To be published by Sourcebooks Landmark on 04 Sept 2018
Goodreads | Amazon
How do you stop a murder that’s already happened?
At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed–again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden’s only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend–but nothing and no one are quite what they seem.
I chose this book because…
…of the title. How does one die 7 1/2 times? Where does the 1/2 come from? Tell me more! (Update: With a bit of research, I found out that this book was originally published in the UK as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, but due to the title being too similar to the unrelated book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, was renamed for the US publication.)
I’m fascinated by second chances in life (maybe even seventh chances) and often ask myself what I’d do differently (I never arrive at a conclusive answer). The premise of this story reminds me of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, but a thriller version.
Upon reading it…
I don’t know if it’s because of the writing or because I was reading an epub on my iPhone, but I wasn’t really immersed in this story (it was probably both). I was hooked at the very beginning, got bored rather quickly, and may have dropped it altogether if not for the fact that I wanted to know the step by step of how Evelyn Hardcastle was murdered. As for the peripheral information — the setting, the characters, their wandering thoughts, their internal conflicts, any other descriptions — I didn’t really care. However, the story did pick back up in the last 15% and the end was surprising, which is what gave the rating for this book its third star. It was a cool concept, but I wouldn’t have gotten to it if I had decided to drop the book.
To be fair, in my opinion, the two main concepts of this book are difficult to execute. Especially if they’re part of the mysterious element of the story, which means that the reader is confused, or has a hint that something’s up but can’t pinpoint what, up until the reveal. Perhaps it’s one of those things that might be better/make more sense/be more enriching on the reread. I also think that the shock factor/”omg” moment upon realising these two concepts is what most readers rave about when reviewing this book. Unfortunately for me, the drag leading up to those points weren’t made up by those moments. There are several other books I’ve read with similar concepts that have worked to varying degrees (the ones that didn’t work for me were A Guide for Murdered Children by Sarah Sparrow and The Memory Agent by Matthew BJ Delaney, and the ones that did work for me were Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver and The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh).
(For hints to what these concepts are, highlight to reveal. First concept: inhabiting bodies. Second concept: virtual prisons.)
Let me try to be more articulate about what didn’t work for me. First, the pacing was odd. The beginning, and even the middle, were really dragged out. But to get even more specific, the first host was really dragged out, and then the rest were just flipped through. I was about to drop the book within the first host so that’s how I felt about that pacing. And then everything happened in the last 15%. That’s not uncommon in thrillers, in books and TV shows too (I’m looking at you How To Get Away with Murder post-season 1). But I still don’t like it. Second, it felt like the Plague Doctor was playing God with the whole situation (who the Plague Doctor is doesn’t matter for now, just that there’s a character that plays God with the whole situation). Because of that, it felt like there were no real rules; whatever the Plague Doctor said, went. And so I had no expectations and I was never shocked. If the Plague Doctor mentioned another constraint or revealed something, my reaction was just, “Okay that happened.” Third, I felt like Aiden’s character could have been more developed. He didn’t feel like a main character. I didn’t empathise with him. He felt like a shell, even though it’s his hosts that are the shells hah.
However, many readers found this book engaging the whole way through, so maybe it’s just my iPhone screen to blame.
★★★☆☆
How lost do you have to be to let the devil lead you home?
Yet instead of being angry, he pities me. That’s the worst part. Anger’s solid; it has weight. You can beat your fists against it. Pity’s a fog to become lost within.
Are things always like this? The explanations arriving before the questions?
A face is a mask of another sort.
She’s the only real thing in a world of echoes.
Tomorrow can be whatever I want it to be, which means for the first time in decades, I can look forward to it. Instead of being something to fear, it can be a promise I make myself. A chance to be braver or kinder, to make what was wrong right. To be better than I am today.
Every day after this one is a gift.
I just have to keep walking until I get there.