Matcha & Motifs Review 4/5

The Hardcastles are throwing a ball at their private estate, Blackheath, in honor of Evelyn’s return from living abroad. But here is where their daughter will die. 

Aiden Bishop will have eight chances to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle by living the same day in eight different hosts. With gaps in his memories, a game set long before he entered, unlikely friends and close foes, can Aiden free himself from this loop?  

***CONTAINS SPOILERS*** 

Plot/Pacing 

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book like this; maybe that’s not saying much, but holy shit, this book was innovative, calculated, and serious. The whole premise of a time-loop murder is good, but then there are added layers such as “Where are we?” How is this possible?” “Who are all the players?” “How many times has Aiden replayed this loop?” and “How much of Aiden’s self, personality, and soul has he lost?” It’s a mystery within a mystery.  

The back cover blurb does a great job of setting up the points of view from different hosts Aiden will be in. But lately, I’ve been going into books fairly blind, so I was in for a mystery right from the get-go. I thought our main character was Sebtian Bell! Of course, when I learned of the situation that Aiden had eight days in eight different hosts to solve Evelyn’s murder, things started making more sense. 

The plot is dense. Aiden wakes up in the first host, Sebastian Bell, who has a lot of space for open-mindedness. It allowed Aiden to see who he wanted to be or find himself amongst all the hosts, even if he didn’t know it yet. His friendship with Evelyn also gave him a reason to care and a will to solve the murder, even if he didn’t want to play the game. Each day in a new host, we learn more about the circumstances at Blackheath and the rules for leaving. I think what makes this experience neat is that Aiden doesn’t know any more than the reader, so we are discovering together. We gather clues about who Anna is, the Plague Doctor, and how and why Evelyn dies. 

At first, it was easy to follow, and I think this was intentional, as we were still getting used to the setting and gathering the pieces as the reader. But eventually, it stopped being chronological, and it got challenging, especially with all the hosts living the same day, but they were up to their own tasks, crossing paths, and some getting knocked out, which defaulted them back to the butler. It definitely was hard to keep it all straight. However, I think this also feels intentional. It added to the build-up and tension of the book. The use of form across multiple hosts felt unique and purposeful to me, and was such a fun read to dive into. 

Despite the plot being so interesting, I find myself drifting away from this book after reading for about half an hour. It takes me a page of reading before I am sucked back in. This one was not a page-turner for me until the last bit of the book.

Like every mystery, the end is where it’s at. The ending of this book is climactic; a whirlwind of craziness. I have to admit that I sometimes had some moments of confusion about which character we were and who we were talking about. I think if I were to re-read this book, I would definitely take some notes on the timeline and characters. Overall, this book had some pretty incredible plot twists and an overall framework. 

A note on Blackheath: the idea of a mental prison is pretty marvelous. A world where we place some of our worst criminals into a mental prison, forcing them to solve murders that reflect their lives and test them. It’s an intriguing blend of sci-fi and classic murder mystery. I enjoy the open-endedness of The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I like it because this book is centered on Blackheath, and when they make it out, it feels like the end of a chapter. The question of how they will handle their true selves and the real world feels like it deserves a second book. 

Characters 

I think what I love about this book is that the characters have depth and duality. 

It’s interesting to read from a character who feels unsure of himself. Typically, I enjoy when authors make their characters strong and distinctive in their personality, and the plot is character-driven. Aiden’s character feels the opposite of this, very much given the circumstances. Sometimes, Aiden’s unsureness of himself makes me hesitate to trust him too, even though I feel a smidge of bias towards him, like the Plague Doctor. 

An added layer is that our main character assumes his hosts’ personalities. Ravencourt (which sounds like Ravenclaw, haha) is a smart, logical character. We assume, or the protagonist assumes, that he is doing things of his own free will, yet these ideas are so attached to the hosts’ personalities that Aiden and I have a hard time distinguishing which part is him and which part is his host. Yet, despite the influence of these traits on him, I want to believe in the righteousness of Aiden’s character. It has to mean something that he wants to save Evelyn and Anna. But you see, what makes this character so interesting is that despite all this “good” he inherently feels, we learn that he has murdered Anna before. Does this mean Aiden will do everything in his power to escape, and he’s an unreliable narrator? Or was there an explanation for this? Additionally, we learn that he came here willingly, which makes me believe that he’s solving a murder for justice’s sake, so he is some sort of detective that wants to set things right. Okay, cool, but then we learn that he’s here to antagonize Anna, who in the real world had killed his sister. It makes me think that maybe he’s changed as much as Anna to be able to advocate and recognize her change. 

Then we have Anna, who, in the real world, is a villainous leader and has committed the most atrocious crimes. Anna’s rule is that she stays with the same host every day, but her memory of the previous day is erased. After seeing a glimpse of her character, it’s hard to believe that she was a top criminal. Anna feels really brave to me. She remembers Aiden killing her, and she trusts him every day. She re-trusts him every day. That’s kind of incredible. 

QUESTION! I wonder, when Aiden is in a future host, does the past host still have his consciousness in there? Like if Anna were to talk to all 8 hosts in the same day, would all of them have Aiden in there, even though to us, he’s technically in only one of the hosts right now? 

The Plague Doctor seems to be distant and a man of justice. While he is those things, he is also partial to our main character, which makes things fall in Aiden’s favor. He’s supposed to be a neutral game host, yet he’s tweaked so much of the framework for Blackheath that he’s anything but neutral. Is this a jab at the nature of humans? 

——

So in the copy I have, there are some discussion questions at the end, and I so, so love discussions. Here are my thoughts on this one: 

This book is titled The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. What does this title reference/mean?

Does the title give anything away about the book? Does the title have more than one meaning?

I believe that the half death comes from the fact that the murder we see in the ballroom is actually a murder covered in the guise of a fake, grandiose suicide. 

To dig deeper, the half could refer to how the Evelyn Hardcastle we knew was an imposter the whole time. The fake Evelyn dies in all instances (Michael Hardcastle’s gun or poison), so there’s no way the real Evelyn would’ve actually died.

I think the title definitely gives away that Evelyn Hardcastle survives. We know that Aiden has 8 hosts and 8 days to figure this out. So technically, she won’t die all 8 times, meaning she will live. “How” is the book.  

I also want to throw out a wild card that this half-death is part of our main characters’ deaths. Every time they are put through this same day, a little part of them dies. For Aiden, the part where he came into the Blackheath to harm Annabelle died, and the malicious part of Anna died. However, they are not actually dead; just a metaphorical part of them died.

Overall, this was a thrilling read! Let me know your thoughts and any ideas to address my questions/answers.