Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for Psychopaths Anonymous. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour.

Blurb:

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.

Review:

Psychopaths Anonymous is my favourite book by Will Carver so far. If you’re looking for a book that follows literary conventions and will take you gently through a linear narrative, it’s probably not for you. But if you’re happy with eccentric characters, unique storylines and the opportunity to question everything you think you know, then this is a book I will wholeheartedly recommend.

Our protagonist is Maeve, and being an alcoholic murderess should make her hard to like. But somehow, I warmed to her and at times, I felt like I could understand her. She’s a brilliantly written character and I loved getting to know her a little more. The dark humour in Carver’s writing is wonderfully observed and it makes reading the novel a pleasure despite the subject matter. 

Throughout all of his books, Carver comments on aspects of society, but this element seems to be more prominent in Psychopaths Anonymous, perhaps because the setting of the AA meetings lends itself to this more easily. I always find that Carver is able to express what I am thinking about issues such as religion, social media and mental health and I really appreciate the opportunity his novels provide to think about these subjects in more detail. It is brilliantly written and totally engaging. 

I also enjoyed seeing some of Carver’s past characters pop up for good measure! 

I can’t wait to see what the author does next! 

Psychopaths Anonymous is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: