Book Review: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Title: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Author: Stuart Turton
Release date: 8th February 2018
Publisher: Raven Books (an imprint of Bloomsbury)
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy from publisher via NetGalley

Description: A brilliantly original high concept murder mystery from a fantastic new talent: Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie

‘Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder and so the murderer won’t be caught. Rectify that injustice and I’ll show you the way out.’

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed. But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot. The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath... 

My thoughts: The premise of this book caught my attention right away: someone repeats a day again and again in a different body each time, until he can solve a murder. And having read it over the past week, it's snuck in at the last minute to be one of my favourite books of the year. I'm already planning to buy copies for a couple of people when it comes out.

The tension kicks in on page one and barely lets up through the entire book. At first, Aidan has no idea what's going on. Gradually he's given instructions and starts trying to put everything together. Stuart Turton's fantastic plotting means that every little conversation you see has a significance, every detail or interaction is important. It's a long book, but it didn't feel like it dragged at any point - I was on the edge of my seat through the entire thing. There are so many twists and turns.

The story takes place at Blackheath House, a crumbling manor deep in the woods. It's the age where guests arrive in horse-drawn carriages, and when someone is offered the option of driving a car to the village, he's horrified at the idea of getting in the vehicle at first. It's a dark, atmospheric setting, and combined with the intricate murder investigation I was strongly reminded of Agatha Christie books.

I can't say much more about the plot without giving things away, but I don't think I need to: Aidan does his best to investigate the murder, talking to various characters and trying to piece together the puzzle of what's going on in the present day, and what happened nineteen years ago when Evelyn's younger brother was murdered. It's clear early on that there's a connection between them, and he hopes that by figuring out the truth of the first, he might untangle what's going to happen to Evelyn and why.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is an incredible book. Stuart Turton has done a great job of keeping the tension high throughout the entire book. It's like The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August crossed with your favourite Agatha Christie novel. If you love a good mystery novel, I one hundred percent recommend it. Ten out of ten.

Book review: Duke of Pleasure by Elizabeth Hoyt

Title: Duke of Pleasure
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Piatkus
Release date: November 2016
Series: Maiden Lane
Source: Bought

Description: IN THE ARMS OF DANGER
Bold. Brave. Brutally handsome. Hugh Fitzroy, the Duke of Kyle, is the king's secret weapon. Sent to defeat the notorious Lords of Chaos, he is ambushed in a London alley - and rescued by an unlikely ally: a masked stranger with the unmistakable curves of a woman.

IN THE HEAT OF DESIRE
Cocky. Clever. Courageously independent. Alf has survived on the perilous streets of St. Giles by disguising her sex. By day she is a boy, dealing in information and secrets. By night she's the notorious Ghost of St. Giles, a masked vigilante. But as she saves Hugh from assassins, she finds herself succumbing to temptation . . .

ONE KISS WILL CHANGE THEIR LIVES FOREVER
When Hugh hires Alf to investigate the Lords of Chaos, her worlds collide. Once Hugh realizes that the boy and the Ghost are the same, will Alf find the courage to become the woman she needs to be - before the Lords of Chaos destroy them both?

My thoughts: I always find historical romances a fun escape for a few hours. I hadn't read anything by Elizabeth Hoyt before, and while this is part of the Maiden Lane series, it works well as a standalone book - I think each story follows a different pair, so while there is probably some overlap in characters, I didn't feel like I was missing out.

Hugh quickly realises that the Ghost of St Giles, Alf in disguise, is female, although he is fooled into thinking Alf is a boy for much longer. When he puts the two together, he keeps the information to himself, protecting her identity and safety. But knowing that the Ghost, whom he has been fantasising about, is actually working with him puts him in an interesting position!

The romance in this book is quite sexy, I think partly because unlike in a lot of historical romance novels, the heroine is not part of respectable society. So there is no expectation or assumption that sexual activity will lead to marriage. They are both able to be more free with their affections than in many cases, and it leads to some very steamy scenes!

While the romance is of course a big part of the story, the intrigue of trying to uncover a secret society who are known to do awful things is also a big focus. I really enjoyed the mystery, and following the various characters as they put clues together.

