Reviews

Good Samaritans by Will Carver

wintrovia's review against another edition

4.0

A dark and disturbing story which takes on the perspective of some pretty unpleasant and dark characters. I like grubby people behaving despicably but this novel pushed fairly close to my limits of decency and I'm far from a pearl-clutching prude. Overall, I enjoyed the book and I think the plotting was nicely done to draw it together to a satisfying conclusion that made sense for the characters and the story as a whole. The graphic detail of the crime and the sex set off my cronge reflexes at times but persevering through those sections was worth it to enjoy a well-structuted crime story.

lauramay's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

wednesdayzombie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

stevemozza's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

ltux's review against another edition

5.0

Whoa. Even though you can kind of predict where this book will go... it's intense and dark and keeps you turning the pages. It scratches a little at your brain, makes you uncomfortable but keeps you reading it until the very last word.

strawfly14's review against another edition

5.0

Me ha sorprendido mucho y para bien. Hace años que lo tenía comprado, pero no terminaba de llamarme la atención. Sin embargo, ha sido cogerlo y no poder parar de leer. La estructura que tiene de capítulos muy cortos ayuda a ello. Al principio es un poco lioso mientras te introduce a todos los personajes porque hasta que empiezas a ubicarlos a todos no haces más que preguntarte cosas, pero está muy bien construido, tiene un ritmo bastante ágil y muchísimos giros de guion que no me vi venir, la verdad. Me ha encantado, de los mejores thrillers que he leído este año.

kellyvandamme's review against another edition

5.0

I thought I had set myself up for disappointment: my expectations were through the roof, what with all the glowing reviews and that enticing cover quote by Sarah Pinborough. And yet. And yet! And yet holy fuck!! This story is deliciously dark, it is sarcastic, it is imbued with this dark sense of humour, it is, uhm, rather, uhm, explicit. The characters are highly dysfunctional, but not in a frustrating way. They don’t make you want to roll your eyes and ponder how freaking irritating you find them, instead they draw you in, making you wonder how much more they can take before they lose the plot completely. They have this air of sadness and loneliness and they all have their own, mostly dysfunctional, way of dealing with that. And all that makes this story soooo bloody addictive. It twists and it turns and if you’re able to predict the outcome, I’ll buy you a bottle of, well, uhm, bleach? Seems appropriate. To be honest, I did predict some of it, but that didn’t spoil my fun in the least. If anything, I was even more anxious to find out whether or not I was right. I wanted to race through it, and I wanted to go slow and savour each and every glorious sentence, all at the same time. Because this novel is not only about the thrills and the shocks, it’s also beautifully written in a very unique writing style that I quite liked.
So what’s it about? I’m not even going to try to tell you: I can’t do this story any justice trying to explain all the craziness and weirdness and darkness and general awesomeness. Instead, I’ll just say this: READ IT. It’ll be the weirdest, craziest thing you’ll read this year. It may very well be the weirdest, craziest thing you’ll read this decade. So put it on your TBR list, put it on your Christmas list, put it on any list, put it on ALL the lists, and find out for yourself why every single person who's read it has been gushing over it.

Very highly recommended

pickwickthedodo's review against another edition

2.0

Well, I went back to finish it, which I suppose one could argue means it wasn't as bad as I originally thought. And I suppose it wasn't.

I did enjoy the ending, even though it was predictable. I thought it played out well. I'm not sure that makes up for how endlessly boring nearly 70% of the book was though. 2 stars from me.
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DNF @ 60% because I am so colossally bored.

alipals's review against another edition

3.0

A 2.5 from me - this is a dark and disturbing story and very graphic which made for uncomfortable reading. I know it's getting great reviews but don't think it's for me.

anusha_natesh's review against another edition

4.0

This was a twisted tale of love. Confusing and exciting. It was like the author decided to put all range of crazies into 4 people in the book. There were moments I felt like it was far fetched. But also I enjoyed moments that were simple thriller with multiple plot twists