Good Afternoon All,

Happy Saturday and happy weekend. I have been counting down the minutes for this weekend to arrive. It’s been a busy week at work and I could not wait to log off yesterday and not think about it at all for two days. Not that I have a particularly chilled weekend planned. I have a kitchen that needs painting, a rubbish pile on the drive that needs bagging, boxes here there and everywhere that need tidying. No rest for the wicked. Speaking of the wicked…

Book 📖

I have had this book on my literal bookshelf for a couple of months now. I wanted to save it for a time when I knew I could really get into it and enjoy it as I had a feeling I was going to fall in love with it. Psychopaths Anonymous by @will_carver made its way onto my TBR list after an @OrendaBooks online event and hearing Will Carver talk about it had me hooked right away.

Description 🔖

Maeve is successful. She has a successful career, a beautiful home and she’s successful at being a functional alcoholic. She has an insatiable appetite for booze, sex and killing people. Alcoholics Anonymous doesn’t really cater for people like Maeve so she decides to create her own support group; Psychopaths Anonymous.

Maeve is managing to maintain a long term relationship at this point and wants to keep the group a secret. However one member gets himself in trouble with the police and the heat of the attention is too much for Maeve to deal with. She needs to close the group and she needs to stop killing but these habits must be replaced. Maeve starts to drink heavier. She finds it very easy to quit the things that are good for her, she can’t seem to quit those that are bad for her.

General Thoughts 🤔

Within the first minute of picking up the book, a C-bomb had been dropped and I knew from that moment that I was going to enjoy the tone of this book. It was incredibly dark and had some scenes in it that I’m sure some people’s stomachs wouldn’t be able handle. At the same time it was fantastically funny and had me chuckling to myself.

Reading this book certainly wasn’t comfortable. It was what it says on the tin; psychotic. I found it difficult to follow at times as I couldn’t grasp the timeline quick enough but Maeve was difficult to follow. Though I would like to think I don’t have anything in common with Maeve, I do think I understood her by the time I had finished the book.

Characters 👭👫👬

Where does one even start with Maeve? I thought that she was a strange mix of complex and simple. Obviously she was a psychopath and the very worst kind. As she said, not all psychopaths are violent, but nearly all of them have the ability to be. I felt like she was in a battle with herself at times. She didn’t want to give up killing but she wanted a normal, stable relationship with Seth. The simple side of her showed itself in her logical, straight to the point thought processes. As her relationship matured, she recognised that what was logical to her, would be considered rude to others. Personally, I thought her logic at times made sense (I’m really not sure what that says about me). I don’t want to go to the party, but I will go to the party because you want me to, however I can’t pretend to be excited about the party that I don’t want to go to. This makes perfect sense to me!

Writing Style ✍️

This is the first Will Carver book that I have read and less than half way through I had already gone and added everything else that he’s done to my TBR. His writing was gripping, bold, unapologetic and most of all, hilarious. His comedic timing throughout this book was superb.

I think it takes a brave writer to put something like this book out there into the universe. It could definitely rub people up the wrong way (and probably has). But I think readers should always have an open mind and be willing to see things from different perspectives. In order to enjoy this book, I think this is a must and if you can be open and not easily offended, you’re in for a treat.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖️

I finished Psychopaths Anonymous last night and haven’t stopped thinking about it since. It was shocking but thought provoking and as much as the gore, the hilarity and absolute absurdness was entertaining, I feel like I learnt something from this book. If you’re faint hearted, easily offended and not very strong stomached, it’s probably wise to steer clear of this book. Otherwise, get your hands on a copy immediately. You won’t regret it.

😍😍😍😍😍