Cold Calling

by Russell Mardell

Still reeling from the break-up with the love of his life, insurance firm cold-caller Ray English has become a bit of a screw up. Cynical and withdrawn, Ray is aimlessly drifting through life in London with his long suffering best friend, Danny. However, once he is asked to reform his college band for a friend's wedding, Ray is soon forced to face up to his old life, and the hometown he had tried so hard to turn his back on.

Anya Belmont is a woman with a secret and a history that continues to shape her life. A coffee shop owner in Salisbury, Anya is successful, yet bored; married, yet lonely. She is also slowly being driven to distraction by her highly temperamental friend, the child-hating children's author, Eva Cunningham.

Through fate, coincidence or just bad timing, Ray and Anya's lives begin to change when Ray cold-calls Anya and the two strike up a seemingly innocuous conversation. Against their better judgement, their conversation is soon the start of a relationship played out over the phone. But can there ever be anything real in a phone call?

A sharp-witted, saccharine-free, thoroughly modern tale of lost loves and found friendships.

'A refreshingly modern take on romance and friendship, 'Cold Calling' spikes with warmth and wisdom. Genuinely funny, shrewdly observed and really rather brilliant.' -- Caroline Smailes

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2016

About the author

Russell Mardell is a novelist, playwright, and producer based in the South West of England.

He is the author of the novels, Stone Bleeding, Bleeker Hill, Darkshines Seven and Cold Calling, and the short story collection, Silent Bombs Falling on Green Grass.

Having studied film production in London he has also worked on various short films and is an associate producer on the award-winning documentary, Rise: The Story of Augustines.

Russell is also one of the founders of The Salisbury Literary Festival

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ray is a bit of a lost soul. He has never got over the love of his life and is struggling to move on. That all changes when he speaks to Anya over the phone whilst on a cold call for the insurance company he works for.

Anya I couldn’t quite work out to start with. Even though she is very forth right with Ray and his problem, there seemed to be something holding her back. She should be happy with her life but there seems to be something niggling away at her that is constantly there.

The story itself alternates mainly between Ray and Anya and their phone conversations, as well as Danny, Ray’s friend and Eva, Anya’s friend. This way, not only do we get to see Ray and Anya through their own perceptive but from their friends also.

Anya very much becomes Ray’s own personal counsellor. Even though he knows he shouldn’t be calling her, she has become in a way his security blanket. Anya may give good advise to Ray but she seems to have a problem at taking her own advice for herself and I was dying to know what she was hiding from us as well as Ray.

Ray and Anya both know that they are crossing over certain lines yet they can’t seem to stop themselves from ringing each other. Even though it seems to be more a case of Anya helping Ray, I think Ray in his own way helps Anya.

Cold Calling is actually quite a sweet read. I thought it was going to be some big romance story but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I think it’s very much about how sometimes getting a total strangers perceptive on your life gives us more clarity than from people that are closest to us. It’s also about facing the past in order to move on. The relationship between both Ray and Anya felt a bit like a mother berating her young child. It was sweet, humorous and by the end quite moving.

A lovely and compelling read.

My thanks to the author for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cold Calling by Russell Mardell is a sardonic observation of life, love and friendship with wry humour and moments of perfectly placed astuteness.

Ray is still getting over his ex-girlfriend five years after they split up. Seeing a counsellor, it is Anya, a woman he ‘meets’ over the telephone during a cold call he makes as part of his job in an insurance company who helps him achieve the closure he needs while Anya finds the courage to discuss a part of her life which she had kept to herself. A friendship is established between Ray and Anya despite them never meeting.

Cold Calling is quite unlike anything I have read before. It is told in first person narrative by four different people - Ray, Anya, Ray’s friend and flatmate Danny and Anya’s author friend Eva - with the main story line centring around the phone calls between the main characters. The characterisation is fantastic with each bringing their own unique voice and perspective to the story which serves to add a wider perspective and humour. Ray is a little bit of a screw up, his relationship with Katie was not long lasting and yet his life has been on hold for the five years since they split up. Anya has issues of her own she is dealing with and her friendship with Ray allows her the opportunity to find the courage to discuss her issues with her long standing friend, Eva. Eva is a successful author, but not in the genre she wants to write. Like a petulant, spoilt child she is infuriating and yet funny and Mardell’s observations of the world of writing for a living made me laugh. The characters are likeable and not perfect which gives them an authenticity.

While in the main humorous, there are touching moments throughout the book. Ray’s memories of his grandfather and the words of wisdom he gave to him before his death are told in a down to earth way and yet have a real depth and genuineness to them.

