“THE IMPOSSIBLE COULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED, THEREFORE THE IMPOSSIBLE MUST BE POSSIBLE IN SPITE OF APPEARANCES” – AGATHA CHRISTIE, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.
How would you visualise a murder mystery? I would imagine a murder, a murderer, a weapon, an investigator/detective, and clues of course. As children we used to love to play Cluedo: Miss Scarlett was killed with a dagger in the dining room!
This book by Stuart Turton is very unusual. Though a murder mystery, instead of moving forward it goes into a time loop, wherein it auto-plays the day on a repeat mode with different perspectives.
Who dies? The titular Evelyn Bishop
Who kills her? We don’t know
What was the motive? We don’t know that either.
But we know where the murder takes place, and we see it happening from various angles and we
Stuart Turton has woven a fantastically brilliant murder mystery with Aiden Bishop as its protagonist?? Well, he is there, and he is not there too!
I was confused when I started reading and then I was totally flummoxed as the plot took twists and turns.
It portrays an affluent family living in Blackheath Manor. They host a party welcoming their daughter Evelyn, who returns home after living in Paris for many years. She is murdered that night. Instead of a sleuth, Aiden who wakes up every morning in a different body must investigate. Aiden cannot leave this place until he solves her murder. He has only eight avatars or eight days to unravel the mystery.
I loved the dark country house setting which was both eerie and majestic at the same time. Though I enjoy reading books with the time loop theme, I couldn’t imagine this theme for a mystery, I suppose that’s what an investigation is about: revisiting the site of the murder. It would be easy for investigators to have such a time loop.
The book ends with these profound lines: “EVERY DAY AFTER THIS ONE IS A GIFT. I JUST HAVE TO KEEP WALKING UNTIL I GET THERE.”
I didn’t expect the ending and was completely perplexed by it too. This book is unlike any mystery I have ever read!
This book was chosen by the amazing members of our book club and I enjoyed reading it.