Tag: fiction

Spotlight: The Curator by M.W. Craven

Posted on by Ndrw

It’s Christmas and a serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. A strange message is left at each scene: #BSC6

Called in to investigate, the National Crime Agency’s Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are faced with a case that makes no sense. Why were some victims anaesthetized, while others died in appalling agony? Why is their only suspect denying what they can irrefutably prove but admitting to things they weren’t even aware of? And why did the victims all take the same two weeks off work three years earlier?

And when a disgraced FBI agent gets in touch things take an even darker turn. Because she doesn’t think Poe is dealing with a serial killer at all; she thinks he’s dealing with someone far, far worse – a man who calls himself the Curator.

And nothing will ever be the same again…

Praise for The Curator

A cracking story, exceptional characters and a storyline that just has to be read…

Yvonnembee, ‘The Curator by M.W. Craven #20booksofsummer #readingchallenge #mustread #bookreview’, Me and My Books, 21/08/20

Most definitely recommended… once you start reading, you won’t want to stop.

Jen Lucas, ‘The Curator by M.W. Craven’, Jen Med’s Book Reviews, 05/06/20

… Another magnificent thriller in what is easily the best thriller/mystery series in a long while.

Janetemson, ‘The Curator by M W Craven – review’, From First Page to Last, 10/06/2020

Have you read The Curator? Why not leave a wee comment below and let us know what you thought of it.

Click here to buy The Curator on Amazon.

Click here to check out M.W. Craven’s website.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Monday Motivation

Posted on by Ndrw

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

Looking for a gift for the author or fiction lover in your life?
Check out the Penstricken Zazzle store!

Want a blog of your own? Start writing today with WordPress.com!

WordPress.com Jetpack WooCommerce

AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Establishing a Daily Writing Routine

Posted on by Ndrw

I don’t know about you, but for me the only way to get anything written is to work to a very strict routine. If I only write when I feel like I have the energy or, worse yet, the inspiration, I will almost certainly never write. Not only am I unlikely to ever write, but in whenever I do write, I will give up almost straight away because I ‘just wasn’t getting into The Zone today.’

Dear reader, I am not for one second refuting the value of getting into the so-called Zone. There’s nothing quite like that feeling of easily knocking out a couple of thousand really good words words in less than an hour. But for most mortals, that doesn’t really happen every day and that’s why we need to do something about it.

The answer lies, at least partly, in establishing a strong writing routine. By that I mean having both a long-term routine (that is, your regular established writing times) and a short-term one (how do you make the best use of your time each session). I’m not going to harp on too much about the importance of having a long-term routine since I’m pretty sure I’ve already written about it several times. Instead lets talk about what we do when we actually sit down to write.

I often find it tempting to cold start each writing session, especially since I have so very little writing time available between juggling a full time job and a three year old daughter (not to mention this blog) but nine times out of ten, I find cold starting is the single biggest mistake you can make. If you’re coming to your novel tired, uninspired and distracted by other things, you’re not going to suddenly knock out a work of genius in a single hour session. You’ll just end up faffing. You might even catch yourself visiting some of my favourite websites for procrastination (I recommend the Monkey Island sword-fighting game). So even if you find time is short, I would strongly recommend starting off each session with a pre-writing technique.

There are quite a few of these you could try, though free writing is one I find particularly effective (I’ve written about that too!). Try free writing, even just for five or ten minutes about whatever comes to mind, or better yet, free write about your story, even if all you can think to write is ‘I have no idea what I’m doing with this story,’ over and over. You don’t necessarily have to come up with new ideas for your story (although if you do, great). This is just a technique for getting you focused on what you’re about to do, so you could use it to rave about how wonderful your book is going to be or you could write a little story about your antagonist buying his groceries or you could write down your own feelings about writing. It doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that you write, without stopping, about whatever comes to mind. Trust me, it’ll get your juices flowing.

Once you’ve done your pre-writing, it’s time to start work properly. Again, your time is precious. Don’t waste it by just opening up your project and waiting for something to happen. Go to work with a clear and specific goal for this session. If you’re well into the drafting stage, this could be as simple as establishing how many words you have to write in that session, or if you’re still at the planning stage you might decide that you need to complete a chapter outline. Whatever your goal, make sure it is crystal clear in your mind so you aren’t distracted by anything else (such as editing chapter 1 when you should be drafting chapter 2) and also make sure your goal is realistic. If you’ve only got one hour to write, don’t ask yourself to write 100,000 words. You will fail and become despondent. Be realistic about what you can accomplish- then accomplish it.

When you’ve accomplished your goal for the day, allow yourself to save your work and go grab a nice cold drink and put your feet up. It is often tempting to write ourselves into oblivion, until we completely dry up and become despondent because we’ve wasted the last three hours of our day trying to keep up the momentum we established early on in the day. But that is not necessary or helpful. If you have accomplished your daily goal, turn off your computer, feel good about what you’ve accomplished and enjoy the rest of your life. You won’t feel like a failure then because you are establishing and meeting your writing goals every day– and before long, you’ll be holding a completed novel in your hands.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

Looking for a gift for the author or fiction lover in your life?
Check out the Penstricken Zazzle store!

Want a blog of your own? Start writing today with WordPress.com!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Throwback Thursday: The Overwhelming Art of World-Building

Posted on by Ndrw
Originally published 19/06/2016

Research is, undeniably, one of the most important stages of writing a story. Understanding the time and place your story is set in will enable you to make that story more true to life, and therefore, more compelling. But what if you are writing a fantasy, set in an imaginary world? Make no mistake: research is just as important in fantasy as it is in non-fantasy, perhaps even more so since you are creating a world from scratch. If you’re writing a historical fiction set during the Spanish Civil War, you probably won’t need to research whether or not gravity existed in Spain or what colour the grass was. We can take these things for granted in non-fantasy, but in fantasy you need to become an expert on your entire world… and still make time to actually write the story!

I find that a good place to start is by learning a little about the real world; historical events, religious beliefs, foreign cultures, you name it. Anything that interests you. Sooner or later, you’re going to need to be able to create a bit of everything for your world anyway, so read as widely as you can bear to. If you’re still not sure exactly what you want to write about, my advice would be to read up on anything which grabs your attention and inspires you. For example, the inspiration for the novel I am currently working on came about as a result of me reading about a variety of unrelated real life subjects which I found interesting (specifically, the Beer Hall Putsch, the concept of extra-terrestrial real estate and the mythology of various ancient cultures). Even if you already do have an idea in your head about what you want to write about, it would still pay to try and expand on your idea by researching related real life subjects.

The more you read about the real world, the more you’ll come to realise that a believable world is replete with all kinds of different stuff; different races, religions, creeds and philosophies; different wars, treaties, governments and despots; different guilds, parties and organisations both legitimate and otherwise; different traditions and dissents of science, history, philosophy and art; different forms of vegetable, animal and mineral; different languages, dialects and accents; different laws, crimes and systems of justice; different myths, legends and parables… you get the idea. The natural world is a complex and intricate machine, interacting with the equally complex and often contradictory machines of human society. As if that weren’t complicated enough, what happens in one generation invariably affects the next, so history also matters. If you’re creating a fantasy world, you need to understand how all of this works within your world without falling into the trap of spending so much time world-building that you never actually write the story. Personally,  I feel that there are at least three key parts of any fantasy world that are vital for the author to understand.

The first thing to consider is the basic natural laws of your fantasy world, because this is the skeleton on which everything else in your story will hang. Is it spherical like our world? Terry Pratchett’s world wasn’t: his world was a disc supported on the backs of four elephants standing on top of a giant space-faring turtle. What about plant and animal life? Are there dragons, elves or something else entirely? Do the natural laws of your world include magic? If so, how does this magic work? Do supernatural beings influence your world? You can probably be as imaginative as you like but remember there are two basic rules I like to stick to:

  1. There must be some form of natural law to bring order to your world and to allow it to function in a rational, if strange, way. In short, it must make sense.
  2. Avoid superimposing fanciful things on a world which is otherwise identical to our own. Our society would not have developed as it has done if there were wizards running around the place with the power to magically engineer personal, social or political changes and nor will yours.

The next thing to consider is how society functions. This will undoubtedly be rooted in the rules you established for your natural world. For example, if your characters live among natural predators, you can bet your life that would impact their laws and values regarding the rights of animals. Better yet, what if their natural predators had a highly developed society of their own? For example, Zebrapeople and Lionpeople living on the same world. Would there be war? Would treaties be signed to keep the peace? What would such a treaty mean for the Lionpeople?

