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pickwickthedodo's review against another edition
2.0
Well, I went back to finish it, which I suppose one could argue means it wasn't as bad as I originally thought. And I suppose it wasn't.
I did enjoy the ending, even though it was predictable. I thought it played out well. I'm not sure that makes up for how endlessly boring nearly 70% of the book was though. 2 stars from me.
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DNF @ 60% because I am so colossally bored.
I did enjoy the ending, even though it was predictable. I thought it played out well. I'm not sure that makes up for how endlessly boring nearly 70% of the book was though. 2 stars from me.
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DNF @ 60% because I am so colossally bored.
alipals's review against another edition
3.0
A 2.5 from me - this is a dark and disturbing story and very graphic which made for uncomfortable reading. I know it's getting great reviews but don't think it's for me.
anusha_natesh's review against another edition
4.0
This was a twisted tale of love. Confusing and exciting. It was like the author decided to put all range of crazies into 4 people in the book. There were moments I felt like it was far fetched. But also I enjoyed moments that were simple thriller with multiple plot twists
btpbookclub's review against another edition
4.0
Oooh. This was a good one. A great read. Brilliantly written with short chapters. It took me a while to figure out all the different characters but then it clicked and the story went on. I did find there were quiet a few hot, steamy scenes in this story! Phew. You've been warned.
I flew through this book, easily devoured. A page turner. I found the characters were all strangely unique and wierd. Parts of the story are very dark. I enjoyed reading this one. A well deserved four stars from me. Highly recommend. A new author for me.
I flew through this book, easily devoured. A page turner. I found the characters were all strangely unique and wierd. Parts of the story are very dark. I enjoyed reading this one. A well deserved four stars from me. Highly recommend. A new author for me.
beytwice's review against another edition
4.0
Really engaging thriller with a premise so plausible it doesn’t bear thinking about. The first half of this had me racing through and while I wasn’t as enraptured by the rest I still really enjoyed how Carver wrapped the story up. The twists were effective and well thought out and the characters deeply flawed and intriguing. I will say my main gripe is the sheer amount of sex scenes as I’m normally unperturbed by this content but it really felt like every other scene something of this nature was being referred to. It got both repetitive and off putting and most of the time felt unnecessary to the plot or atmosphere of the story. Other than that, lots of points for Will Carver!
zooloo1983's review against another edition
5.0
I cannot write this review. I mean for the first time, yes it is possible, but I am speechless. This book!!!
Whatever you do, go into the book blind. Honestly, you have to, the reading and all the OMG you will say is much better when you do not have a clue about the book! You do not want your journey spoiled!
Well…I say a journey. It is more like a rollercoaster where you cannot see the tracks anymore and you do not know if you are going to make it out alive! I mean the opening words to the book set you on the disaster ride.
The short chapters entice you, they make sure they devour you, it gets you hooked and addicted where you are just consumed by the book that you have to keep reading, you need that hit, you need the words. It becomes an obsession to finish the book, which as it turns out is a theme in the book, along with lust, darkness and well why do you think we need six bottles of bleach!
The one crossed wire is what sets this story off, Hadley wanting the Samaritans, and instead gets Seth. Seth is an insomniac and just wants to talk to someone, anyone. Next night she gets Ant, who does work at the Samaritans, someone who is worried about Hadley and the rest.
The writing is vivid, you can picture everything clearly and it is scary how the story unfolds. It is twisty, it is dark, it is bold and it is a book that you will not be able to forget anytime soon. I just can not tell you anything. Just
OMG
That is all I can say!
I know this is a short snappy review, bit like the chapters, but I feel if I say too many words I will say something I should not! All you need to know is I loved this messed up book, it is not an easy read but as I said it is addictive!
Whatever you do, go into the book blind. Honestly, you have to, the reading and all the OMG you will say is much better when you do not have a clue about the book! You do not want your journey spoiled!
Well…I say a journey. It is more like a rollercoaster where you cannot see the tracks anymore and you do not know if you are going to make it out alive! I mean the opening words to the book set you on the disaster ride.
The short chapters entice you, they make sure they devour you, it gets you hooked and addicted where you are just consumed by the book that you have to keep reading, you need that hit, you need the words. It becomes an obsession to finish the book, which as it turns out is a theme in the book, along with lust, darkness and well why do you think we need six bottles of bleach!
The one crossed wire is what sets this story off, Hadley wanting the Samaritans, and instead gets Seth. Seth is an insomniac and just wants to talk to someone, anyone. Next night she gets Ant, who does work at the Samaritans, someone who is worried about Hadley and the rest.
The writing is vivid, you can picture everything clearly and it is scary how the story unfolds. It is twisty, it is dark, it is bold and it is a book that you will not be able to forget anytime soon. I just can not tell you anything. Just
OMG
That is all I can say!
I know this is a short snappy review, bit like the chapters, but I feel if I say too many words I will say something I should not! All you need to know is I loved this messed up book, it is not an easy read but as I said it is addictive!
graciado's review against another edition
4.0
One thing I love most about this genre is its ready accessibility in all libraries, from physical 'New Release' shelves through to collections of classics on the Libby app. That's where I found Will Carver's Good Samaritans. Its zazzy yellow cover with a dangling wooden puppet is eye-catching, and the two front quotes promise "crime thriller and domestic noir" and "darker than Fight Club", so okay!
I haven't read any of Will Carver's novels before, but he has two series of crime/mystery novels, and this book is the first in the Detective Sergeant Pace series. Genre-wise, the book is definitely crime rather than detective fiction, though. In fact, I was ambivalent about the detective's inclusion at all.
