35967101Goodreads blurb: “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.

Deeply atmospheric and ingeniously plotted, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a highly original debut that will appeal to fans of Kate Atkinson and Agatha Christie.”

My Review

Where do I start with this book? If you’ve already read it you know how hard it is to review. If you haven’t, you’ve probably read all the rave reviews and wondered if they’re true or just hyped up? They’re not hyped up, as this has got to be the cleverest mystery I’ve read and tried to work out. Tried is the word, as at one point I gave up and just enjoyed the story, but towards the end I still wanted to work it out but it was futile, there was no way I was going to get it right.

I loved exploring Blackheath and could easily picture it and it’s visitors in my head. I loved how I was introduced to the different characters and got to know them up close and personal. These ‘introductions’ really made the story come alive in a more intimate way than any mystery I’ve read before.

I read a review warning me to make notes, and so I had post-it notes sticking out of the pages of the book to help me work out what was going on. However, I soon realised that the only thing the notes were doing was stopping my brain from hurting as I tried to keep up with every blooming twist and turn the author inflicted on me, the reader! Forget the main character, I was the one suffering here!! Actually it was me and Yvo @It’s All About Books who were suffering as this was our third buddy read. We were messaging each other continually about what the heck was going on and what on earth was going to happen next. I’d love to know how the author wrote this and how he decided what happened to who, where and why.

To sum it up this was a brilliant book that I could not stop talking about to my husband, although not too much as I didn’t want to spoil it for him for when he reads it.

This is definitely going on my top reads for the year list, and one that I’ve already recommended to a friend, who’s thinking about it as her book club’s next choice.