The Daves Next Door by Will Carver
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.
____________________________________________
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, The Beresford is out 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.
Review
Is this a crime book or a philosophical tome? Is Will Carver God? Or a man disillusioned with modern society? Is his writing superb? Or was that a silly question? Is this one of the most thought-provoking books that will challenge your most inner preconceptions? Yes, yes it is. Is it one of the weirdest books I have read this year? Yes, yes it is. Is it one of the best books I have read this year? Again, yes, yes it is!
‘The Daves Next Door’ is one of those books you will remember for a long long time. But then all of Carver’s work is like that. We have had ‘Evil’ narrate a book before and this time we may have God as the narrator/suicide bomber/commuter/normal being getting on with his life.
From the above blurb you can see there are many stories and characters running parallel to each other in this weird and wonderful tale. All of them as important as each other and all tied together by one character sat on a tube carriage trying to determine who they are. They chop and disjoint they story as much as they allow for the story to progress. But isn't it really that those chapters merge and become part of the reader as it's your own inner self asking and answering those questions? Every single one of them hits home and will have a different answer for every reader. And that is where the genius of this book lies. It becomes personal. It jolts and shocks the reader and takes them on a journey of inner discovery. Well for me it did. Check all your preconceptions at the door as this book will make you question everything.
As someone who devours Will’s work I loved all the wee nods to his previous books! It made me feel like that class swot when I spotted them! Take me to the #CarverCoven now as I'm a fully paid member. I'm already desperate to know what is coming next from that deliciously dark and tremendous mind of his.
Let me know if you read this one!
