Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver #BookReview #BlogTour

Nine suicides
One Cult
No leader
Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But at the same time, they run, and leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today. That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of the People Of Choice: A mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another. Thirty-two people on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. By the morning, People Of Choice are appearing around the globe; it becomes a movement. A social media page that has lain dormant for four years suddenly has thousands of followers. The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader that does not seem to exist.
How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?
A shocking, mesmerisingly original and pitch-black thriller, Nothing Important Happened Today confirms Will Carver as one of the most extraordinary, exciting authors in crime fiction.

I’m so honoured to be hosting the blog tour for Nothing Important Happened Today. Huge thanks to Will Carver, Orenda Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me and for my advance copy of the novel.

I have to admit I was a little nervous about reading Nothing Important Happened Today as my brother died by suicide in 2012. However, I believe Will Carver is one of the most exciting and talented authors around; both Dead Set and Good Samaritans were on my list of top reads of the year in which they were published. I love it when authors take risks and push boundaries and although I was prepared to stop reading should it prove too upsetting, I knew that this was a book that deserved my attention. I made the right decision because although there was one scene where I had to put it down for a little while, I would have missed out on one of the most startlingly original and exceptional novels I have ever had the privilege to read.
What would make somebody who didn't want to die, decide one day to kill themselves? Is it possible to manipulate the choices people make so that they unknowingly become part of a suicide cult? Nothing Important Happened Today never follows a straightforward, linear storyline but throughout there are chapters which follow the People of Choice - those who receive a letter which will decide their fate. Few are given names and instead these chosen ones are known only by the briefest of descriptions - the Doctor, the Poet, the Lovers - or perhaps most coldly of all, the Nobodies, the people who are seen but never remembered. They aren't given poignant eulogies and instead described with a sense of detachment; merely the subjects of a report. They are all ages and from all walks of life, had never previously met and would all have said they didn't want to die, yet they gather at London landmarks and then kill themselves as one.
This lack of an empathetic narrative voice means that the reader becomes as easily manipulated as the public in the story. It's uncomfortable to admit but the People of Choice don't really matter as individuals here, what is compelling is trying to comprehend why they behaved as they did. Will Carver forces us to confront our own role in feeding the desire to be noticed - the need for likes on social media, the rush to comment on news stories which are forgotten about as the world swiftly moves on to the next big issue. By holding a magnifying glass to this microcosm of society, Nothing Important Happened Today is able to reflect upon the ease at which the public can be persuaded to think they have free choice, in the same way that nobody thinks they are joining a cult.
There are also sections which are written as if this is an instruction manual on how to run a cult. The omniscient narrator references several instances of real-life cults and examples of mass murderers, and in doing so there comes an unsettling realisation that we are arguably complicit in these most narcissistic of crimes  As a society we are constantly fascinated by such topics - from Ted Bundy to David Koresh, we consume the films and documentaries without recognising that in doing so we validate their legacies.
This is about as dark as thrillers come and so it's fitting that it sees the return of Detective Sergeant Pace from Good Samaritans who still sees the black flames creeping in on him from all sides. He inadvertently becomes involved with the case despite being probably the last person who should be investigating mass suicides. There is a darkness within Pace which means he only ever seems moments away from a self-destructive decision which could threaten his career - or worse. If most of the characters are largely anonymous, then it is Pace who becomes the human face of the novel and it's intriguing to see what the case does to him.
Nothing Important Happened Today is a phenomenal book in which nothing really makes sense until the breathtaking moment when everything does. It is different from anything I have ever read and I can only thank Will Carver and Orenda Books for having the courage to write and publish this twisted literary thriller which so starkly and provocatively explores the twisted contradictions of life in the 21st Century. Disturbing, extraordinary, unforgettable.

Nothing Important Happened Today is published by Orenda Books, purchasing links can be found here.

Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.

About the Author

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series. He 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 two children. Good Samaritans was book of the year in The Guardian, The Telegraph and the Daily Express, and hit number one on the ebook charts.
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