BOOK INFO

Title: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Author: Stuart Turton

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Publish Date: September 18, 2018

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

A murder mystery novel inspired by Agatha Christie with a dash of Groundhog Day and a hint of Quantum Leap and Downton Abbey.

Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he 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 at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked-room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man’s race against time to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

MY REVIEW

A repeating day. Aiden wakes up in a different body everyday, but the result is always the same… Evelyn Hardcastle dies. The only way for Aiden to get free of the repeating day is to solve the mystery behind Evelyn’s death.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a murder mystery, but with a dash of science fiction and a smidgen of historical fiction. The repeating day and body hopping is very sci-fi, the setting and characters read like a period piece, and the atmosphere has a very Gothic feel.

Aiden is in a different body each day, but the story isn’t told in a linear fashion. The body hopping combined with time hopping made for a confusing read. Some of the bodies Aiden inhabits are very similar to one another, and I had trouble keeping up with which guy he was each day. I realize the hopping around adds to the story and makes it more complex. After all, Aiden himself is confused about what is going on. In that respect, it is like you’re in the mind of Aiden and his perplexing situation.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is clever and complex, but confusing. A unique and imaginative debut novel.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Books by Stuart Turton:

1. The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
2. The Devil and the Dark Water
3. The Last Murder at the End of the World

BOOK INFO

Title: The Chalk Man

Author: C.J. Tudor

Publisher: Crown

Publish Date: January 9, 2018

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

A riveting psychological suspense debut that weaves a mystery about a childhood game gone dangerously awry, and will keep readers guessing right up to the shocking ending

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are on the verge of adolescence, spending their days biking in search of adventure. The chalk men are their secret code, stick figures they draw for one another as hidden messages. But one morning the friends find a chalk man leading them to the woods. They follow the message, only to find the dead body of a teenage girl.

In 2016, Eddie is nursing a drinking problem and trying to forget his past, until one day he gets a letter containing a chalk man—the same one he and his friends saw when they found the body. Soon he learns that all his old friends received the same note. When one of them is killed, Eddie realizes that saving himself means figuring out what happened all those years ago. But digging into the past proves more dangerous than he could have known. Because in this town, everyone has secrets, no one is innocent, and some will do anything to bury the truth.

MY REVIEW

In 1986, Eddie and his friends discover the body of a teen girl in the woods. In 2016, Eddie and his friends are grown, and the mysteries they faced in 1986 come back to haunt them.

The Chalk Man is told from Eddie’s viewpoint and two time periods – 1986 and 2016. Eddie recalls his youth as a twelve-year-old and the time he spent with his friends – Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, Hoppo, and Nicky. Each of the kids has challenges in their lives, making them a little different from the other kids in their small English town, and what draws them to be unlikely friends. As the kids hang out and have adventures, they start using chalk to draw stick figures and leave coded notes for each other.

In 2016, Eddie receives a mysterious message that includes a piece of chalk. When he realizes his old friends have also received notes with chalk, he becomes determined to find out who is behind the messages. As he looks into the past, Eddie learns everyone has secrets, and some people don’t want the truth to come out.

The switch between past and present was compelling. Traumatic events happen to the kids during their youths, including witnessing a terrible accident, losing a brother, and living with an abusive parent. It was interesting to see how past events shaped the friends lives and what they were like as adults.

An enjoyable read, but I did feel that some parts were not fully developed. Good for fans of psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators. A great debut novel. Dark, creepy, and suspenseful.

Books by C.J. Tudor:

1. The Chalk Man
2. The Hiding Place
3. The Other People
4. The Burning Girls
5. The Drift
6. The Gathering

BOOK INFO

Title: This Is How It Ends

Author: Eva Dolan

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Publish Date: March 13, 2018

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

Three hundred gone. Just six left.
The building was once home to families, friends, children, couples, love, life. Now, almost every apartment is empty, the inhabitants forced out by the developers tearing down the old social housing to build luxury homes.

Only a few of the inhabitants have fought back against the attempts to evict them from their homes and their histories. And they have been joined by passionate student protester and would-be journalist, Ella, who is leading a high-profile media campaign to protect those who refuse to leave.

One night, Ella returns home to find a horrible scene awaiting her-the dead body of a mysterious man. Panicked, she calls her neighbor Molly, who convinces her that the police won’t believe she’s innocent. Together the two women concoct a gruesome plan to hide the body.