Overall I really enjoyed this book - it was a lot of fun! I don't know if I'll go back & read earlier books in the series, but I do want to read the sequel as it focuses on a character who we see a lot of in Duke of Pleasure. A fun historical romance with a dangerous plot to uncover, I'm giving Duke of Pleasure 7/10.

Review: Brighton Belle by Sara Sheridan

Title: Brighton Belle
Author: Sara Sheridan
Publisher: Constable
Genre: Historical (mystery)
Series: Mirabelle Bevan Mysteries #1
Source: Bought

Description: 1951. Brighton.

With the war over and the Nazis brought to justice at Nuremberg, Mirabelle Bevan (retired Whitehall secretary) thinks her skills are no longer required. After her lover's death she retires to the seaside to put the past behind her and takes a job at a debt collection agency run by the charismatic Big Ben McGuigan. But when the case of Romana Laszlo - a pregnant Hungarian refugee - comes in, Mirabelle soon discovers that her specialist knowledge is vital. With enthusiastic assistance from insurance clerk Vesta Churchill, they follow a mysterious trail of gold sovereigns and corpses that only they can unravel.

My thoughts: This is a fairly straightforward mystery story, with a fun time period setting. Mirabelle gets tangled into the case of Romana Laszlo when her boss goes missing. Following clues, at first alone, she finds many things which don't seem to add up, despite the fact she knows they must be connected. Needing a bit of help, she enlists Vesta, who works in the same building as her.

The characters were likeable and the mystery was interesting. Aside from the interesting time setting though, nothing jumped out at me as being particularly exciting or brilliant about the story. If I stumble on the sequel, I'll probably give it a go, but this one didn't leave me wanting to rush out and buy it. If you're looking for a nice mystery story, give it a go.

I'm rating this one 5/10.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

If you thought things could get wrong in life here on Earth, try it out in outer space on a spaceship.

Beth Revis' debut novel, Across the Universe, is a captivating mystery that keeps you guessing until the end.

Summary from Goodreads.com:

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Granted, the summary says there is romance in the story.  For me, I saw the tiniest sliver of it.  Mostly from the character, Elder.

For this book, I read it because I had heard a lot of good things about it (usually why I read the books I do), but about halfway through the story I really just wanted the story to be finished.  I was only intrigued by the mystery side of the story and wanted to see how it all turned out.  Luckily for me, it all turned out very different than what I was guessing.  Doesn't mean I will tell you how the book ends.  That would just be plain mean. 

We get the two main character point of views in this story.  Amy--the girl who was frozen with her parents and expecting to wake up on a new Earth-like planet, and Elder--the future leader of the ship Godspeed.  When Amy wakes up fifty years earlier, that was the first thing that caught my attention.  If I was Amy, I'd be angry and upset, as anyone would be.  Now she would be older than her parents when they woke up.  

Beth is an incredible descriptive setting writer.  Every room, every building, every part of the story, including the stars are all beautiful and I feel like I'm on Godspeed walking around.  However, there are aspects of the story that I felt were unnecessary to the story, but may be a major player in the next couple stories that come next.  

Only one character I found to be enlightening and had any real development throughout the whole story.  And that is Elder's best friend on the ship--Harley.  He is the one character that the reader can relate to in the entire story.  I love Harley and he will be a character that really stands out to me for a long time.  Very memorable, very good Harley.

I really can't write much else as a review on this because the only things I like are the descriptions of setting, the mystery and Harley.  This story doesn't do much for me as a reader in entertaining me.  I had a really hard time and pushed myself to the end but if you like science fiction, try this story.  Give it a go.  You may like it more than I did.

Cryer's Cross, by Lisa McMann

Released: 8 Feb 2011

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Source: ARC received through S&S galley grab program

Description: The small town of Cryer’s Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn’t that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain. When a second student goes missing - someone close to Kendall’s heart - the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall’s not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school - messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there - Kendall decides that crazy or not, she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t act on her suspicions.

This isn't the kind of book I normally read, except when I used to do the Carneigie Medal read-along at school, but I actually really enjoyed it.

