The Daves Next Door by Will Carver #Review #Giveaway

 

We are back with the impressive Orenda Books today with Will Carver's latest thriller, The Daves Next Door which will be  published on July 21st. I also have the chance for you to win a print copy. Details of how to enter can be found at the foot of this post.

 A disillusioned nurse suddenly learns how to care.

An injured young sportsman wakes up find that he can see only in black and white.

A desperate old widower takes too many pills and believes that two angels have arrived to usher him through purgatory.

Two agoraphobic men called Dave share the symptoms of a brain tumour, and frequently waken their neighbour with their ongoing rows.

Separate lives, running in parallel, destined to collide and then explode.

Like the suicide bomber, riding the Circle Line, day after day, waiting for the right time to detonate, waiting for answers to his questions: Am I God? Am I dead? Will I blow up this train?

Shocking, intensely emotive and wildly original, Will Carver’s The Daves Next Door is an explosive existential thriller and a piercing examination of what it means to be human … or not. 

My Thoughts

 Well - this is certainly a difficult book to read and to review. It challenges you as the reader and you know you cannot take anything at face value. Different people, going through their own versions of purgatory, live out their lives. Seemingly random events can change their futures. Indeed, there could be many versions of their existence being repeated in different universes, each with different outcomes- or could there? The narrator who is riding the Circle Line urges you all the time to take your thoughts to the next level, to imagine the unimaginable.

    I didn't find it to be a comfortable read. Part of it was the situation on the train which forced you to put yourself in the shoes of the commuters who were going about their daily lives unaware who was amongst them. I'm not sure I even understood parts of the story because all the time there is that doubt as to what is real, what is imagined. However, it is a striking story, told through such an original authorial voice. It is dark and unexpected. Different story threads look at loss, grief and the absence of love, and how the human mind deals with trauma. As I write this, my mind adds the phrase 'or does it?' It's like that narrator is still there, asking me questions and planting seeds of doubt!

In short: a singular thriller

About the Author

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series. He spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, 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. Will’s latest title published by  Orenda  Books,  Hinton  Hollow  Death  Trip  was  longlisted  for  the  Not  the  Booker Prize, while Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year and for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell. Good Samaritans was a book of the year in Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Express, and hit number one on the eBook charts.

You can read my review of Good Samaritans here.  Nothing Important Happened Today here, Hinton Hollow Death Trap  here

and The Beresford here. and Psychopaths Anonymous here

 

You can follow Will here:  Twitter  |  Facebook

Book link - you can pre-order here: Amazon UK

 

Thanks to Will Carver, Karen Sullivan and Anne Cater of Orenda Books for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.

                                      Be sure to check out the rest of this tour!

 

 Giveaway (UK only) 

 

To win a print copy of The Daves Next Door, just Follow and Retweet the pinned tweet at @bookslifethings and good luck!

Closing date is 17th July 2022 and there is one winner.    

 

*Terms and Conditions –  UK only.  The winner will be selected at random via Tweetdraw from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

 

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