But the secret won’t stay buried for long. As truth hangs in the balance, a neighbor tells Molly he had heard Ella arguing with a man in the hallway and mistrust grows between Ella and Molly, as repercussions of that night threaten to change both women’s lives forever.

MY REVIEW

Ella and Molly are activists. Ella is young and new to the activist community, whereas Molly is older and has been involved with the activist community for years. They are both living in a building that is evicting the tenants, and most tenants have already left. After a rooftop party, Molly receives a call from Ella to come help her. When Molly arrives, there is a dead man in Ella’s apartment. Due to the women’s backgrounds, they don’t think the police will believe they’re innocent, so they opt to dispose of his body and not report his death. As time progresses, mistrust grows between the two women.

This Is How It Ends is told from two points of view, Ella and Molly. The book starts with the defining event (i.e., the dead guy) between these two women, then Ella’s story moves in reverse chronological order, while Molly’s story moves forward with the present day. The alternating viewpoints were interesting, because this is the type of story where that works, but the time changes (past vs present) were sometimes confusing.

This Is How It Ends was a quick read, but I wasn’t really interested in the characters. I was never drawn into the story and fully immersed. The last half of the book was much more intriguing than the first half, and I did enjoy the twist at the end.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Books by Eva Dolan:

1. This Is How It Ends

BOOK INFO

Title: Friends and Other Liars

Author: Kaela Coble

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Publish Date: February 6, 2018

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

Sometimes the secrets we keep are more dangerous than the ones we reveal…

To all my old friends:
So here you all are. Nice to see you can show up for a person once he’s dead.

When Ruby St. James returns to her hometown, it is to the grave of her old friend Danny, a member of a group that was, ten years ago, Ruby’s whole world. The crew made a pact back then: stay together, stay loyal, and stay honest. But that was before all of the lies.

Because even friends keep secrets. They just don’t stay secret for long.

Now Danny has left behind a letter for each of them, issuing one final ultimatum: share your darkest betrayal to the group, or risk it coming out in a trap he has created. When past mistakes resurface, the lines of friendship blurb, and four old friends are left trying to understand what it means to lie to the ones you love best.

MY REVIEW

A group of childhood friends gather 10 years after high school at one of their funerals. “The Crew” is Danny, Ruby, Murphy, Ally, and Emmett. They have fallen out of touch over the years, but come together at Danny’s funeral. Danny has left a sealed envelope for each of his friends containing their biggest secrets. He wants them to tell their secrets to each other, or they risk a more public outing to occur if they don’t come clean on their own.

Friends and Other Liars is told from multiple points of view, but mostly from Ruby’s POV. The story is also told with multiple timelines, current day and flashbacks from their younger years.

Friend drama. A light, entertaining read that kept my interest. I was curious what everyone’s secrets would be, though they were not hard to guess. I read this on vacation, and it was a good choice for a vacation read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

BOOK INFO

Title: The Good Daughter

Author: Karin Slaughter

Publisher: William Morrow

Publish Date: August 8, 2017

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: The Good Daughter #1

My Rating: 5/5

BOOK BLURB

The stunning new novel from the international #1 bestselling author — a searing, spellbinding blend of cold-case thriller and psychological suspense.

Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind…

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father — Pikeville’s notorious defense attorney — devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.

Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer herself — the ideal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again — and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized — Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it’s a case that unleashes the terrible memories she’s spent so long trying to suppress. Because the shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won’t stay buried forever…

Packed with twists and turns, brimming with emotion and heart, The Good Daughter is fiction at its most thrilling.

MY REVIEW

The Quinn’s lives are changed one day when two masked men attack their home. The mother and two daughters, Charlotte and Samantha, are home when the men attack. The father, a defense attorney, has made many enemies over the years, but this attack devastates his whole family. Fast-forward twenty-eight years after the attack. Charlotte has become an attorney, like her father. She practices law in the same small town she grew up in and has stayed close to her father. One morning, violence comes to their small town again, and Charlotte is a witness. The recent violence brings back disturbing memories of the attack on her family, and reveals old secrets.

The Good Daughter is a fast-paced read. The plot was clever. The characters were complex and well-developed. The family drama was compelling.

There is a good deal of violence in The Good Daughter. The opening sequence of events (flashback on the attack on The Quinns), the recent violent event, and occasional flashbacks throughout the story. Some of it’s graphic, so not for the squeamish.

Dark and suspenseful. I was hooked with this story. It’s a fair sized novel at just over 500 pages, and I stayed up to finish the entire book in one night.

Books in The Good Daughter series:

1. Last Breath
2. The Good Daughter