How bad was Daniel Coleridge really? All we know about him is that he has a family and that he's willing to go to any lengths to escape. Given that any society that could create Blackheath and the plague doctor system clearly has a few screws loose, it's not hard to imagine Daniel as a political prisoner who only embraced his darker side after being functionally consigned to an eternity in hell.
Did Michael Hardcastle shoot Felicity-as-Evelyn after the faked death because he truly believed Evelyn would rather die than marry Ravencourt? Or did he realize what a monster his sister was, have an attack of conscience, and take his chance to put her down?
Complete Monster: The Footman is a Psycho for Hire working for Daniel Coleridge. Tasked with hunting down Aiden's hosts and Anna, the Footman stalks them while sadistically taunting them before killing Aiden's hosts, including Constable Rashton. The Footman loves taking his time to kill them slowly if possible. He also threatens to painfully kill both Aiden and Anna if they don't cooperate, only to then try to kill them anyway once they do.
Creator's Pet: Despite Turton claiming that Ravencourt was his favorite host to write, it's clear that his sympathies are really with Jim Rashton. At the absurdly young age of 27, Jim's a veteran homicide detective, has won the love of a beautiful socialite, makes huge leaps in solving Blackheath's mystery, is beloved by everyone at the party, and has no obvious flaws like all the other hosts do. Even the Plague Doctor hand-picks him for special protection from the Footman by stashing him in a storage cupboard before the day starts.
Esoteric Happy Ending: The novel ends with a paean to the joys of waking up in the same bed twice in a row just after revealing that Aiden and Anna will have to spend the rest of their lives on the run. Also, assuming Blackheath is based on a real murder, all the horrific events that took place there still happened but without the resolution.
Slow-Paced Beginning: Aiden wastes most of his first three days figuring out where he is and understanding the rules of Blackheath. It's not until he inhabits Lord Ravencourt that he actually begins to make progress.
Take That, Scrappy!: To those exasperated by the Footman constantly getting handed wins by the plot, his death by shotgun blast at the hands of Aiden-as-Collins comes as a welcome relief.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: We're meant to feel bad for Michael Hardcastle being forced to murder his sister. Except he wasn't forced to do anything- he just assumed Evelyn's plan would fail and took it upon himself to enact a ridiculously drastic backup plan. The later reveals do nothing to soften this blow, since Michael doesn't seem to have known anything about Evelyn's real plans or personality.
Wangst: Aiden's endless complaints about how horrifying it is to be fat when he's in Lord Ravencourt's body, at one point breaking down crying because he hates it so much, comes off as less sympathetic and more mean-spirited and shallow. It goes from merely annoying to ludicrous when his host immediately after, Jonathan Derby, is a Serial Rapist who Aiden can physically feel lusting after his targets and who's implied to have raped someone just the night prior....and he still finds being in Ravencourt's body more disgusting.
