Originally published: 14 November 2019

Author: Will Carver

Published by: Orenda Publishing

Genre: Thriller

Length: 276 pages

Reading dates: 31 October – 2 November 2019

How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they’re a member?

The most shocking opening to a book I think I have ever read!  9 people arrive on Chelsea Bridge in London at rush hour. They have never met, but together they each tie a rope around their necks and leap to their deaths.  Each person received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only 4 words: Nothing important happened today.

This letter is how they knew they had been chosen to become part of The People of Choice: a mysterious suicide cult.

32 people on a train witness the event and 2 of them will be next.  The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader who does not seem to exist, as social media interest builds and people all over the world start to kill themselves.

Good Samaritans was my first blog tour for Orenda books exactly 1 year ago today.  When I saw Carver had a new book out, I obsessively checked my inbox, desperate to be on the tour, as Good Samaritans was in my top 10 of 2018 and I knew this one would be just as good.

It is certainly not for the faint hearted – the descriptions of suicide are graphic and shocking, more so I think as we go from a normal day in the persons life, to finding out in detail how they died.  The book jumps backwards and forwards between the suicide and the participants life leading up the event – one minute we witness a female doctor at the gym, flirting with a fellow gym goer, the next we hear how her neck snapped as she hung herself from a bridge, the next we are with her at work, despairing in the way people don’t look after themselves!

We rarely hear the names of the suicide victims.  We have the Doctor, Poet, Ungrateful, the Lovers and each is also give a number.  Some are given the title Nobody – a title reserved for those people who don’t appear to have much bearing on our lives, the people we see but don’t remember.

I have no idea where Carver gets his ideas!  Utterly original, shocking and disorienting, this book is certainly one I will not forget.  The conclusion was satisfying and a little bit terrifying: Carver’s execution is impeccable.  If you have a strong stomach and don’t mind having your head messed with, you must read this book!

Thank you to Anne for inviting me on the tour and Karen at Orenda Books for sending me a proof!

About the author:

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 theatre and television at King Alfred’s, Winchester, where he set up a successful theatre company. He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and lives in Reading with his two children. Good Samaritans was  book  of  the  year  in the Guardian, Daily  Telegraph and Sunday Express, and hit number one on the ebook charts.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/will_carver