The nature of friendship plays a central role in this book. We accept and love our friends despite their flaws and foibles. They may drive us mad but we stick with them and support them.

A great light read - if you are after a book that is different, witty and gives accurate observations on life and love look no further that Russell Mardell’s Cold Calling.

A huge thank you to Russell Mardell for the copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ray works in insurance. He cold-calls existing customers, just to make sure that they are happy with their policy, he's really not selling anything. Anya doesn't believe him, everyone knows that cold-callers want something from you, regardless of what they say.

Ray is a sad case. He's never recovered from the break up of his relationship - five years ago, yes, five whole years ago. He relates his feelings to his therapist. His best friend Danny knows the whole story, back to front, inside out. Ray doesn't like going out, or talking to people. Ray is a bit of a mess.

Anya is successful, She has a business, and friends and a huge secret. When Ray calls her, it's a really really bad time, but despite that, they click, and from there, an unusual and intriguing relationship begins.

Cold Calling is the story of their developing relationship and Russell Mardell's writing is sharp and witty. He has a keen observational eye, and his insight is shrewd and cleverly done. I didn't fall in love with either Ray or Anya, but I really did love their conversations, and whilst this is not the traditional romance story, it is romantic, but in a refreshing way. There's no overload of hearts and flowers in this tale, it's full of spark and sarky comments and characters who don't hold back in saying what they think.

Combine the blossoming relationship between the two lead characters with the past baggage that both of them are weighed down with and the result is a really funny, really clever and really entertaining read

A warm and wise, heart-felt romantic comedy.

http://randomthingsthroughmyletterbox...

[Linda Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have some questions answered by the author too here https://lindasbookbag.com/2016/05/29/...
There is a depth to Russell Mardell’s writing that surprised me. Whilst the story is akin to many other multi-perspective narratives based on the difficulty of relationships, Russell Mardell manages to provide a distinct, literary style with human and convincing characters that come across as real people.

Although all four perspectives are told in the first person, the voices are so clear and well balanced that each is definitely a believable character. Eva evoked the desire in me to shake her hard and, perhaps wrongly and saying something about my own personality, I hoped she would get her comeuppance until the very end of the novel when my attitude softened towards her.

I really cared for Ray, Anya and Danny, finding I identified with elements of all of them. The secondary characters play a vital role in developing Ray et al too. They also give layers to the themes that weave in and out of the narrative.

I thought the way the settings were described gave a perfect amount of detail so that I could picture the scenes vividly, especially when described through Ray’s eyes. The writing has humour and wit as well as thought-provoking themes and dialogues that really made me think. I also found the issues presented interesting and absorbing – just how do we deal with end of life care for the elderly with dementia? How many of us do settle for good enough rather than chasing our dreams? How many of us cling to the past at the expense of the present?

What I also found highly effective is that we never really know what Anya and Ray look like. This cleverly underpins the fact that their relationship is conducted over the phone rather than in person so that the reader can use their own imagination. I like the conceit of Eva’s thoughts about being a writer too and her concern that, once in the box of children’s author, she’ll never be able to escape. Russell Mardell obviously thoroughly understand the writer’s angst!

The plot is tightly structured so that there is a satisfying ending that enhances the quality of the novel further. This not all about happy ever after but is more about truth, realism and identifiable feelings that I could relate to and understand, giving me real pleasure in the reading.

I really enjoyed Cold Calling. I thought it was extremely well written, entertaining and interesting and I will be looking out for more from Russell Mardell.

[Petra · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 years after Katie broke up with him, Ray is still infatuated and unable to move on. Disillusioned and cranky, he works in an insurance call center letting life pass him by. His closest relationship is with his former band mate Danny, with whom he shares a flat in London.
One day Ray cold calls Anya, and the two end up talking not about insurance but about life. Anya has her own reasons why she is still hung up on the past and is trying to be a supportive friend to Eva, a children's author who hates children.
The story is told from the alternating first-person points of view of Ray, Danny, Anya and Eva. This is not a typical contemporary romance with a predictable happy-ever-after, it's far more clever and witty than that, and the ending was perfectly fitting.
Cold Calling was a really enjoyable, in parts very funny and in parts very poignant, story about friends, relationships and the randomness of life in general. Full of spot-on observations on typical human behavior and delivered with plenty of dry British humor, I could easily see this as an entertaining movie with Simon Pegg as Ray. I loved the short and snappy style of writing.
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Jackie Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold Calling, by Russell Mardell, is a story of friendship, love and heartache in the modern world. It is populated by recognisable characters. There are the narcissists, the struggling, the singletons who wishfully consider marriage, and the married who worry about the freedom they have sacrificed for their stable job, house, vaguely disatisfied partner, and the responsibilties these bring. Each are wittily observed and gently mocked, asides in a story of two strangers who can be honest with each other because they never expect to meet, their relationship being confined to occasional conversations over the phone.