We are quickly introduced to Kendal, the main character, as she helps the other villagers search for a young girl who has gone missing. The search is unsuccessful, and we jump ahead a couple of months to when Kendal is going back to school. Kendal has OCD, and as the story focusses on her, it plays a big part, which I thought was interesting, as it gives readers an insight into what it’s like for someone with OCD. Kendal lines up the desks in the classroom, getting them just so, and going through other familiar tasks. The two new kids are interesting, even if the boy does seem a little rude and antisocial to Kendal at first.

Then we get to the part where it really grabbed me. Nico (her best friend) starts acting weird, and about a week later, he vanishes. Once again, no one can find any trace of him.

I really liked the story. Although the beginning is slow, it fits the pace of the town, and shows you just how much it rocks the daily lives and relationships of the characters when people start to disappear. I really wanted to know what had been happening to people, and even though I was sad that Nico had gone, I wanted Kendal to open up to Jacián (the new boy), and get closer to him - their relationship was very sweet, in a good way; you could see how much good they were doing each other. And when things start to happen to Kendal and I knew she was going to be the next one to go missing, I really started hoping that her bond with Jacián would be enough to save her, and that someone would stop her before it was too late.

The writing style is interesting. It’s hard to pull off present tense writing, but Lisa McMann does it well. You don’t often see stories in the present tense, and I found that an interesting change. It’s hard to tell when the story is set, because Cryer’s Cross is such a rural town, but I don’t think it really matters to the story. In the end, most questions are answered, although I do still have a couple of small ones, but I think I heard that there’s a sequel, so hopefully we’ll find out more then. Kendal certainly goes through a lot during the story, but I would have liked to see how the village and all the main characters were affected by what happens, after the events at the end of the book. It really was a good read, and I would recommend it to fans of YA and mysteries. 7 out of 10.

On another note, In My Mailbox will be back tomorrow! Yay!

~Ailsa

Death of the Necromancer

I've been neglecting this blog for too long, but things have been really chaotic with moving, my husbands deployment, and raising my son. But alas I've come to review a book I've been wanting to share here, Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells.

The synopsis on Amazon.com: "Nicholas Valiarde is both a nobleman and a thief, perhaps the greatest thief in the kingdom of Ile-Rien, where magic is a part of everyday life. Around him he has gathered an unparalleled band of criminals, including a well-known actress, an ex-military officer, a hardened killer, and a sorcerer with a bad drug habit. Valiarde, in the guise of criminal overlord Donatien, is amassing a small fortune in gold and jewels with one purpose in mind: to take his revenge on Count Montesq, the man who leveled false charges of necromancy against Nicholas's beloved godfather Edouard, leading to Edouard's execution. But Nicholas's band of ne'er-do-wells isn't the only force stalking the dark streets of Vienne, and Nicholas is about to face a real necromancer in a battle whose outcome will affect all of Ile-Rien. Wells has created a fast-paced action-adventure story with a wonderful cast of characters and a twisting, turning plot that will keep you flipping pages well into the evening hours."

This book was incredibly good, but when people ask me to explain it I'm at a loss for words because so much is packed into this book. Much like the review stated, it really did keep me up reading until late hours at night, especially when certain intense chapters came and I couldn't put the book down because I had to know what happens.

This book takes place in the 18th or 19th century Italy in a place called Ile-Rein. It has a very Gothic undertone and is filled with Fantasy and Magic. Nicholas is not the only start character in the book. There is Madeline who helps him out and forms the disguises. It is also suggested that they are in a relationship. There is Crack, the very loyal assistant to Nicholas. There are also several others, but at the moment I am unable to recall them all. However, I must say that the downside of having so many well written characters is that I ultimately got a few of them confused towards the end.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and hated having to put it down. I found a couple of the scenes a bit disturbing, but it fit the tone of the book and didn't stop me from reading on. I found the ending to be quite clever and well done as well. All in all, I'm going to give this book 9 stars! A few of the characters could have done better with more explanation or filling in. However, it was still an excellent read and I suggest it to anyone who likes a good Gothic adventure and mystery.