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The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle
The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle
Stuart Turton | 2018 | Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
7.9 (24 Ratings)
Book Rating
Convoluted murder mystery
I would love to watch this as a TV series because as a book it seems rather all over the place. Following Aiden Bishop, who seems to be appear in a new host body every day in order to solve a Gosford Park-style murder, he's also stacked against competitors desperate to flee this entrapment.

The premise is fantastic - it's Inception mixed with Agatha Christie- but I feel the author Stuart Turton may have overstretched himself because by the end it's a tangle of a mess, and finishes rather abruptly, trying to tackle loose ends. I may be in the minority, but I found myself drifting away quite a bit, actually forgetting characters. There's far too many murders and body swapping, and I don't think it reached its potential.
  
Eli Marks is filling in for his uncle on a TV show. His job is to watch a psychic and then debunk his act. Eli recognizes several of the man’s tricks as variations on magic and says so. What he doesn’t expect is to find himself the chief suspect in the man’s murder the next morning. Can he conjure up the real killer?

I liked the idea of a magician as the sleuth, however, I felt the magic overwhelmed the mystery. That’s a shame because the mystery was very good and kept me confused until the end. Likewise, the characters were interesting. Hopefully, the mystery/magic mix will be better balanced as the series goes forward.

NOTE: I was given a copy of the audio version of this book. My thoughts are my own.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/03/book-review-ambitious-card-by-john.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.