A brilliant high concept murder mystery, this debut will appeal to fans of classic and contemporary crime fiction. 'This book blew my mind. It is utterly original and unique. I couldn't get it out of my head for days afterwards' Sophie Hannah
Stuart Turton is a freelance travel journalist who has previously worked in Shanghai and Dubai.
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Novel and was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. He lives in London with his wife and daughter. @Stu_Turton
von einer Kundin/einem Kunden aus Dübendorf am 12.11.2020
Bewertet: Format: eBook (ePUB)
From the start, I just loved this book because it is so special. The atmosphere, the mysteries, the different characters, suprising turns..... Highly recommendable!!! Definitely one of my favourites.
Stuart Turton hat mich schlichtweg umgehauen!
von einer Kundin/einem Kunden am 17.07.2019
Bewertet: Format: eBook (ePUB)
Dieses Buch wird Sie in Ihren Bann ziehen und nicht mehr loslassen, bis Sie es bis zur letzten Seite verschlungen haben!!
In einem abgelegenen herrschaftlichen Anwesen erwacht unser Protagonist eines Morgens und stellt mit Entsetzen fest, dass er sich an nichts mehr erinnern kann und zudem im Körper eines anderen Mannes steckt...
Dieses Buch wird Sie in Ihren Bann ziehen und nicht mehr loslassen, bis Sie es bis zur letzten Seite verschlungen haben!!
In einem abgelegenen herrschaftlichen Anwesen erwacht unser Protagonist eines Morgens und stellt mit Entsetzen fest, dass er sich an nichts mehr erinnern kann und zudem im Körper eines anderen Mannes steckt. Stück für Stück findet er heraus, dass er auf dem von dichten Wäldern umringten Anwesen zu einem Maskenball geladen ist, welcher in einem katastrophalen Mord mündet.
Völlig unbedarft bin ich an diesen Krimi herangetreten, der so viel mehr ist, als nur ein weiterer Mordfall unter unzähligen anderen. Stuart Turton hat mich auf jeder einzelnen Seite an dieses Buch gefesselt, mich angesichts seines Ideenreichtums immer wieder überrascht und hinters Licht geführt, nur um immer weiter daran zu rätseln, was während des Maskenballs wirklich geschieht. Hier ist nichts so wie es scheint und selbst wenn etwas Scheinbares als sicher aufgedeckt und enträtselt gilt, wartet auf der nächsten Seite schon ein weiterer Kniff, um alles wieder zu verwerfen und die Geschehnisse in ein völlig anderes Licht zu rücken. Was für ein grandioser Autor!
Die vorliegende englische Fassung dieses Roman ist schon jetzt erhältlich. Die deutsche Fassung wird mit der gleichen Covergestaltung am 24.08.2019 unter dem Titel "Die sieben Tode der Evelyn Hardcastle" erscheinen.
In the Thick of Charades and Masquerades
von einer Kundin/einem Kunden am 01.07.2019
Bewertet: Einband: Taschenbuch
I’m in two minds about this one. Admittedly, it’s a classic whodunnit in a “very English” 1920s country house setting, with an admirable abundance of clever twists, playing with every cliché imaginable. The language is beautiful, poetic, and nothing short of scrumptious.
“The air is heavy, sweet with perfume, stirred only by a ...
I’m in two minds about this one. Admittedly, it’s a classic whodunnit in a “very English” 1920s country house setting, with an admirable abundance of clever twists, playing with every cliché imaginable. The language is beautiful, poetic, and nothing short of scrumptious.
“The air is heavy, sweet with perfume, stirred only by a scratchy music that soars and glides and stuns itself against the walls. Large leaded windows look out over the garden at the rear of the house, grey clouds piling up beyond a cupola. Chairs and chaise lounges have been gathered around the fire, young women draped over them like wilted orchids, smoking cigarettes and clinging to their drinks.”
“The gatehouse is narrow and crooked, doors into the walls at odd angles like teeth grown wild in a mouth. Wind whistles through the windows carrying with it the smell of rain, the entire place seeming to rattle on its foundations.”
I wish Edward Gorey could have illustrated the book; his style would have matched the weirdness and outlandishness just perfectly.
And yet, the novelty of the “Groundhog Day” structure started to wear off about one third into it. All these names and characters, half the time I went, “wait, who?” I almost felt pressured into starting my own wall of post-its, charts and timetables, if I really wanted to get it all.
On the whole it is repetitive and can get tiring. For example, there is no end of trees. There’s a lot of being among trees, going through trees, disappearing into trees, standing in the trees, coming out of the trees, heading into trees, emerging from trees. Characters are surrounded by trees, are keeping to the trees, keep going towards the trees and deeper into the trees, scattering from the trees, screaming through the trees. They are looking around at the trees, looking for people in the trees, glancing towards trees, squinting at the trees, scouring the trees. There are trees drawing closer, trees have grown close, trees are giving way, there are trees leaning in, there are gaps in the trees. There are things obscured by trees, shielded by trees, framed by trees. Trees fall, trees drip, trees break suddenly, trees are bent low, there are huddling trees. There’s the gloom of the trees and the blackness of trees, in the end there are even cardboard trees. (Although I do love trees.)
So yes, perhaps it’s all a bit much. On a meta-level, the author’s dilemma may be the same as his character’s who is afraid of “becoming the architect of the misery you’re trying to prevent.”
Alternatively, it could all be ironic.
Eventually, I had it read to me by British actor Jot Davies, narrating it with a wonderfully crisp King’s English, impersonating all the characters and bringing them to life with a phantastic range of accents. Even so, there was a certain dreariness that I found somewhat tedious.
