The ‘most original writer in Britain’ (Daily Express) returns with a mind-blowing, high-concept new thriller.
‘Laying bare our 21st-century weaknesses and dilemmas, Carver has created a highly original state-of-the-nation novel’ Literary Review
The threat of nuclear war is no longer scary. This is much worse. It’s invisible. It works quickly.
And it’s coming.
The scourge has already infected and killed half the population in China and it is heading towards the UK. There is no time to escape. The British government sees no way out other than to distribute ‘Dignity Pills’ to its One last night with family or loved ones before going to sleep forever … together. Because the contagion will kill you and the horrifying news footage shows that it will be better to go quietly.
Dr Haruto Ikeda, a Japanese scientist working at a Chinese research facility, wants to save the world. He has discovered a way to mutate a virus. Instead of making people sick, instead of causing death, it’s going to make them… nice.
Instead of attacking the lungs, it will work into the brain and increase the host’s ability to feel and show compassion. It will make people kind.
But governments don’t want a population in agreement. They want conflict and outrage and fear. Reasonable people are harder to control.
Ikeda’s quest is thoughtful and noble, and it just might work. Maybe humanity can be saved. Maybe it doesn’t have to be the end.
But kindness may also be the biggest killer of all…
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Hi and welcome to my review of Kill them with Kindness!
Ah, Will Carver books. A delight to read, a nightmare to review.
If there is one author who always manages to make all words fall right out of my head, it’s Will Carver. While reading, a bazillion thoughts pop into my mind, I ponder, I wonder. When I go to write them down, the cymbal monkey in my brain goes wild. But I’ll try!
Kill them with Kindness is the quintessential Will Carver book. It’s simultaneously super entertaining and highly thought-provoking. It’s multi-layered and it feels up to the reader to decide exactly what kind of reading experience they want to get out of it. Are you in it for thrills and suspense, do you just want to be entertained, or do you want to take a long hard look at yourself, the people around you, the society you live in, your government? Everything is possible, anything is possible!
Nevertheless, Kill them with Kindness felt a little different to me than previous books by this author. It has more of a sci-fi, dystopian vibe, which I gobbled up. I feel like this is his most ambitious, most epic book to date, and I loved it!
Most books don’t mention covid at all, or just in passing. While some books use it as a plot element, Kill them with Kindness is the first book I’ve come across that takes the pandemic and runs with it. It’s horrible, it’s plausible, it’s terrifying… and it’s bloody terrific.
Kill them with Kindness is a high-concept dystopian thriller that offers social criticism as well as thrills and chills. Recommended!
Kill them with Kindness is out in paperback and digital formats on 19 June. Preorder it from Orenda Books here.
Massive thanks to Orenda Books for the digital review copy. All opinions are my own.
I agree that his books are always impossible to review! You did a great job though. <3
Aww thank you 💜