The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is such a unique concept, and was pulled off superbly too. It's a mystery that must be solved by Aiden, who relives the day of the murder 8 times by waking up each day in the body of a different witness. If he doesn't solve the mystery in 8 days, he'll have his memory wiped and repeat the loop. He has no memory of his own life or why he's there, and he also has rivals who are trying to get the answer first, which adds another layer to the suspense.
The story isn't told in a completely linear fashion, so not only are you piecing together the clues from different perspectives of the day, but you're busy keeping track of the movements of each of Aiden's 8 hosts.
It does feel a lot like Ground Hog Day, but here the previous days are not wiped out. Aiden has to work around his other selves and avoid undoing what he's done in previous hosts or contaminating their timeline. This was so much fun, and happily the potential time travel paradoxes remained consistent.
It may sound complicated, but it was so well written that I was never bored or lost, just completely absorbed by the layers of the puzzle before me. The ending had a great payoff with some turns I didn't expect. Once all was revealed, I was satisfied by the final picture. Wonderful!
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