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.
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, The Beresford was published in July. His previous title Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize, while Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Good Samaritans was book of the year in Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Express, and hit number one on the ebook charts.
My Review:
Will Carver is amongst a handful of authors I will read without even checking the blurb, title or genre and when Anne Cater mentioned he had a new book out, I begged, pleaded, bribed and finally convinced Anne to put me on the blogtour.
I read quite a few books, so when I saw this was the 4th in the Detective Pace series and focused on Maeve, I got a bit concerned that I had forgotten key points and plots, so I immediately sent Will a private message saying “I’m about to start Psychopath Anonymous and it’s been ages since I read Good Samaritans etc. Will you give me a brief recap of Maeve and what she got up to in the previous books xxx“. Will responded immediately, but I can’t tell you what he said in case you haven’t read Good Samaritans, Nothing Important Happened Today and Hinton Hollow, but I can assure you that Psychopaths Anonymous is set BEFORE these 3 books and is a brilliant (and shocking) introduction to Maeve. Therefore in my humble opinion, if you haven’t read any of these books – you should absolutely start with Psychopaths Anonymous.
Back to the book. I know that many authors “write what they know” and in that case we should be very afraid of Will Carver, because he channels a female sex-crazed nymphomaniac with psychopathic tendancies to attack, dismember and kill (and not necessarily in that order) anyone who crosses her with such clarity and precision you might actually think he’s writing from personal experience!!
Psychopaths Anonymous is NOT for the feint hearted – in fact the title might actually give that away, so if you are prudish, squeamish or easy offended I would strongly suggest you don’t read this, but if like me you like dark, disgusting and downright dirty then grab yourself a copy and get comfortable.
Maeve is HYSTERICAL, she’s ballsy, brave and bad-ass and takes NO prisoners, in fact she just kills them without a thought, she knows she’s a psychopath, she revels in it and decides after attending Alcoholics Anonymous for a few months, that despite drinking every day she’s NOT an alcoholic. Maeve doesn’t believe in GOD – she doesn’t believe in a HIGHER POWER – she believes SHE is the “higher power” and sets up her own 12 step group in the local community centre for Psychopaths.
Honestly I could go on and on about how outrageous this book is, how funny Maeve is, how dark this book gets and how much I enjoyed it, but I won’t because hopefully once you’ve managed to get this far in my review you will just go and download the book yourself.