If your world is governed by gods, this will probably be reflected in your society’s religion and philosophy. If your world is not governed by gods, religion and philosophy will still exist and within each belief system, there are likely to be numerous denominations and splinter-groups to consider, each with their own individual opinions on how things are and how things should be. For every traditional belief or practice, there will probably be dissenters. You also need to consider if there are many empires, nations and tribal societies, how does each one of these function? What are their own particular customs, fashions, taboos, mannerisms, languages and so forth? As with the natural world, these things must function in a logical fashion but you should also make room for conflict: this will undoubtedly be the cornerstone of your story.

Finally and closely related to both of these is history. How did society get to where it is now? For example, let’s say the King of the Lionpeople has signed an agreement with the King of Zebrapeople saying that they won’t eat the Zebrapeople any more. The common Lionpeople take umbrage and revolt. That the premise for your story. The question we must now ask is why was this agreement signed? Was it to end a long running and costly war? If that is the case, who started the war and why? No society pops out of thin air; society is the way it is because of what happened previously to lead us to this point. To create a believable world, this must also be the case with your fantasy world. Go back into your world’s history, as far back as you feel you need to, in order to understand what brought us to this point, where your story begins.

Finally and most importantly, you must know when it’s time to stop nit-picking and start writing your story. You almost certainly won’t be able to please everybody nor is it a realistic ambition to try and determine every single last thing that ever happened everywhere on the surface of your world. Decide on the scope of what you are trying to accomplish in advance. Ask yourself what is the most relevant to your story and focus on that. J.R.R Tolkien probably had no idea what Gandalf’s great grandfather’s cousin’s pet budgie was called, but that didn’t stop him writing The Lord of the Rings.

Don’t let it stop you either. Write your story.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Spotlight: The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

Posted on by Ndrw

It is 1963 and an anonymous Englishman has been hired by the Operations Chief of the O.A.S. to murder General Charles de Gaulle. A failed attempt the previous year means the target will be nearly impossible to get to. But this latest plot involves a lethal weapon: an assassin of legendary talent.

Known only as The Jackal, this remorseless and deadly killer must be stopped.

But how do you track a man who exists in name alone?

Praise for The Day of the Jackal

I loved the storytelling, the depiction of 1960s Europe and thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the age before technology took over… I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys classic thrillers.

Arun P.C, ‘Book Review: The Day of the Jackal’, Arun P.C’s Blog, 12/09/20

The Day of the Jackal is a marvelous novel… This book is among the best thrillers out there.

Daniel Lin, ‘A Book Review: The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth’, Daniel’s Corner Unlimited, 03/12/2015

Wonderfully authentic, plausible down to the last tiny physical detail, and with a narrative drive which goes way, way beyond mere reporting, The Day Of The Jackal remains the brightest and best example of a political thriller.

David Prestidge, ‘CIS: The Day of the Jackal Revisited’, Crime Fiction Lovers, 01/09/2014

Have you read The Day of the Jackal? Why not leave a wee comment below and let us know what you thought of it.

Click here to buy The Day of the Jackal on Amazon.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

Looking for a gift for the author or fiction lover in your life?
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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Monday Motivation

Posted on by Ndrw

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

Looking for a gift for the author or fiction lover in your life?
Check out the Penstricken Zazzle store!

Want a blog of your own? Start writing today with WordPress.com!

WordPress.com Jetpack WooCommerce

AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Musings on Fiction in the World of COVID-19

Posted on by Ndrw

Remember what life was like this time last year? Most of us had probably never even heard of COVID-19. Terms like lockdowns, facemasks, social distancing, track & trace, shielding and self-isolation have all become so central to our daily lives from the youngest to the oldest in a very, very short space of time. Not only has the world changed in the blink of an eye, but it is continuing to change rapidly. Will we go back to lockdown? Will there ever be a vaccine? A cure? Will life ever return to normal? Will COVID-19 still be here in a years time? Ten years? Ten thousand years?

