I’m like Pavlov’s dog when a new Carver book comes out. Psychopaths Anonymous by Will Carver is a book that needs to be on any thriller-lovers list. You may or may not regret it.

The plot:

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…

I loved it. Simple as that

If you’re new here, hello, my name’s Nicole and I’m a Carver-holic. Does that work? If you’re returning to see me gushing over this author’s latest release, you’ve come to the right place, my friend.

I’m glad I read this in the comfort of my own home because by 39 pages in, I was already pulling a ‘wtf’ face and my jaw was slowly, but surely, dropping to the floor. You’re thrown into the deep-end meeting Maeve, who’s appeared in previous books by Carver and immediately reminded why these books are like crack.

I’m so glad to see Maeve back. Good Samaritans by Carver, released in 2018, focuses around Maeve and is fantastic (review here), and I still think about it (impossible not to). You can most definitely read this first, or as a standalone, but I’d recommend reading all Carver’s books in publication date order. Good easter eggs which I LIVE for.

The narrative – I feel like you have to laugh or find it to be dark humour otherwise it’s just fucked up. You really get into Maeve’s brain – is this a positive or negative comment? Who knows?

The writing – second to none. If anyone else penned this, they couldn’t pull it off. This is a Carver speciality. Short, catchy, insulting – it’s unputdownable.

The plot – brilliant. Intense. Creative. Clever. Genius (copy and pasted from ‘synonym for brilliant’).

Despite gifting us readers with two books this year (The Beresford released earlier in 2021), it’s just not enough. It’s certainly greedy of us.

I love how it takes time to process these books – you’re just not done when you put it down, especially if you’ve read the previous. I love taking my time to link them together and these books, ultimately, stay on my mind all the time.

Whilst I can’t pinpoint what made me love Psychopaths Anonymous so much, I can confidently say that there isn’t 1 reason why I don’t like it. I can’t find any faults. It’s just brutally dark, psychologically messed-up and taking the concept of an AA group, and making it astonishingly intelligent whilst making you question what on earth is going on.

I loved it. Simple as that. Until next time, Mr. Carver.

Psychopaths Anonymous, Will Carver, RRP £8.99 (paperback); Amazon

Pages: 308

Publisher: Orenda

Genre: Thriller

Will Carver has featured in my Top Books of the Year for two years in a row. You can find them here and here.

Gifted in exchange for an honest review.