonetheless, Aiden saves Anna right at the very end, and all is right again. However it is another real shame that the context of Anna's imprisonment is given right at the very end, as it could have had a lot more impact if snippets of the truth had been dispersed throughout the novel instead. It all felt as though it hadn't been thought through enough to be inserted cleverly into the overall plot, and this took away from any potentially explosive finale. The only indications of Anna's situation are offhand comments by the Plague Doctor, but these are scarce and far between. As it stands, it felt a little bit as though the author concluded the main plot, but Anna's subplot hadn't been dealt with, and so that was wrapped up at the end as an afterthought. The truth about Evelyn's murder, as well as Aiden's saving Anna, would have had more of an impact if they had been tied together neatly, and unfolded within the same scenes. The book just kind of ended, with one plot finished, then the other, and that was that.
I've been a little bit harsh on the plot of this book, but that's only because it was such a great idea that didn't really live up to what it could have been. I absolutely loved the concept, but I felt the execution could have been a lot better. The way the book is structured is confusing enough, so all the other details needed to be very tidy and tied up well. The ending made it feel a lot more messy, and I feel like this let the rest of the novel down.
That being said, the idea of the different hosts was one that I loved immediately. Solving a murder by experiencing it through the eyes of multiple witnesses is so clever. The intricacies of our hero, Aiden Bishop, being all of these people and having to follow each day through to a very specific end; it was very precise, and just the kind of complicated and detailed plot that really excites me. I did find myself very early on wondering why the title was The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, seeing as the Plague Doctor had specified there would actually be eight hosts, and I'm not really sure if that was ever really explained. However, with so much else going on in the story, it's very possible I may have missed why that was. One of the most interesting elements to this entire host setup was that when Aiden fell asleep as one host, he would be reverted back to a previous host, and finish his day with them. It's incredibly difficult to follow, but it does stop the book from becoming predictable. When our main character jumps between hosts, it does make it more interesting, and offers the full range of perspectives on the actual events of the day. Hard to wrap your head around, yes, but effective nonetheless.
Yet there were still several plot points that confused me. The situation with Anna, although intriguing, was too vague to really add anything meaningful to the overall story. It seemed that every time her path crossed with our current host's, Aiden just continued to mull over who she really was. That's all well and good for a while, but it began to get a bit tedious, and I just wish the process of discovering her true identity had been sped up a little. When we finally do reach the end, it all feels a little bit surreal. I'm still not quite sure how I felt about it. I'm not sure if there were any clues that may have indicated that Madeline was Evelyn, but it all felt a little forced to me. It was as if the author had revealed a huge truth at the end, but because it hadn't been set up enough in the first place, it fell a little flat. Perhaps I'm being too critical by expecting too much from the book, but I was disappointed with how the story was wrapped up. I was much more satisfied with the explanation that Michael played a part. I found it very believable that he was desperate enough to act. As a reader, after this explanation, the scene where we find out about Madeline was rather an anti-climax. Especially seeing as this isn't really the end of the book, as we are still yet to find out the truth about Anna. The big showdown with Madeline is not really the real finale after all.
Nonetheless, Aiden saves Anna right at the very end, and all is right again. However it is another real shame that the context of Anna's imprisonment is given right at the very end, as it could have had a lot more impact if snippets of the truth had been dispersed throughout the novel instead. It all felt as though it hadn't been thought through enough to be inserted cleverly into the overall plot, and this took away from any potentially explosive finale. The only indications of Anna's situation are offhand comments by the Plague Doctor, but these are scarce and far between. As it stands, it felt a little bit as though the author concluded the main plot, but Anna's subplot hadn't been dealt with, and so that was wrapped up at the end as an afterthought. The truth about Evelyn's murder, as well as Aiden's saving Anna, would have had more of an impact if they had been tied together neatly, and unfolded within the same scenes. The book just kind of ended, with one plot finished, then the other, and that was that.
I've been a little bit harsh on the plot of this book, but that's only because it was such a great idea that didn't really live up to what it could have been. I absolutely loved the concept, but I felt the execution could have been a lot better. The way the book is structured is confusing enough, so all the other details needed to be very tidy and tied up well. The ending made it feel a lot more messy, and I feel like this let the rest of the novel down.
The Characters
It's hard to even know where to begin with the characters in this novel, because there are ultimately so many of them. But also, our hero, Aiden Bishop, is only ever witnessed when he is inhabiting a host. This makes it rather difficult to get to know him. He seems to have a good heart, but although he's the character we follow, he doesn't really feel like the main character because he is such a mystery. And if it's that difficult to connect to our hero, the rest of the characters feel even more detached from the reader. This makes it a struggle to connect to them.
One character that I did really like was the Plague Doctor. He's so intriguing, because he is the man who is really directing Aiden in his mission. He obviously knows more than he lets on, and it leads the reader to believe that there is much more to come. The fact that he appears to be orchestrating the entire series of events makes him the one to watch. I loved the very purpose of his character. He's also a boss.
In terms of the other characters, it's really quite difficult to discuss them in any depth at all, because they all have very little details offered up about them. I didn't like Anna for most of the story, which wasn't aided by knowing so little about her. She came across as very untrustworthy. Evelyn was feisty and intriguing when we first meet her, but then we saw next to nothing of her after that, so I was left wondering what happened to her. The footman was a character that was mentioned consistently, but he remained a mystery, even at the end. What was his story? We never actually found out much of the truth.
The reality is that there are too many characters in the story. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but all of these characters are named, and are referred to at one point or another. It's one thing to flit between lots of characters; it's quite another to try and follow dozens of characters at the same time. I found myself having to flick back through the book just to try and remember who was who. A little bit of this when getting used to a story is fine, but it shouldn't get worse as the plot progresses, which this did. It makes it too much hard work. In a way, it was kind of a relief to find out at the end that not all of these characters really existed (lots were created as part of the host setup), but it was still incredibly hard to follow. All the characters kind of merged into one, which isn't really what you want. I wish the author had cut down on the number of named characters and concentrated only on the ones that were fundamental to the plot. Less complications makes for a tidier story; a story that the reader is more likely to follow, and therefore more likely to enjoy.
The Verdict
A few weeks after having read The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I can't work out if I need to read it back through, or never open it again. It's a very bizarre book, in both good and bad ways. A kind of murder mystery, crime, fantasy, thriller hybrid. It's also exactly the kind of book that I would usually enjoy. And I did enjoy it to a certain extent.
The concept, the intricacies of the plot, and the whole idea of the hosts is something that I still think is very clever. I just feel that this idea is let down by the unnecessary complications that have been added in. The vast array of characters who aren't all necessary and the subplots which aren't really explained until the very end make the book feel, to me, that it hasn't been tied together as well as it could have been. It made for a very difficult read in some places, and this took away from what should have been a very intriguing and enjoyable novel.
I think, on hearing the premise behind this book, that my expectations were very high, and that's perhaps why I feel so disappointed by some aspects of it. However, for all the negative things I've said about the way the book was put together, it is still a very interesting story, and I did enjoy reading about Aiden, the Plague Doctor, and the various hosts. For this reason, I still felt the book deserved four stars. However, the novel had the potential to be so much better.
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