by Will Carver
The rest of the Orenda team have been brilliant in taking up the slack, too. West: classic, brutal edits. We locked horns on this one over a few things but it came out better – of course. And Cole, who had to be more on the ball than ever. Your creativity and focus went beyond expectations. Anne, thank you for keeping my book out there and organising a huge blog tour, I thought the book would get lost.
My agent, Kate, who reads my stuff first and says that it’s weird and quirky, and still gets behind it – I’m starting to think she likes it. We managed to grab a breakfast between lockdowns, and talk about books and films and how much we love This Is Us. Then I say I want to write two books a year and she’s like, ‘Yeah. Done.’
Some awesome people in the book world who continued to shout about my writing even when I thought everybody had stopped listening: Liz, I want to make number one AND two this year. Pinborough, of course. Tom the advice-giver. Chris Hooley, Chris McDonald, Kriss Akabusi, Kris Kristofferson … any other Chris you can think of.
And the real people. My mum and Brendan, who had to deal with Covid and a stroke and the worst sixtieth-birthday celebrations. Zoom quizzes and bingo died out long before you gave up on them, but it was nice to see you. And often nicer to mute you.
Phoebe and Coen, just when I thought I couldn’t love you more, I had to homeschool you. You still make all the days better, and I hope I can leave you more than a pile of books nobody read. Hopefully you’ll thank me, one day, for making you do the hard maths sheets that ‘none of your friends had to do’.
Siena and Zoe and Will, I’m sure that I am a pain in your arse a lot of the time, too, but we have shared more of this year than any other and look at us … Stupid songs and hugs and dancing. Loads of love. But, Siena, I’m not sharing your Instagram until you are nicer to your mum. (Ha!)
That brings me to the mum. Kel. My Kel. So many people had the worst year ever. And it was shit, of course. But never with you. And if I’m languishing, there’s nobody else I want to be languishing with. And if I’m struggling, I’m not struggling with you. We exercised our way through, and we drank our university body weights in booze most nights, but you keep me going, and you don’t think writing isn’t a real job, and you call it ‘work’ and, let’s be honest, you buy most of the gin. I’m not a good enough writer to make you realise how amazing you are, but I’ll keep trying.
I can’t forget a supportive friend who stupidly opened an independent bookshop during a global epidemic. Please, find Fourbears Books online or visit in Caversham, Reading. Order one book. Now. Preferably one of mine.
Times are still weird, and I thank anyone who buys this book. We need decent stories and art and music more than ever. We need to take a step back, but we need to challenge. Instead of thinking about being kind, we need to try being kind. We need to talk to one another but, more importantly, we need to listen. Be present. Think. What do you want? Things are bad. But it can’t be hell. It’s not even warm.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. Will 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 children. Follow Will on Twitter @will_carver.
COPYRIGHT
Orenda Books
16 Carson Road
West Dulwich
London SE21 8HU
www.orendabooks.co.uk
First published by Orenda Books 2021
Copyright © Will Carver 2021
Will Carver has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publishers.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–1–913193–81–2
eISBN 978–1–913193–82–9
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.