Ray English has moved from Southport to London with his best friend, Danny, in an attempt to put behind him the love of his life, Katie, who left him five years ago. Ray is in counselling having staggered from broken hearted through anger to find himself stuck in self pitying delusionment. Ray wants to recover but does not know how. He works at an insurance firm, cold calling customers in an attempt to sell to them. One evening he calls Len Belmont and strikes up a conversation with his wife, Anya. Unbeknown to Ray, Anya is still suffering a hangover of negative thoughts emanating from her low key fortieth birthday party.

Anya lives in Salisbury and nurses a secret that has shaped her life. She loves her husband and supports her successful writer friend, Eva, who is agonising over the publicity required for the imminent release of her second book for children. Eva dislikes children. She vociferously denigrates any fan who seeks to meet a writer, bemoaning their need to do more than appreciate their books.

When Ray and Danny are invited by an old friend, Tim, to reform their college band for his wedding, Ray is reluctant as he worries Katie may be there and does not know how he would cope. Anya tells him that he needs to find closure, to face his demons. Meanwhile Eva invites Anya to temporarily step outside her carefully narrowed world to assist on the dreaded book tour. As both Ray and Anya risk the unknown they turn to each other for help with burdens they dare not share with those they know.

Enmeshed within the story are pithy observations.

“Tim had been the swotty kid who envied the cool kids, who was always destined to become the rich man the penniless cool men all wished they were.”

There are comments on music snobbery, reminicent of book snobbery, the opinions of the arrogant buffs who feel compelled to pontificate on what anyone with any taste or intelligence should want to listen to as if personal enjoyment were irrelevent. Here is the self appointed expert on dramatic art:

“earnest, pompous and angry, she had the holy trinity of shit theatre”

The story is expertly crafted, amusingly perceptive and intriguing. I recognised many of the characters. I enjoyed considering why it can be easier to open up to a stranger. Take away the concern over what the hearer may think, how they will judge, or how what is said may become fodder for gossip amongst mutual acquaintances, and there is freedom to be honest. If only we could all be better listeners, less judgemental with family and friends.

I also mused over why so many young men wish to be in a band. I could find no answer to that.

The denouement was neatly done, a twist that adds interest to the inspiration for the story.

I rarely accept self published works but am glad that I agreed to review this. It is thought provoking, original and smartly written. An enjoyable read that I wholeheartedly recommend to all.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the author.

[Postconsumer Bookclub · Rating 5 out of 5]

The short review: Read this book, it is good :)
-----------------------------------------
The longer review: Our story starts with two star crossed lovers… [cue sound of needle scratching across a record.]

Cold Calling is not a conventional love story, nor does it have a simple A to B plot. The story just sort of happens, and you are carried along as the two main characters open themselves up to you and to each other. Most, if not all of the book is written in first person, and we join a varied cast as the story unfolds.

The whole book is full of insightful, realistic characters. The story comes alive as layer upon layer of high quality observational writing is laid down. It really does feel like a window into people’s lives more than a story. Russell cleverly uses supporting roles to reflect the thoughts and actions of Anya and Ray, the two main characters. This creates depth and an effective way to cross examine the story.

Subtlety, depth and insightfulness all come together to allow Cold Calling to competently encompass some very personal thoughts and emotions. There were multiple times when I recognised my own internal thoughts in someone else’s!

When Anya starts talking about her past life it becomes obvious that she is repressing her emotions and is obviously forcing herself towards a confession of reality. Ray, on the other hand, has received counselling and is happier to voice his issues. Characters who can hide or articulate so much are the lifeblood of this book. Writing that is able to articulate those personal emotions can only be described as excellent.

Anya and Ray’s “cold calls”, and all the events that surround them, come together to form a coherent whole. A group of story lines that blend very well throughout the book. I don't think there was a story strand I didn’t like or actually any part of the book that I wanted to skip through.

The bottom line is that I really enjoyed this book. It took me through a very articulate set of emotions in a story that was believable and engaging. It managed to deliver all this and was still able to inject just the right amount of comedy. There were moments that I almost laughed out loud. Cold Calling didn’t affect me in any fundamental way, but I know that some things will happen in my life and l will be reminded of a situation l read in this book… Read it, it's good!

