Karen Sullivan at Orenda books has acquired UK & BC (ex Can) rights to two new novels from Will Carver.
GOOD SAMARITANS is a dark and daring new high-concept thriller, with all the right ingredients for a bestseller: one crossed wire, three dead bodies and six bottles of bleach.
Seth Beauman can’t sleep. He stays up late, calling strangers from his phonebook, hoping to make a connection, while his wife, Maeve, sleeps upstairs. A crossed wire finds a suicidal Hadley Serf on the phone to Seth, thinking she is talking to The Samaritans. But a seemingly harmless, late-night hobby turns into something more for Seth and for Hadley, and soon their late night chats are turning into day-time meet-ups. And then this dysfunctional love story turns into something altogether darker, when Seth brings Hadley home. Dead.
Maeve can’t believe Seth’s done it again. Can’t believe she’s trimming another person’s fingernails, removing traces of evidence, burning her clothes, wrapping someone in plastic. Can’t believe the police on the news are getting it so wrong. Can’t believe she and Seth are talking again, having sex again. It might not be traditional marriage counselling but it’s working.
For now.
Because somebody saw Seth the night he killed Hadley. And he wants something more than justice. He wants a taste.
GOOD SAMARITANS is cool, dark, and sexy, with a plot wound more tightly than its characters. A highly original thriller, that plays with and subverts the reader’s expectations.
Sullivan said: "I was riveted by this book and I can’t remember the last time I read a submission in one go … nor felt such a visceral sense of anxiety as I read. It’s stunning: dark, dangerous, sexy, wildly readable, brilliantly plotted and paced and, yet, completely different to anything I’ve ever read. In a nutshell, it is exactly the kind of book I want to be publishing at Orenda, and it’s going to be huge. This is a scorching return to the crime-fiction scene for the unbelievably talented Will Carver, and I am absolutely elated to get this on my list. It’s quite simply outstanding."
Carver said he is "absolutely thrilled" with the deal.
"I know how passionate they are about the books that they publish and the writers they represent. There’s a real sense of spirit and daring to the way they work that I admire. And I believe it to be the perfect fit for my books and the way that I write. Exciting times ahead", he said.
Carver's agent, Tom Witcomb, said: "I'm so pleased that Will is joining the Orenda family. There are few who match Karen and her team in terms of passion and enthusiasm for the books they publish, and that shows in the results they get. I can't wait to see what they do with GOOD SAMARITANS, a pitch perfect, subversive genre novel, that's sure to invigorate readers looking for a fresh, exciting voice. It seems a match made in heaven.'
Orenda will publish in Autumn 2018.