Today Mandie shares her thoughts on Psychopaths Anonymous, the latest novel from Will Carver. A sort of not really a prequel to the not quite a series featuring Detective Pace, this centres around Maeve of Good Samaritan fame. I share my thoughts last year and you can find my review here. Read on to learn more about the book and see what Mandie thought:
Release Date: 25 November 2021
Publisher: Orenda Books
About the Book
When AA meetings make her want to drink more, alcoholic murderess Maeve sets up a group for psychopaths … The dark, unpredictable, electrifyingly original new thriller from critically acclaimed author Will Carver.
Maeve has everything. A high-powered job, a beautiful home, a string of uncomplicated one-night encounters. She’s also an addict: A functioning alcoholic with a dependence on sex and an insatiable appetite for killing men.
When she can’t find a support group to share her obsession, she creates her own. And Psychopaths Anonymous is born. Friends of Maeve.
Now in a serious relationship, Maeve wants to keep the group a secret. But not everyone in the group adheres to the rules, and when a reckless member raises suspicions with the police, Maeve’s drinking spirals out of control.
She needs to stop killing. She needs to close the group.
But Maeve can’t seem to quit the things that are bad for her, including her new man…
A scathing, violent and darkly funny book about love, connection, obsessions and sex – and the aspects of human nature we’d prefer to hide – Psychopaths Anonymous is also an electrifyingly original, unpredictable thriller that challenges virtually everything.
Mandie’s Thoughts
Will Carver’s books are not for the feint hearted that’s for sure and he has not let up with Psychopaths Anonymous. There were even times when even I was not sure that this was the book for me as I was occasionally left feeling uncomfortable by some of the events that took place and at times it just seemed a little bit angry. That being said it was great to delve back into that world and re visit some of the characters that we met in Good Samaritans.
On the surface Maeve seems just like anyone else, holding down a job and enjoying a drink in the evening, but once you get to dig a little deeper you quickly find that Maeve is someone with a very dark and twisted mind, someone who creates her own version of the AA 12 step programme so that she can deal with those people who wrong her or possibly just even annoy her. Wondering if there are any more like-minded people out there she even sets up her own support group. I am not saying that Maeve is a completely unredeemable character as she does form some kind of bond with Jill, someone she met when studying various AA groups and even goes out of her way to help her but she is definitely someone you would not want to get on the wrong side of as you never know quite how she is going to deal with the “make amends” part of the 12 step programme.
If there is one chink in her armour then it is Seth who she meets through work and one way, or another becomes what can only be described as obsessed with. If she is capable of loving anyone or anything then for better or worse Seth is that person. There are times I found myself hoping he would realise what she was like and leave but by the end of the book you see they are possibly more suited than first appeared (and if you have read Good Samaritans then you know their outcome).
Once again Will Carver has taken something that seems a little taboo, something that people don’t want to face or talk about and pushed it right to the surface in a way that will shock you and stay with you for quite some time. I would also say that reading this whilst at work was probably not the best idea, but it did give me some ideas for the next time someone really gets on my wick. Not saying I would carry it out as I don’t do blood, but I can at least pretend in my head.
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. Good Samaritans was book of the year in Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Express, and hit number one on the ebook charts.
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