Eli Hagin can’t finish anything.
He hates his job, but can’t seem to quit. He doesn’t want to be with his girlfriend, but doesn’t know how end things with her, either. Eli wants to write a novel, but he’s never taken a story beyond the first chapter.
Eli also has trouble separating reality from fiction.
When his best friend kills himself, Eli is motivated, for the first time in his life, to finally end something himself, just as Mike did…
Except sessions with his therapist suggest that Eli’s most recent ‘first chapters’ are not as fictitious as he had intended … and a series of text messages that Mike received before his death point to something much, much darker…
Suicide Thursday by Will Carver is published in paperback on 24 November 2022 by Orenda Books. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review, as part of this Blog Tour
So here we are again, back in the hands of one of the most prolific authors that I know. A new book from Will Carver often puts the fear of God into me. Some of his writing, in the past, has made me feel a bit 'urghhh'. Not in a bad way, but in a way that scares the shit out of me sometimes.
My husband read this one a few months ago and enjoyed it. I've tried to talk about the book with him and he just told me to 'read it' and that he has nothing to say. I think he means, that he doesn't have a clue to explain what goes on between these pages, if he were honest!
I found Suicide Thursday to be a much easier read than Carver's previous books. It felt more like a 'story', I know that sounds a bit odd, but anyone who has read his novels will understand.
He's created a story, that whilst not quite linear, is easy to follow and it revolves around a Thursday. Suicide Thursday to be precise.
I found Suicide Thursday to be a much easier read than Carver's previous books. It felt more like a 'story', I know that sounds a bit odd, but anyone who has read his novels will understand.
He's created a story, that whilst not quite linear, is easy to follow and it revolves around a Thursday. Suicide Thursday to be precise.
Eli is the lead character and it often feels as though you are actually walking in his shoes, with his measured out paces on his journey to and from the office and his often obsessive habits when he gets home. Eli appears quite strange, but I actually think he's pretty normal, it's just that he's vocalising his inner thoughts a lot, something many of us don't do ... we like to appear rationally normal, but are we?
Eli has a girlfriend, Jackie. They've been together for years and Eli wants to break up with her. Jackie doesn't appear too happy in their relationship either and despite her religious fervour and regular confessions, she's embarking on an illicit relationship. She's NOT a nice person.
Mike is going to take his life on Thursday. It's planned, just as soon as he's finished varnishing the floor in his flat.
Mike does take his life and I have to be honest and say that the scene where Mike sits, dead in his flat, did turn my stomach a bit. It's hard hitting, yet so matter of fact.
So, I've rambled her quite a bit about Eli, Jackie and Mike and some of the things that happen, no spoilers here! What I need to do is talk about the writing and the incredible way that Carver can examine people, and relationships and life. This really is a study in how people love and, often, in the case of Eli's colleague, how they can hate. How other people can impact your life, sometimes even when they are no longer alive ..... cue Eli's Mum, and then Mike.
Oh, I forgot. Eli wants to be a writer. He is very good at writing first chapters, but after that, nothing. He has a library of first chapters, and Carver shares some of them within the book. I loved these and I'd really love to see a collection of Eli's first chapters published some day.
I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit like my husband did after he read this one. I loved it, but I don't know why, and I can't really tell anyone what it's about. It's Carver at his very best, it's a little different to his previous novels, but it certainly has his trademark.
My advice? Just read it, and let me know what you think.
Mike is going to take his life on Thursday. It's planned, just as soon as he's finished varnishing the floor in his flat.
Mike does take his life and I have to be honest and say that the scene where Mike sits, dead in his flat, did turn my stomach a bit. It's hard hitting, yet so matter of fact.
So, I've rambled her quite a bit about Eli, Jackie and Mike and some of the things that happen, no spoilers here! What I need to do is talk about the writing and the incredible way that Carver can examine people, and relationships and life. This really is a study in how people love and, often, in the case of Eli's colleague, how they can hate. How other people can impact your life, sometimes even when they are no longer alive ..... cue Eli's Mum, and then Mike.
Oh, I forgot. Eli wants to be a writer. He is very good at writing first chapters, but after that, nothing. He has a library of first chapters, and Carver shares some of them within the book. I loved these and I'd really love to see a collection of Eli's first chapters published some day.
I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit like my husband did after he read this one. I loved it, but I don't know why, and I can't really tell anyone what it's about. It's Carver at his very best, it's a little different to his previous novels, but it certainly has his trademark.
My advice? Just read it, and let me know what you think.
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Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award 2020 and Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.
Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for Guardian Not the Booker Prize, and was followed by three standalone literary thrillers, The Beresford, Psychopaths Anonymous (both optioned for TV) and The Daves Next Door.
He lives in Reading with his family.
Twitter @will_carver
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