July 19th, 2021 by Jane Turner
This review of The Beresford by Will Carver comes via a Blog Tour organised by Random Things. The Beresford is published on 22 July by Orenda Books. I received a free copy of the ebook.
Just outside the city – any city, every city – is a grand, spacious but affordable apartment building called The Beresford.
There’s a routine at The Beresford.
For Mrs May, every day’s the same: a cup of cold, black coffee in the morning, pruning roses, checking on her tenants, wine, prayer and an afternoon nap. She never leaves the building. Abe Schwartz also lives at The Beresford. His housemate Smythe no longer does. Because Abe just killed him. In exactly sixty seconds, Blair Conroy will ring the doorbell to her new home and Abe will answer the door. They will become friends. Perhaps lovers.
And, when the time comes for one of them to die, as is always the case at The Beresford, there will be sixty seconds to move the body before the next unknowing soul arrives at the door. Because nothing changes at The Beresford, until the doorbell rings…
Will Carver is a masterful writer. Quirky and witty, he’ll take you on a journey through absolute insanity and drop you home afterwards. Not always safely, mind, but you will be home…
The Beresford is that building in your town that’s got a faded grandeur because it’s been there forever. It’s the famous local landmark that few people have been inside, but everyone recognises. That building that you use when giving directions (‘Take a left at The Beresford’ or ‘It’s two blocks past The Beresford.’) This is the tale of The Beresford – and it’s bizarre and chilling as you can imagine.
The Beresford (the book, not the building) will (figuratively) take you down a couple of flights of stairs, spin you round in the dark, then leave you in a lift with no buttons that stops at random floors. What you’ll find when the doors open will be disturbing, thrilling, creepy and utterly compelling. It starts with a murder and continues…
Carver’s style is one of dark humour. Nothing is sacred, and his words are blunt. Sometimes its like his tongue is firmly in cheek, and in the next paragraph he’s deadly serious. There’s gore, suspense, disbelief, and evil – along with a savagely creepy undercurrent that simply gives you goosebumps.
Will Carver has done it again. He’s given us another twisted tale that is so realistic that I’m starting to look at things differently and a watching for flashes in the corner of my eye.
Thoroughly original and thoroughly twisted – The Beresford will sink its hooks into you too.
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, Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize, while Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year and for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell. Good Samaritans was a book of the year in Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Express, and hit number one on the eBook charts.
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