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s always such a pleasure to discover an author – and a thoroughly lovely book – that hasn’t had anything like the exposure it really deserves. I thought this book was totally enchanting.

The blurb tells you what you might want to know about the story – what it doesn’t tell you about is the quite superb characterisation. Extremely cleverly, the story is told in the distinctive separate voices of Ray, Anya, Danny and Eva, with their different “takes” on the situations in the story, and their own personalities and observations about each other (and about life in general) colouring their telling of the story.

Ray’s one of those people that finds life a challenge to cope with – in therapy over a lost love, stuck in a job he needs (but detests) to make ends meet, sharing a flat with childhood friend Danny (I loved their “old married couple” relationship, and conversations peppered with “love” and “dear”). Anya’s in love with her husband – he may not be exciting, and she might see less of him than she wants to, but she does love him. Her other significant long-term relationship is with friend Eva – a wonderfully self-centred and successful writer of children’s books, but who hates children and despises the way they come to see her dressed up as characters. She’s a fantastic caricature, but with a real ring of truth about her, and a disregard for anything other than her own issues that frequently makes you wince (while laughing rather uncomfortably).

The whole premise for the story – the cold call that becomes a telephone friendship – is both highly original and superbly handled. The book is infused with a wry humour – and a few laugh-out-loud moments – but is also immensely warm-hearted and touching, with a depth of observation on the human condition that might surprise. On his website, the author confesses a liking for “acid-tongued, sarky, gobby folk” – I really rather like them too. Loved it.

[Tarn Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An erudite, brilliantly observed window into the detached, disparate modern world we inhabit, weaving bittersweet tales of lost loves, lost opportunities and lost friendships with the gnawing realisation that, for some, life moves on whilst for others they can only stand by and watch.

A laugh out loud read, that suddenly pulls the rug from under your feet, Cold Calling is written with style, flair, speed, an acute sense of the humour, whilst all the while keeping the tissues within arm's reach.

Written from the perspective of four people's lives, it reveals beautifully how we live, and struggle, in the shadows of our friends' successes and failings, find ourselves trapped (or lost) from relationships we can't escape and discover how hard it is to communicate in a world of mass-communication. Thankfully Russell Mardell can communicate, and he can communicate very well, just as he can observe and document.

Written to the warm backdrop of Nick Hornby and Tony Parsons, with the observational essence of a less cruel Stephen Fry and a gentler humoured Irvine Welsh, I devoured this book, as I have all of Mardell's books I've read. An ambitious and versatile writer, Cold Calling shows he's as adept at writing Romantic Comedy as he is Dark Fiction.

Definitely worth calling on.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful tale of friendship and the need to talk things through with someone – anyone – in order to let your life move forward.

Ray has yet to get over being dumped by his long-term girlfriend when – unexpectedly – his life at a call centre leads him to speak to Anya, a housewife with issues of her own. As the calls continue, friendship blossoms and their lives are both irrevocably changed.

Witty dialogue provided great snippets of the same conversation from different points of view. The characters were flawed but relatable and, aside from perhaps too prominent a narrative for some of the supporting cast, the writing was fresh and the narrative flow perfectly paced. This was a lovely modern take on friendship and alienation. Recommended.

*I received a free copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Mike Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new direction, but another interesting read!

A real departure from Russell Mardell's previous books, but still with his signature witty one-liners. This is a story of four lives, maybe two lives, maybe less, perhaps more. Friends, strangers, meetings, calls, past, present, all jumbled together.
It took me a little while to get into, but once there, I was gripped. Happy and sad by turns, this book tells the story of how people interact and how they get through the wreckage & compromises of their lives. Read it!

[Stephanie Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read! Quite funny. Tries a bit too hard to be profound sometimes and occasionally it doesn't quite hit the mark, but a fun read anyway.

[Olivia Ard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be honest--I requested this book solely because of the title and the cover. I'm sure I read the book description, but I couldn't remember a bit of it when I finally got around to reading it. There's a danger in judging a book by its cover, as countless movies and TV shows have taught us, but every once in a while, it results in something pleasantly phenomenal.

One thing I really enjoyed about Cold Calling is how the characters are loveable, despite their unloveable characteristics. Ray English is a bit of a mess. He's hung up on his ex-girlfriend Katie nearly five years after their five-month relationship ended. At thirty, he doesn't have any career plans or directions; instead, he's still living with his college buddy, Danny. Danny's not much better than Ray, other than the fact that he's let his past girlfriends go. Anya has built a hedge around her heart and refuses to let anyone inside--anyone except Ray, that is, when he surprises her with a cold call about her husband's life insurance policy. And Eva . . . well, Eva is the ugliness that we all carry inside us.

I love this book for the same reason I love the movie (500) Days of Summer. Through it, we see the danger that lies in romanticizing the past and refusing to let it go. There is also an element of The Five People You Meet in Heaven too, although not at all in the afterlife sense. The ways in which total strangers can touch each other's lives is astounding, and this book does a brilliant job of showcasing that.

The ending is not what I was expecting, and I love it for that. This is a nice, quick read guaranteed to warm your heart and make you laugh out loud.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually 3.5 stars but I have rounded it up to 4.

Ray has never got over his previous girlfriend. His life is a bit of a mess and he is currently working in an insurance call centre. One day he calls Anya regarding her husband's policy and the two of them start a strange phone relationship. It's a strange relationship - they are two very different people; Ray the social misfit and Anya the successful coffee shop owner, married and a bit bored with life. But for some reason they fall into this (mostly) late night phone call relationship and each appears to be each getting something out of it.
As the call go on, they begin to form some kind of bond and when Ray is invited to return home to reform his band to play at an old friend's wedding, it is Anya that he talks to about his fears of going back there.
On the whole I enjoyed this book although for me it lacked something. Probably because I didn't really feel much for the characters. I don't have to like characters to enjoy a book but I do need to connect with them on some level and I feel that I didn't really reach that point in this book. This is more than likely a "me" thing rather than a "book" thing but on the positive side, the storyline was enough to keep me reading rather than giving up half way through and this is why I have rounded my rating up rather than down. I did enjoy the style of writing, I did enjoy the plotting of the story and as already mentioned, it did hold my attention satisfactorily so I would read more by this author but I would be selective and cherry pick rather than dive right in.

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Anna-louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was wondering how this would be as it is a different, more mainstream, genre than his last books but I was not disappointed!

It's a very real take on a "love" story, there is no airy fairy rubbish that makes most books like that seem utterly unreal and made for movies! The character's are cynical, sarcastic, they argue, make mistakes and made me laugh, a lot! More importantly though they made me like them.

I would say the ending of this book is one I had to think about for a while mainly because I wanted it to different but came to the conclusion that regardless of that it was damn good. If I typed what went through my head at the time I don't think it would make sense as it was a series of noises then an audible laugh.

Anyway I'm not going to explain about the story as it says in it the description and blurb but I will say though that if you want a book that isn't that gushy crap they churn out in the 1000s, you love charcters, love dialogue and conversations then you will love this. Basically what I am saying is just read this and then read his other stuff because sometimes an indie author needs more love than they are getting and Russell is one that needs more.

[Katie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ray English can't seem to get over his ex-girlfriend. Anya Belmont is married and is living a fairly boring life except for a secret in her past. At work at a call center, Ray dials Anya's number and the two strike up an unusual conversation. This leads the two strangers into an interesting relationship conducted entirely over the phone. This book is told mainly from the perspectives of Ray and Anya but also occasionally from their friends Danny and Eva.

Sometimes a person can take criticism best from a stranger. Anya Belmont certainly is not shy about speaking her mind about Ray's unwillingness to move on from his ex. At times I thought she was too harsh and I would have hung up on her long ago, but Ray seemed to value her opinions. I found myself rooting more for Ray to finally find happiness than Anya. There was something about her that just seemed to bug.

Overall, I found this book to be an interesting read that was a little different from what I was expecting. I always like it when a book is a bit unpredictable.

I received a free copy of this book and that is my fair and honest review.

[Mike Collins]

A new direction, but another interesting read!

A real departure from Russell Mardell's previous books, but still with his signature witty one-liners. This is a story of four lives, maybe two lives, maybe less, perhaps more. Friends, strangers, meetings, calls, past, present, all jumbled together.
It took me a little while to get into, but once there, I was gripped. Happy and sad by turns, this book tells the story of how people interact and how they get through the wreckage & compromises of their lives. Read it!

[Luisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

i won a copy of this book in the good reads giveaway,

i really enjoyed, this book, its a simple idea, a guy cold calls a woman as part of his job, they get talking and sort of become friends, the characters are all flawed but very likable, the book draws you in making you want to know more about each persons story and what makes them who they are.

[Betsy Myers]

I won this book via Goodreads First Reads. I am an ECE administrator and I look forward to adding this book to the lending library for parents and staff at my school.