We writers (especially those of us who indulge in speculative fiction) love to think we can anticipate the future. There’s a reason so much sci-fi is set in a future dystopia; it’s there to warn us of potential disaster that could occur if we go down a particular path in the present. Even utopia’s like those imagined in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek are there to show us one writer’s vision of how the world could be if the right conditions were met. If that’s the kind of thing you write, you’ll have a hard time ignoring the events of the last year, unless of course you decide to imagine a miracle vaccine which makes the whole situation disappear overnight. I doubt serious authors of hard sci-fi would choose such a course.

Writer’s of non-speculative contemporary fiction have it even tougher. Can you write a cosy locked room mystery with social distancing? How do romance novels work when you’re not allowed within more than 2 meters of people who don’t live in your house? Can Barry Trotter go back to Pigboils School of Magic* after the summer holidays even if he has a bit of a cold? Do we avoid writing a story set in 2020 altogether or can we find a way to deal with these issues head on?

Honestly, it depends what kind of story you want to write. It may well be more appropriate to set your story in the spring of 2019 when we were all still blissfully ignorant, but with COVID-19 ravaging so much of our lives, you may well be wise to face it head on, in which case the tried and true principles of good story writing still apply.

First and foremost good story writing is about good characters, their goals and the forces that prevent them from realising their goals. The world may change in sudden and extreme ways, but people will always be people, with general motives feeding into specific goals. These are the things readers care about, far more than deadly plagues, dashing rogues, post-apocalyptic world-building or wizards learning to do magic.

Who are your characters and what matters to them? This is at the heart of telling a good story, no matter what is going on in the world you have created. Start with your character’s motive. Do they want true love? COVID-19 and lockdown could be an obstacle to that if they aren’t able to go out and meet new people. That’s a potential story in itself (one I’m curious to read the ending of!).

Of course, COVID-19 need not be central to your plot (what a boring world it would be if every novel from now till doomsday featured the same central conflict!) and it may be appropriate to set your novel in a time without COVID-19 in order to tell your story well, but don’t be afraid to face it either. Tell your story as truthfully as you know how. No one really knows how long this is going to go on for or how much worse it will get before it gets better, but what makes for a good story remains the same. And now more than ever, we need good, meaty, meaningful stories.

Footnotes

*Do not write a story about Barry Trotter going to Pigboils School of Magic. You’ll get the pants sued off you quicker than you can expellibraccas.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

Looking for a gift for the author or fiction lover in your life?
Check out the Penstricken Zazzle store!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Throwback Thursday: Super Snappy Speed Reviews (Star Trek Edition)

Posted on by Ndrw
Originally published 24/09/2017
SPOILER ALERT

While every effort has been made to avoid spoilers in this post, anyone who has not seen all of the films in the Star Trek franchise is hereby advised that this post may contain a few unavoidable spoilers.

The day we’ve all been waiting for with a combination of both hope and dread is finally here. Star Trek: Discovery premieres in America today, and so, in honour of this momentous occasion (and since we Brits won’t be getting it until tomorrow), I am pleased to present Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Star Trek Edition!

We’ve already had super snappy speed reviews for books (twice, in fact), TV shows and films but today it’s going to be a bit different. Today I’ll be reviewing all thirteen Star Trek films in order of release. As ever, these reviews only reflect my own personal opinions and impressions, phasered, disruptored and bat’lethed into just two or three sentences. So without further ado…

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

While it has a lot of the elements we might look for in a good Star Trek episode, The Motion Picture is spoiled by ridiculously slow pacing.  Buckets of atmosphere but not much else to say in its favour.

My rating: 🖖🖖

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

This film’s got it all: a familiar antagonist with a score to settle, exciting space battles and plenty of sub-plot. Arguably the best film in the entire franchise.

My rating: 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

I can’t say much about this without giving away spoilers galore but suffice to say it’s a good popcorn muncher and is integral to the overall Star Trek canon. Its main let-down is the half-baked antagonist: a random Klingon with no redeeming qualities trying to steal a technology which he thinks will make a good weapon of mass destruction.

My rating: 🖖🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Definitely the most light-hearted of the Star Trek movies. Plenty of humour, a casual ecological moral and no real antagonist to speak of (okay, there is a giant probe thing threatening to destroy Earth, but only because it wants to make friends with some humpback whales and earth doesn’t have any them any more)

My rating: 🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

The rest of the world seems to hate this film but I quite enjoyed it. Sybok was a particularly interesting antagonist, in that he seemed to be well-meaning, if badly misguided. It probably could have benefited from unpacking some of the more important themes, however.

My rating: 🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

My favourite Star Trek films and episodes are always those which focus on interstellar politics, particularly the Federation’s tense relations with the Klingon Empire. If that’s your flavour too then this film’s got it all: conspiracies, interstellar peace talks and even a Klingon courtroom scene.

My rating: 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek: Generations

This film has a great bad guy (although I could have done without the Duras sisters…), strong themes and apart from being a little on the slow side at points, is generally well paced. The (mostly humorous) subplot concerns the previously emotionless android, Data, now fully equipped with emotions he can’t control, which is funny at first, then gets serious before kind of just fizzling out and resolving itself without explanation.

My rating: 🖖🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek: First Contact

If Wrath of Khan isn’t my favourite in the franchise, this one is. Excellent acting, strong writing and well paced. The Borg Queen in particular provides the previously faceless Borg Collective with a leader who is as subtle and seductive as she is evil. Unfortunately, this film does also include my least favourite line of dialogue in all of Star Trek history: ‘You people, you’re all astronauts on… some kind of star trek?’

As an aside, non-Trekkies should not begin here; this film is full of important references to the TV series.

My rating: 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek: Insurrection

This might’ve worked as a TV episode, but as a film it’s just boring, boring, boring with extra boring on top. Some dude we’ve never heard of (with a simply appalling plastic surgeon), from a race of aliens we’ve never heard of wants to chase some helpless innocent people we’ve never heard of away from their planet and Picard doesn’t like it and… zzzzzzzzz…

My rating:  🖖🖖

Star Trek: Nemesis

Tom Hardy and Patrick Stewart’s acting as Shinzon and Captain Picard respectively are about the only things this film really has going for it. In theory, the premise had lots of potential but it turned out to be a bit of a poorly written non-story about a disgruntled clone who decides to kill everybody with a particularly nasty WMD, only to be thwarted by an inevitable act of self-sacrifice from one of the heroes.

My rating:  🖖

Star Trek

As reboots (especially prequels) go, this was a zillion times better than I thought it was going to be. It features, quite simply, some of the best plotting, characterisation and pacing I’ve seen in a Star Trek film. There are a few inconsistencies with prime universe that are not explained by the time travel story but nothing anyone but the most knit-picky of fans would worry about.

My rating: 🖖🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek Into Darkness

Take all your favourite scenes from Wrath of Khan, mix them up a bit and boom! You’ve got Star Trek Into Darkness! Even so, with its strong plot, superb acting (especially from Benedict Cumberbatch) and plenty of excitement, this remains my favourite Star Trek film since First Contact.

My rating:  🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

Star Trek Beyond

After Insurrection and Nemesis, Star Trek Beyond is my least favourite Star Trek film. The writers clearly decided to forget about pacing, characterisation and all that boring stuff and created a non-stop heart-pumping thrill ride instead. Great acting though, I’ll give it that. Click here for a more detailed review on this film.

My rating: 🖖

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

Looking for a gift for the author or fiction lover in your life?
Check out the Penstricken Zazzle store!

Want a blog of your own? Start writing today with WordPress.com!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Spotlight: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Posted on by Ndrw

The Rules of Blackheath

Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then let’s begin . . .Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others . . .The most inventive debut of the year twists together a mystery of such unexpected creativity it will leave listeners guessing until the very last second.

Praise for The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

This book is one of the smartest things I’ve read in a long time… The plot is intriguing and keeps you on the edge of your seat, the characters are quite complex which I like and most of all THAT GREAT, creepy, and intriguing ATMOSPHERE is ALL I needed. Amazing book!

Sofi, ‘Book Review | The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton’, A Book A Thought, 11/08/2020

Atmospheric and unique, this is a mystery that adds “Who am I?” to the question of whodunit, with existentially suspenseful results.

Meg Nola, ‘The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’, Foreword Reviews, July/August 2018

You will put this book down feeling immensely satisfied…. Thrilling, Unpredictable, Captivating.

Amy, ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’, Amy’s Bookshelf, Jan 2020

Have you read The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle? Why not leave a wee comment below and let us know what you thought of it.

Click here to buy The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle on Amazon.

Click here to check out Stuart Turton’s website.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Monday Motivation

Posted on by Ndrw

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WordPress.com Jetpack WooCommerce

AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here: