“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” —Andy (from The Office)
Remember when we used to throw it back on a rare, we’re-so-put-together Thursday? Those were the good old days, weren’t they? Clearly, I’ve actually left them. But hey, it’s Thursday and I’m throwing it back because, in the words of Rachel, our resident 2@27 darling, “it’s one of our favorite features.”
Despite being south of put together, I’d like to think we’ve stepped it up one small notch on reviewing new releases with greater haste. It’s fun to keep pace with avid, in-the-know readers. Sometimes it’s twice as nice to pick up a book you’ve been meaning to read. The ones with the familiar covers that adorn shelves and cry out for a few choice hours of your complete attention. I swear, I’ve heard Evelyn call me by name. Evelyn Hardcastle and Evelyn Hugo both. I responded to Hardcastle for this throwback sesh. And I’m so glad I did.
I loved Stuart Turton’s intricately crafted debut novel, The7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. It’s full of intrigue and perplexing questions that kept my mind on the hunt for answers. I mean really, whose interest wouldn’t become instantly piqued by a narrator who “wakes up in a dripping forest, wearing someone else’s dinner jacket, and, he soon realizes, somebody else’s body.” To complicate matters, the narrator has no memory. Add to the reality this fact: He can’t leave the estate he’s trapped in (aptly named Blackheath) unless he reveals the name Evelyn Hardcastle’s impending murderer. Plus, he’s on the clock. He has 8 days and 8 bodies or “hosts” to inhabit, or he can never leave the foreboding heath where secrets go to die. If you’re like Sharee and you’re ready for a “suspense bender” right about now, why not begin with a visit to the dark, disorienting world of Turton’s isolated English manor? You won’t figure this mesmerizer out until the very end. In the immortal words of Charles Barkley, “I guarantee it!”