Upstairs at the Beresford by Will Carver
THERE ARE WORSE PLACES THAN HELL...
Hotel Beresford is a grand, old building, just outside the city. And any soul is welcome.
Danielle Ortega works nights, singing at whatever dive bar will offer her a gig. She gets by, keeping to herself. Sam Walker gambles and drinks, and can’t keep his hands to himself. Now he’s tied up in a shoe closet with a dent in his head that matches Danielle’s broken ashtray.
The man in 731 has been dead for two days and his dog has not stopped barking. Two doors down, the couple who always smokes on the window ledge will mysteriously fall.
Upstairs, in the penthouse, Mr Balliol sees it all. He can peer into every crevice of every floor of the hotel from his screen-filled suite. He witnesses humanity and inhumanity in all its forms: loneliness, passion and desperation in equal measure. All the ingredients he needs to make a deal.
When Danielle returns home one night to find Sam gone, a series of sinister events begins to unfold. But strange things often occur at Hotel Beresfor
About the writer
Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series and the critically acclaimed, mind-blowingly original Detective Pace series, which includes Good Samaritans (2018), Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) and Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020), all of which were ebook bestsellers and selected as books of the year in the mainstream international press. Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for both the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2020 and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, and was followed by four standalone literary thrillers, The Beresford, Psychopaths Anonymous, The Daves Next Door and Suicide Thursday. Will spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and lives in Reading with his children.
Review
‘Upstairs at the Beresford’ is like the hotel your weird Aunty takes you to! You know what I mean, the faded glamour of it all, peeling paint and it has staff that know everything you get up to. It's weird, quirky, and downright disturbing but it's also your favourite time of the year. To be fair that last sentence could be about any Will Carver book. Yes, you have guessed it, it is indeed the time of year when I wax lyrical about this writer once more. When you pick up one of his books, you are prepared for it to be disturbing but then it always manages to surprise you with its content. He isn't a writer who churns out the same old time and time again, each and every book has its own distinctive voice and narrative. You never know what you are going to get!
This is the prequel to ‘The Beresford’ but it can be read as a standalone very easily. I do recommend reading ‘The Beresford’ though as it's a startling incredible book! In this outing, we see The Beresford as a hotel basking in mediocrity with its conferences and dodgy salesmen. It's time has passed but it's still full most days. Our attention is concentrated on floor seven and its interesting residents, the Zhaou’s who are the perfect couple trying to save for a house of their own, Danielle the engaging jazz singer and Odie the ten-year-old boy who knows too much sadness for one so gentle. And of course, there is Mr Bailol the mysterious resident of the Penthouse and Carol the hotel manager. Carver has the ability to draw such nuanced and enticing characters. Despite the majority of them being horrid people you can't help but be invested for them and rooting for them to win. But there are always losers, aren't they?
It is always hard to review a Will Carver book as you actually can't talk too much without giving away everything. But know this he has an uncanny ability to drill right down to those essential building blocks upon which our humanity rests, pull them out from under us and upturn our very essence. He manages to depict the struggle between good and evil so subtly that you will miss references and then be hits you over the hit with the blindingly obvious. He plays with light and shade. On one page you will be so devastated and the next be laughing along with him. Basically, expect the unexpected!
Let me know if you pick this one up!
