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booksbybindu's review against another edition
4.0
‘Five Deaths For Seven Songbirds’ is a dark thriller, with an atmospheric setting, a foreboding style of writing and hooked me right from the start! I thoroughly enjoyed all the jazz references and went on a Spotify journey whilst reading this novel. Like a good piece of musical composition it had its main theme throughout but came with up and down tempos and built to a high octane crescendo at it's fulfilment. It was thoroughly entertaining.
I came into this book blind - as in the case I didn’t know anything about the term ‘giallo’. A lot of the reviews of ‘Five Deaths’ mention this term and reference the film they believe this novel is based upon. So I did a lot of googling and found that the wiki page was actually very informative so I will drop the link here;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giallo
What I discovered is that the idea of this regional genre felt more accessible when I realised that the original books were translations of authors from the golden age of crime like Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Edgar Allen Poe etc. As an avid vintage crime fan this began to excite me as a concept a lot more! Obviously, it has been developed by the Italians during that period and then moved into film but it meant I understood the combination of a detection type story along with the Hitchcock type visuals and slasher movie feel of the action.
The only criticism is that I felt the characters could have shown a bit more empathy and awareness of their situation. There is no way I would have been able to go about my normal daily existence knowing that so many people were being murdered in such close proximity. Apart from that I enjoyed all the characters personalities, especially that of the protagonist Eve. I can see how she reflects the traditional giallo themes of a foreigner being placed into a unique environment and having to deal with the murders. Plus, the influence of the detection side of the golden age crime was also prevalent in her story as she tries to work out who the killer is herself! Now, I did manage to pick up on the clues on who the killer was but then I am a huge vintage crime reader - my occupation is even selling these books - so it's not a reflection of the narrative being weak! Because it is not! I found there were a lot of ideas and strands emerging as the story progressed, there were red herrings galore and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and to grip the reader! I flew through this in a day and loved it!
I adore the cover of this novel but then I love the hark back to retro covers with the styling of it. Plus, the original ‘giallo’ covers were always yellow, the term ‘giallo’ actually means yellow in Italian! So whoever, designed this cover well done! It is superb.
This was a great read and I learned something new as well! Always a bonus. I really recommend this one.
I came into this book blind - as in the case I didn’t know anything about the term ‘giallo’. A lot of the reviews of ‘Five Deaths’ mention this term and reference the film they believe this novel is based upon. So I did a lot of googling and found that the wiki page was actually very informative so I will drop the link here;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giallo
What I discovered is that the idea of this regional genre felt more accessible when I realised that the original books were translations of authors from the golden age of crime like Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Edgar Allen Poe etc. As an avid vintage crime fan this began to excite me as a concept a lot more! Obviously, it has been developed by the Italians during that period and then moved into film but it meant I understood the combination of a detection type story along with the Hitchcock type visuals and slasher movie feel of the action.
The only criticism is that I felt the characters could have shown a bit more empathy and awareness of their situation. There is no way I would have been able to go about my normal daily existence knowing that so many people were being murdered in such close proximity. Apart from that I enjoyed all the characters personalities, especially that of the protagonist Eve. I can see how she reflects the traditional giallo themes of a foreigner being placed into a unique environment and having to deal with the murders. Plus, the influence of the detection side of the golden age crime was also prevalent in her story as she tries to work out who the killer is herself! Now, I did manage to pick up on the clues on who the killer was but then I am a huge vintage crime reader - my occupation is even selling these books - so it's not a reflection of the narrative being weak! Because it is not! I found there were a lot of ideas and strands emerging as the story progressed, there were red herrings galore and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and to grip the reader! I flew through this in a day and loved it!
I adore the cover of this novel but then I love the hark back to retro covers with the styling of it. Plus, the original ‘giallo’ covers were always yellow, the term ‘giallo’ actually means yellow in Italian! So whoever, designed this cover well done! It is superb.
This was a great read and I learned something new as well! Always a bonus. I really recommend this one.
booksbybindu's review against another edition
4.0
‘Five Deaths For Seven Songbirds’ is a dark thriller, with an atmospheric setting, a foreboding style of writing and hooked me right from the start! I thoroughly enjoyed all the jazz references and went on a Spotify journey whilst reading this novel. Like a good piece of musical composition it had its main theme throughout but came with up and down tempos and built to a high octane crescendo at it's fulfilment. It was thoroughly entertaining.
I came into this book blind - as in the case I didn’t know anything about the term ‘giallo’. A lot of the reviews of ‘Five Deaths’ mention this term and reference the film they believe this novel is based upon. So I did a lot of googling and found that the wiki page was actually very informative so I will drop the link here;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giallo
What I discovered is that the idea of this regional genre felt more accessible when I realised that the original books were translations of authors from the golden age of crime like Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Edgar Allen Poe etc. As an avid vintage crime fan this began to excite me as a concept a lot more! Obviously, it has been developed by the Italians during that period and then moved into film but it meant I understood the combination of a detection type story along with the Hitchcock type visuals and slasher movie feel of the action.
The only criticism is that I felt the characters could have shown a bit more empathy and awareness of their situation. There is no way I would have been able to go about my normal daily existence knowing that so many people were being murdered in such close proximity. Apart from that I enjoyed all the characters personalities, especially that of the protagonist Eve. I can see how she reflects the traditional giallo themes of a foreigner being placed into a unique environment and having to deal with the murders. Plus, the influence of the detection side of the golden age crime was also prevalent in her story as she tries to work out who the killer is herself! Now, I did manage to pick up on the clues on who the killer was but then I am a huge vintage crime reader - my occupation is even selling these books - so it's not a reflection of the narrative being weak! Because it is not! I found there were a lot of ideas and strands emerging as the story progressed, there were red herrings galore and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and to grip the reader! I flew through this in a day and loved it!
I adore the cover of this novel but then I love the hark back to retro covers with the styling of it. Plus, the original ‘giallo’ covers were always yellow, the term ‘giallo’ actually means yellow in Italian! So whoever, designed this cover well done! It is superb.
This was a great read and I learned something new as well! Always a bonus. I really recommend this one.
I came into this book blind - as in the case I didn’t know anything about the term ‘giallo’. A lot of the reviews of ‘Five Deaths’ mention this term and reference the film they believe this novel is based upon. So I did a lot of googling and found that the wiki page was actually very informative so I will drop the link here;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giallo
What I discovered is that the idea of this regional genre felt more accessible when I realised that the original books were translations of authors from the golden age of crime like Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Edgar Allen Poe etc. As an avid vintage crime fan this began to excite me as a concept a lot more! Obviously, it has been developed by the Italians during that period and then moved into film but it meant I understood the combination of a detection type story along with the Hitchcock type visuals and slasher movie feel of the action.
The only criticism is that I felt the characters could have shown a bit more empathy and awareness of their situation. There is no way I would have been able to go about my normal daily existence knowing that so many people were being murdered in such close proximity. Apart from that I enjoyed all the characters personalities, especially that of the protagonist Eve. I can see how she reflects the traditional giallo themes of a foreigner being placed into a unique environment and having to deal with the murders. Plus, the influence of the detection side of the golden age crime was also prevalent in her story as she tries to work out who the killer is herself! Now, I did manage to pick up on the clues on who the killer was but then I am a huge vintage crime reader - my occupation is even selling these books - so it's not a reflection of the narrative being weak! Because it is not! I found there were a lot of ideas and strands emerging as the story progressed, there were red herrings galore and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and to grip the reader! I flew through this in a day and loved it!
I adore the cover of this novel but then I love the hark back to retro covers with the styling of it. Plus, the original ‘giallo’ covers were always yellow, the term ‘giallo’ actually means yellow in Italian! So whoever, designed this cover well done! It is superb.
This was a great read and I learned something new as well! Always a bonus. I really recommend this one.
barry_x's review
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Had a bit of a search around for some giallo-inspired fiction recently and picked up this and the excellent Dead Girl Blues. Where 'Dead Girl Blues' wears it's influences proudly, I would say, 'Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds' is very much a homage to the giallo, rather than a work strongly influenced by it. I guess everyone reading this book knows what they are getting though. I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy the book, because I did, but it isn't a brilliant book and I guess there is a lot of 'paying tribute to influences' a little too strong.
From the yellow cover to the number and animals in the title straight away you know you are leaning heavily into giallo tropes (I'd have given a bonus point if the title made no sense whatsoever rather than describe to a tee what happens). The story is about an American student called Eve who wins a place at an exclusive music conservatory in Ghent. When she's there, she joins an extra-curricular jazz group whose members start turning up dead.
Straight away the reader can see 'Suspiria' - the American girl, thousands of miles away from home in a dark, gothic, exclusive elite school. The Eyrie is quite a brilliant location. It's always dark and in shadow, the lift never works, it has a cruel superintendent type figure and also a stoic 'Igor' like caretaker. It always feels unsettling and old and shrouded in darkness. Everson always makes this place feel sinister, dangerous, unwelcoming.
And then there are those 'crazy Europeans' - you kind of see this with US writers, the Europeans are sex-obsessed, drinking all the time, for the American girl far from home they seem unfriendly and yet quite liberal in their attitudes (or what I would say 'normal adulting' considering some American attitudes seem to think people are still children until they are 25 or something). We're told the story starts in late August, but I think that's so that every female character can be written wearing skimpy tops and shorts.
Generally speaking though, the tropes are being lined up - murders happen, getting increasingly more gruesome and sleazy as the book moves on. Madness plays a role, where the central character doubts her own sanity and roll in the killings (have you still got your giallo ticksheet?). What the book does quite well is line up a whole range of potential suspects, bringing some in later in the novel and letting others sit in the back for a while. Again, this is giallo 101 and I smiled throughout spotting the tropes and recognising the set up. I did work it out quite early who was the killer but to be honest that didn't spoil my enjoyment because I liked how the different suspects were lined up and even at the reveal how the mystery could have conceivably pointed at another character.
Still got your giallo ticksheet out? Because you're going to need it. The book feels very cinematic. Many scenes in the book I was imagining how they would be filmed, and I guess it would have made quite a good giallo to be fair. We have the black gloved and masked killer of course, we have a number of set pieces (including ones that could have been lifted straight out of Argento's best work) - the thing on the piano and the second person in the lift would look great on film. I mentioned about the murders getting more extreme - towards the end of the book we are in Fulci at his best / worst level. I'd also say we also veer into the 'sexy gialli' trope too, with seemingly every female character getting naked, sleeping with someone, doing other sexy stuff. I was getting a bit bored reading it, but at the same time I could see the influences and what Everson was nodding too. It would be better on film I guess.
Music is at the heart of this book too, and there are moments where you just have to imagine all those amazing scores from gialli - from smooth lounge music and jazz to discordant orchestral terror and foreboding and menace. There's a scene where Eve is playing alone late at night and I can hear the sadness and emotion as she plays - and yet I can see the voyeur, the watcher as the camera looks from afar (that isn't even in the book, but damn I can see the shot!). There is even a Morriconi scholarship!
The cops in the book are completely ineffectual and stupid (they are called Martino and Gastaldi which brought a smile to myself), and Eve herself is stupid - doing inconceivable things regularly. One kind of has to leave their brain at the door a bit (but again I could say all these things are straight from the genre).
I also smiled when the victims surnames were revealed and they are all of amazing lead actresses in giallo (but there should have been a Fenech!)
All this makes it hard to give a fair score. There's a homage and the odd easter egg, and then there is littering every page with them and putting in every trope imaginable. I don't think Everson is a particularly good writer - sometimes the writing seems clunky and whilst I was winking at the tropes I never felt scared. There are few genuine suspenseful moments. The over-arching mystery is a good one but there are a few things poorly explained (is that a trope too?). I found I didn't like Eve much either, or any of the other characters. Despite that it was fun.
I'd say knock a star off if you're not a giallo fan but if you are, you'll have fun with this (even if it would be better on film!)
From the yellow cover to the number and animals in the title straight away you know you are leaning heavily into giallo tropes (I'd have given a bonus point if the title made no sense whatsoever rather than describe to a tee what happens). The story is about an American student called Eve who wins a place at an exclusive music conservatory in Ghent. When she's there, she joins an extra-curricular jazz group whose members start turning up dead.
Straight away the reader can see 'Suspiria' - the American girl, thousands of miles away from home in a dark, gothic, exclusive elite school. The Eyrie is quite a brilliant location. It's always dark and in shadow, the lift never works, it has a cruel superintendent type figure and also a stoic 'Igor' like caretaker. It always feels unsettling and old and shrouded in darkness. Everson always makes this place feel sinister, dangerous, unwelcoming.
And then there are those 'crazy Europeans' - you kind of see this with US writers, the Europeans are sex-obsessed, drinking all the time, for the American girl far from home they seem unfriendly and yet quite liberal in their attitudes (or what I would say 'normal adulting' considering some American attitudes seem to think people are still children until they are 25 or something). We're told the story starts in late August, but I think that's so that every female character can be written wearing skimpy tops and shorts.
Generally speaking though, the tropes are being lined up - murders happen, getting increasingly more gruesome and sleazy as the book moves on. Madness plays a role, where the central character doubts her own sanity and roll in the killings (have you still got your giallo ticksheet?). What the book does quite well is line up a whole range of potential suspects, bringing some in later in the novel and letting others sit in the back for a while. Again, this is giallo 101 and I smiled throughout spotting the tropes and recognising the set up. I did work it out quite early who was the killer but to be honest that didn't spoil my enjoyment because I liked how the different suspects were lined up and even at the reveal how the mystery could have conceivably pointed at another character.
Still got your giallo ticksheet out? Because you're going to need it. The book feels very cinematic. Many scenes in the book I was imagining how they would be filmed, and I guess it would have made quite a good giallo to be fair. We have the black gloved and masked killer of course, we have a number of set pieces (including ones that could have been lifted straight out of Argento's best work) - the thing on the piano and the second person in the lift would look great on film. I mentioned about the murders getting more extreme - towards the end of the book we are in Fulci at his best / worst level. I'd also say we also veer into the 'sexy gialli' trope too, with seemingly every female character getting naked, sleeping with someone, doing other sexy stuff. I was getting a bit bored reading it, but at the same time I could see the influences and what Everson was nodding too. It would be better on film I guess.
Music is at the heart of this book too, and there are moments where you just have to imagine all those amazing scores from gialli - from smooth lounge music and jazz to discordant orchestral terror and foreboding and menace. There's a scene where Eve is playing alone late at night and I can hear the sadness and emotion as she plays - and yet I can see the voyeur, the watcher as the camera looks from afar (that isn't even in the book, but damn I can see the shot!). There is even a Morriconi scholarship!
The cops in the book are completely ineffectual and stupid (they are called Martino and Gastaldi which brought a smile to myself), and Eve herself is stupid - doing inconceivable things regularly. One kind of has to leave their brain at the door a bit (but again I could say all these things are straight from the genre).
I also smiled when the victims surnames were revealed and they are all of amazing lead actresses in giallo (but there should have been a Fenech!)
All this makes it hard to give a fair score. There's a homage and the odd easter egg, and then there is littering every page with them and putting in every trope imaginable. I don't think Everson is a particularly good writer - sometimes the writing seems clunky and whilst I was winking at the tropes I never felt scared. There are few genuine suspenseful moments. The over-arching mystery is a good one but there are a few things poorly explained (is that a trope too?). I found I didn't like Eve much either, or any of the other characters. Despite that it was fun.
I'd say knock a star off if you're not a giallo fan but if you are, you'll have fun with this (even if it would be better on film!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Sexual violence
mgcalder's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
A gripping book that twists and turns until the very end
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, and Suicide
czytatnik's review against another edition
3.0
~Thanks to NetGalley for my eARC~
3 stars
The longer I think about this book, the more wrongs I can see in it. I mean, it was fun to read and quite entertaining at that, but I just can't get over some things that were there and are bothering me now that I’ve read it and have had some time to think about it. There are small things like Eve’s constant whining about how nobody likes her because she’s from the US and much bigger things like writing off an abuse of power which is getting students naked and taking photographs of them by the esteemed professor. Yep, you’ve read that one just right.
In between those two misgivings, there is much more. Sometimes I was asking myself whether it is my lack of understanding the language or there is some big mistake in the plot. Well, I’ve checked that just to be sure and unfortunately, it was a case of overlooking what the characters were saying a few pages ago. I can live with that however as it was entertaining me enough to not be boring or otherwise overly terrible. I think I just don’t have very high demands when it comes to this type of book.
I liked enough the plot when it came to murders, that it was getting more and more shown in the book and at the same time they have escalated in their nefariousness. On the other hand, how come the police never really investigated them? It might be the difference between countries but it’s just too convenient that the school was never closed, even for one day, so the police can run a thorough search. Very convenient indeed for the author so his murderer couldn’t be caught too early. Same convenience was applied when it comes to the time passing in this story. It was so confusing to keep track of what month it is or even time of the day that at some point I just gave up. It was impossible to tell how it had happened that she just woke up and went for the first classes in the day and in the next line all of a sudden it was already evening and they’re all sitting in some bar or other drinking beer. I could go on and on on this topic so let’s just park it here.
This book was entertaining enough upon reading it, but don’t make the same mistake as I did and don’t think too much about it.
3 stars
The longer I think about this book, the more wrongs I can see in it. I mean, it was fun to read and quite entertaining at that, but I just can't get over some things that were there and are bothering me now that I’ve read it and have had some time to think about it. There are small things like Eve’s constant whining about how nobody likes her because she’s from the US and much bigger things like writing off an abuse of power which is getting students naked and taking photographs of them by the esteemed professor. Yep, you’ve read that one just right.
In between those two misgivings, there is much more. Sometimes I was asking myself whether it is my lack of understanding the language or there is some big mistake in the plot. Well, I’ve checked that just to be sure and unfortunately, it was a case of overlooking what the characters were saying a few pages ago. I can live with that however as it was entertaining me enough to not be boring or otherwise overly terrible. I think I just don’t have very high demands when it comes to this type of book.
I liked enough the plot when it came to murders, that it was getting more and more shown in the book and at the same time they have escalated in their nefariousness. On the other hand, how come the police never really investigated them? It might be the difference between countries but it’s just too convenient that the school was never closed, even for one day, so the police can run a thorough search. Very convenient indeed for the author so his murderer couldn’t be caught too early. Same convenience was applied when it comes to the time passing in this story. It was so confusing to keep track of what month it is or even time of the day that at some point I just gave up. It was impossible to tell how it had happened that she just woke up and went for the first classes in the day and in the next line all of a sudden it was already evening and they’re all sitting in some bar or other drinking beer. I could go on and on on this topic so let’s just park it here.
This book was entertaining enough upon reading it, but don’t make the same mistake as I did and don’t think too much about it.
scottneumann's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
annarella's review
4.0
I grew up reading "gialli" which how mysteries&thrillers are called in Italian as the first one were printed with a yellow cover, like the one of this book.
This could have be one the book i read long ago as there's something of those thriller.
It's complex and well written thriller set in In Belgium. The plot is well developed and kept me on the edge and guessing.
The characters are well developed and the setting is interesting.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
This could have be one the book i read long ago as there's something of those thriller.
It's complex and well written thriller set in In Belgium. The plot is well developed and kept me on the edge and guessing.
The characters are well developed and the setting is interesting.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
corpserevivers's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
bookishlybrief's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
bookivore's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
A prestigious music school housed in an older building makes for a wonderful setting for this book. And the string of mysterious murders certainly has a classic movie feel.
I didn't connect with this book as well as I have with others I've read by the author, though. Maybe it was from the pacing. The murders are shown in full vibrant violence, but the interspersing passages are perhaps a little too life-as-normal. For me, the contrast was so stark I had difficulty handling the violent parts (especially one murder in particular). Or maybe it's because a lot of the horror I read has some paranormal aspect and can therefore be more easily shelved in my mind as fiction that couldn't actually happen.
It's a good read, overall. I was never quite sure who was responsible until the reveal. If you don't mind some graphic violence in your horror/mystery reads, it's worth picking up.
I didn't connect with this book as well as I have with others I've read by the author, though. Maybe it was from the pacing. The murders are shown in full vibrant violence, but the interspersing passages are perhaps a little too life-as-normal. For me, the contrast was so stark I had difficulty handling the violent parts (especially one murder in particular). Or maybe it's because a lot of the horror I read has some paranormal aspect and can therefore be more easily shelved in my mind as fiction that couldn't actually happen.
It's a good read, overall. I was never quite sure who was responsible until the reveal. If you don't mind some graphic violence in your horror/mystery reads, it's worth picking up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content