What’s it all about?:
One crossed wire, three dead bodies and six bottles of bleach
Seth Beauman can’t sleep. He stays up late, calling strangers from his phonebook, hoping to make a connection, while his wife, Maeve, sleeps upstairs. A crossed wire finds a suicidal Hadley Serf on the phone to Seth, thinking she is talking to The Samaritans.
But a seemingly harmless, late-night hobby turns into something more for Seth and for Hadley, and soon their late-night talks are turning into day-time meet-ups. And then this dysfunctional love story turns into something altogether darker, when Seth brings Hadley home…
And someone is watching…
Dark, sexy, dangerous and wildly readable, Good Samaritans marks the scorching return of one of crime fiction’s most exceptional voices.
What did I think?:
Oh Holy Mother. What did I just READ?! Well, the obvious answer is Good Samaritans by Will Carver of course but seriously, I wasn’t expecting this. Thank you so much to Anne Cater for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and Karen Sullivan and all at Orenda Books for sending over a digital copy of this astounding novel in exchange for an honest review. Well, I’m going to be perfectly honest – I was blown away. I’ve read the three books in Carver’s January David series, Girl 4, The Two and Dead Set and enjoyed his writing style but I’ve never been so ecstatic about an author’s comeback until I read Good Samaritans. This novel is on another level of thrilling sumptuousness (is that even a word?) and I just wanted to stay on that level and never come down. Why did it have to end again?
Will Carver, author of Good Samaritans and the January David series.
What can I say about this novel? Finding the words to describe such marvelous characterisation and a blinder of a plot-line is going to be difficult, especially if I want to keep that air of mystery that this book absolutely deserves. Let me just say it’s primarily the story of three people. We have a married couple, Maeve and Seth and a gentleman called Ant who works for the Samaritans helpline. Seth suffers from vicious insomnia and often spends his evenings with the phone book on his lap, calling random numbers hoping for someone to talk to. Many of these callers end up hanging up on Seth (after showering him with abuse of course!) but there is one lonely, desperate young woman, Hadley Serf who decides to talk to him after wires become crossed and she believes she is on the line to the Samaritans. From this moment, all our characters become embroiled in some very murky, distorted goings-on that may make you a little nervous when talking to a stranger on the other end of the phone in the future.
Good Samaritans?
My fellow blogger Mart, (fabulous, hilarious reviewer and all round good egg) over at The Beardy Book Blogger wished me luck with reviewing this book and boy was he right! I don’t want to give ANYTHING away but how do I find the words to persuade you all that this is first of all, a book you need to be reading by the end of the year and that this is an author that is reaching the dizziest and loftiest of heights? Just trust me, please. This was a “skyscraper of New York” piece of writing that I couldn’t get enough of and broke new grounds of darkness, gritty substance and staggeringly fabulous creativity. Be prepared for graphic sexual content, deplorable acts of violence and some warped minds and ideals that will linger in your memory long after you’ve finished the final page. Yes, there is a bit of “sexy time” and although I’m not usually a fan of this kind of thing, it never felt gratuitous and strangely enough, worked with the characters and the narrative that we are given.
The characters in Good Samaritans are beautifully realised and fantastically crazy whilst also maintaining that remarkable sense of authenticity that is sometimes so difficult to pull off when writing multiple characters, both male and female. I felt like the author really thought about their mindset at each moment of the novel and wrote believable and compelling moments for each one of them. If you like your crime raw, bruised, deliciously evil and a little bit uncomfortable, this is the novel for you. If Carver carries on writing like this, I’ve found myself another favorite author!
Would I recommend it?:
But of course!
Star rating (out of 5):
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January
David series (Arrow). He spent his early years in Germany, but
returned to the UK at age 11, when his sporting career took off. He
turned down a professional rugby contract to study theater and
television at King Alfred’s, Winchester, where he set up a successful
theatre company.
He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, while
working on his next thriller. He lives in Reading with his two children.
Find Will on Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4717409.Will_Carver
on his website at: http://www.willcarver.net/
on Twitter at: @will_carver
Thank you so much once again to Anne Cater, Karen Sullivan and Orenda Books for inviting me to take part in this blog tour, I’ve had a wonderful time doing it. Good Samaritans was published on 15th November 2018 and will be available as a paperback and a digital e-book. If you fancy more information don’t forget to check out the rest of the stops on this blog tour for some amazing reviews!
Link to book on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40574569-good-samaritans
Link to book on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Samaritans-Will-Carver-ebook/dp/B07DFP29VY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543164877&sr=8-1&keywords=good+samaritans