Good Samaritans follows a set of characters – murders, victims, investigators, and witnesses – through the week leading up to a specific murder and the week thereafter. We alternate perspectives and first- and third-person narration as we move chronologically through the weeks, with shared pre-occupations and neuroses binding the characters beyond their factual interactions in the world. Carver's plotting allows us plenty of suspense about who dies, when, how, and at whose hands, as all of our characters are desperate for connection and (to a greater or lesser degree) repulsed by themselves. The artificial constraint of following a week either side of a murder means that there is a nice build up of tension to the central death, but a little bit of a rush afterwards to wrap up the plot and rebuild to the final conclusion.
I found the characters' fixation on wanting to talk more compelling and interesting than the other shared fixation Carver gives them, on cleanliness and feelings of being dirty. This latter underpins the promise on the cover – 'One crossed wire, three dead bodies, six bottles of bleach' – but as descriptors of the heart of the novel, they're a bit misleading (there are more than three dead bodies, for one thing!).
This muddled focus contributed to my ambivalence about DS Pace as he appears in the novel. On the one hand, it seems necessary to have him given that there are multiple murders to solve, and he introduces some element of pressure. His presence (and poor policing efforts) also assist with some of the parallelism in the novel, foreshadowing a second potentially destructive relationship between a killer and an investigator. Otherwise, Maeve's character cannot really connect to the rest of the cast. However, a tauter and less thematically laboured book could have been produced by leaving him out, or introducing him only at the very end.
Those little niggles aside, Carver does interesting things with some of the typical materials of the genre – a tortured detective, multiple dead women left in fields, and small but disastrous nudges that unhinge precarious people – so Good Samaritans is certainly worth a read!
I haven't read any of Will Carver's novels before, but he has two series of crime/mystery novels, and this book is the first in the Detective Sergeant Pace series. Genre-wise, the book is definitely crime rather than detective fiction, though. In fact, I was ambivalent about the detective's inclusion at all.
Good Samaritans follows a set of characters – murders, victims, investigators, and witnesses – through the week leading up to a specific murder and the week thereafter. We alternate perspectives and first- and third-person narration as we move chronologically through the weeks, with shared pre-occupations and neuroses binding the characters beyond their factual interactions in the world. Carver's plotting allows us plenty of suspense about who dies, when, how, and at whose hands, as all of our characters are desperate for connection and (to a greater or lesser degree) repulsed by themselves. The artificial constraint of following a week either side of a murder means that there is a nice build up of tension to the central death, but a little bit of a rush afterwards to wrap up the plot and rebuild to the final conclusion.
I found the characters' fixation on wanting to talk more compelling and interesting than the other shared fixation Carver gives them, on cleanliness and feelings of being dirty. This latter underpins the promise on the cover – 'One crossed wire, three dead bodies, six bottles of bleach' – but as descriptors of the heart of the novel, they're a bit misleading (there are more than three dead bodies, for one thing!).
This muddled focus contributed to my ambivalence about DS Pace as he appears in the novel. On the one hand, it seems necessary to have him given that there are multiple murders to solve, and he introduces some element of pressure. His presence (and poor policing efforts) also assist with some of the parallelism in the novel, foreshadowing a second potentially destructive relationship between a killer and an investigator. Otherwise, Maeve's character cannot really connect to the rest of the cast. However, a tauter and less thematically laboured book could have been produced by leaving him out, or introducing him only at the very end.
Those little niggles aside, Carver does interesting things with some of the typical materials of the genre – a tortured detective, multiple dead women left in fields, and small but disastrous nudges that unhinge precarious people – so Good Samaritans is certainly worth a read!
saltycorpse's review against another edition
2.0
This author, or maybe the publisher, really wants him to be the next Chuck Palahniuk, to a point where it's kind of embarrassing. There's a LOT of technique lifted from Palahniuk, and I mean more than is just a nod. And tropes - the insomnia (Fight Club), the repeating, short sentences, and the violence and gore without any kind of point. The thing with Palahniuk is with his books, no matter what your feelings are, is he's usually trying to get at a larger social criticism (though I haven't read anything past Rant, so who knows, maybe he's gone downhill. I know he's certainly lost cultural relevance in recent years). Carver doesn't seem to be getting at anything. He just wants to write weird sex porn and murder porn. It wasn't a bad book, it was entertaining and all, but like a sub-par donut, all empty calories, no real substance, and probably not particularly worth it, enjoyable while you're eating it but followed by vague regret that you finished the whole thing. I think Carver (or the publisher or editor) could benefit by pulling their collective heads out of Palahniuk's ass and stop trying so hard. It's like you can smell the desperation of wanting to be next in line for that particular literary role. Also the overly obvious Ted Bundy play of the dude working for the suicide hotline felt like amateur hour. Congrats, you read something about the most boring serial killer and easter-egged it into your book.
Oh, and the number of sentences he starts with "And" is embarrassing. I'm not the fuckin grammar police and I tend to enjoy when people 'break rules' with language but this was just like holy fucking shit could you structure ONE SENTENCE differently, bud? Like, just for variety?
Oh, and the number of sentences he starts with "And" is embarrassing. I'm not the fuckin grammar police and I tend to enjoy when people 'break rules' with language but this was just like holy fucking shit could you structure ONE SENTENCE differently, bud? Like, just for variety?
cernunnos's review against another edition
5.0
Will Carver has a dark and twisted imagination.
Will Carver has a killer sense of humour.
Will Carver has a new fan.
Will Carver has a killer sense of humour.
Will Carver has a new fan.