Earlier this year, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton seemed to be everywhere. I could not walk into a book store or scroll through my Instagram without seeing some mention or photo of this thrillers elegant cream and red cover. Yet, for some reason, it was not until the end of the year that I ventured to pick it up, and I am so happy I did,
Seven Deaths tells of a young man (supposedly), a guest at the Hardcastle home for the weekend, who wakes up with no memory of who he is and how he got to be in the middle of the forest with a bump on the head when he overhears a murder. Before he can find the answers to his questions, he wakes up the next day in the body of another guest at the house.
Everything about this book intrigued me from the word ‘go’ and I think it has everything to do with the fact that it read very much like a literary narrative of the mystery board game Cluedo. Growing up, Cluedo (or Clue for North American readers) was my favourite game purely because of the pseudo detective and deduction work that went into being able to boldly state that it was, in fact, Miss Scarlet in the library with the wrench who had done the killing.
In the afterword, Turton cited Agatha Christie novels as a major influence in his style of writing. While I will say that Seven Deaths did not quite achieve the level of intricacy and mental gymnastics that Christie novels usually inspire, it did accomplish in delivery its own very specific style of narrative that was both playful, captivating and surprising in many ways. Toeing the line between straightforward realism and some version of a world with its own rules of existing, Seven Deaths felt to me a refreshing take on typical mystery novels. One that moved fluidly between nostalgic and fresh.
~ S ~
