Publisher's Summary
The rules of Blackheath: Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer.
Understood? Then let's begin....
Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others....
The most inventive debut of the year twists together a mystery of such unexpected creativity that it will leave listeners guessing until the very last second.
©2018 Stuart Turton (P)2018 Tantor
The 1920's country house mystery to end all 1920's country house mysteries
I have mixed emotions about this one. I loved the start of it: bang! You are off and running before you even have a chance to stick your toe in the water. You are sucked in. You have no idea where you are or what is going on. You are completely disoriented -- just like the main character. I did not like the ending. I was disappointed. It lacked verisimilitude. I didn't understand how the main character could make such an about-face, and because of spoilers, that is all I am going to say about the ending. I really don't want to give away one iota more of this story than I have already given.
While I was wishy-washy about his plot choices, I applaud his writing. He doesn't waste words and uses simile to his advantage. There is a lot of action in the book and that doesn't leave much room for florid description; he doesn't need it. Agatha Christie lovers may get a kick out of Turton's 2020 take on the 1920's country house mystery. Is he telling us that they are his version of Purgatory?
In the end, I think that Turton has a few pearls of wisdom for his audience, perhaps even a few words of advice. But again, we are getting to close to spoiler territory and I will leave you to decide for yourself.
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