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Corin Hayes #2
Nothing Is Ever Simple
Corin’s back and now he has a job and a little money. Life is good, but when are things ever that simple?
Recovering from injuries sustained on his last repair job, he is offered the chance to travel, to leave Tyler’s city, his home, and see a little more of the world under the oceans. An easy job, easy money and a bit of rest, nothing can go wrong.
“Nothing’s really changed since we left the surface and came to live beneath the waves. The rich get richer and the poor struggle to get by. Those with money escape justice and those with none feel the full wrath of the law. There has to be a better way and, one day, I hope someone finds it. Until they do, I’ll keep my head down, my fists up and live a simple life. Beer, whiskey, work and sleep. Rinse and repeat till death.” – Corin Hayes.
Recovering from injuries sustained on his last repair job, he is offered the chance to travel, to leave Tyler’s city, his home, and see a little more of the world under the oceans. An easy job, easy money and a bit of rest, nothing can go wrong.
“Nothing’s really changed since we left the surface and came to live beneath the waves. The rich get richer and the poor struggle to get by. Those with money escape justice and those with none feel the full wrath of the law. There has to be a better way and, one day, I hope someone finds it. Until they do, I’ll keep my head down, my fists up and live a simple life. Beer, whiskey, work and sleep. Rinse and repeat till death.” – Corin Hayes.
242 pages, ebook
First published October 29, 2016
4 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
G.R. Matthews
19 books248 followersG. R. Matthews is a British fantasy and science fiction author best known for Seven Deaths of an Empire (Solaris, 2021), a grimdark epic praised for its visceral combat, dual perspectives, and rich world-building inspired by Roman and Celtic history.
Born in Wiltshire, surrounded by chalk hills, white horses, and ancient stone circles, he grew up immersed in landscapes steeped in ancient myth. Matthews began his publishing journey with self-published works including The Stone Road—the first of The Forbidden List trilogy drawing on ancient China—and the Corin Hayes underwater sci-fi thrillers, before breaking into traditional publishing with Seven Deaths of an Empire.
A passionate gamer as well as a self-taught guitarist, Matthews brings discipline, imagination, and resilience to his storytelling, crafting tales of loyalty, honour, and political intrigue. He continues to expand his fictional worlds with upcoming projects such as The Silencing of the North, while engaging readers with his blend of history, myth, and character-driven drama.
www.grmatthews.com
Born in Wiltshire, surrounded by chalk hills, white horses, and ancient stone circles, he grew up immersed in landscapes steeped in ancient myth. Matthews began his publishing journey with self-published works including The Stone Road—the first of The Forbidden List trilogy drawing on ancient China—and the Corin Hayes underwater sci-fi thrillers, before breaking into traditional publishing with Seven Deaths of an Empire.
A passionate gamer as well as a self-taught guitarist, Matthews brings discipline, imagination, and resilience to his storytelling, crafting tales of loyalty, honour, and political intrigue. He continues to expand his fictional worlds with upcoming projects such as The Silencing of the North, while engaging readers with his blend of history, myth, and character-driven drama.
www.grmatthews.com
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 1, 2016
I loved the first Corin Hayes and couldn't wait to read this next one. Where I really liked Corin in the first book, I may now have a little crush on him... :) I love his sarcasm and I have laughed out loud several times while reading his thoughts and remarks.
He is the sort of man who wants no trouble and just live his life, (and drink quite a lot and quite often) where everything just does not go as it's supposed to. We get to go with him on a job that's supposed to be fairly simple but... nothing in his life ever is. Het gets into all sorts of trouble and has very inventive ways to get out of them.
It is a quick and very entertaining read, I would certainly recommend it to anyone! Trust me, after reading it you will never look at a frying pan the same way...
"Stubborness isn't a choice, it's a way of life." - Corin Hayes
He is the sort of man who wants no trouble and just live his life, (and drink quite a lot and quite often) where everything just does not go as it's supposed to. We get to go with him on a job that's supposed to be fairly simple but... nothing in his life ever is. Het gets into all sorts of trouble and has very inventive ways to get out of them.
It is a quick and very entertaining read, I would certainly recommend it to anyone! Trust me, after reading it you will never look at a frying pan the same way...
"Stubborness isn't a choice, it's a way of life." - Corin Hayes
March 17, 2023
Re-listen in preparation for teh audio omnibus release! And it's still just as good as it was the last time!
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This just got published today - and I can't stress enough just how much I adore this series.
Corin is a really great broken main character, who likes to get drunk alone at a bar - but Matthews just won't the poor man drink in peace...
So with this book, we once again get to go on a sub, and into a fishsuit and share Corins adventures. There's more of the cities to explore and more stuff to go horribly wrong, because of course - nothing is ever simple - not for Corin Hayes....
This one got a slightly more episodic feel than the last one - but I once again devoured it in more or less one go. I just love the snarky thoughts and remarks that make me snort and giggle while reading and the tone of voice just is perfectly fitted to me.
If you like a really entertaining, easy read dystopia (the author calls it SciFi, but there's no aliens or ufos, so for me it isn't....) please go and give silent city a try, so I can talk to more people about it! And if you already loved Silent City, this one will be right up your alley too!
-
This just got published today - and I can't stress enough just how much I adore this series.
Corin is a really great broken main character, who likes to get drunk alone at a bar - but Matthews just won't the poor man drink in peace...
So with this book, we once again get to go on a sub, and into a fishsuit and share Corins adventures. There's more of the cities to explore and more stuff to go horribly wrong, because of course - nothing is ever simple - not for Corin Hayes....
This one got a slightly more episodic feel than the last one - but I once again devoured it in more or less one go. I just love the snarky thoughts and remarks that make me snort and giggle while reading and the tone of voice just is perfectly fitted to me.
If you like a really entertaining, easy read dystopia (the author calls it SciFi, but there's no aliens or ufos, so for me it isn't....) please go and give silent city a try, so I can talk to more people about it! And if you already loved Silent City, this one will be right up your alley too!
June 4, 2017
This is the second book in G.R.Matthews' series of underwater dystopian sci-fi series. It sees our hero on a mission to a different underwater city - one that is neither silent nor homely. The nature of Corin's work, his past, his setting, and his personality - make for a man born and borne by solitude. In consequence we spend a lot of time in Corin's head seeing the world through the grim and slightly distorting lens of his experience.
Corin's is an engaging voice - world-weary but still wise-cracking, with some quotes sharp enough to cut. For example, "We hold onto our past, sometimes with fingers dug so deep into its flesh that we are part of it."
Book 2 carries us in a different direction, both geographically and narratively, from Book 1. The threads of personal tragedy and deferred vengeance are left dangling as fresh challenges and swift undercurrents sweep Corin into new and deep dangers,
After the distinctive noir-ness of Corin's voice, the next feature of the book to catch the eye is the world building. In a population condemned to living at the bottom of its oceans, there will be many difficulties of economy, nutrition and society to address.
Long ago I watched a horror/sci-fi film about a team of divers investigating a Titanic like sunken liner decades after it foundered. They found against any expectation that there were survivors - that shocked moment when the diver's torch sweeps over a porthole and a live face peers back. They had fashioned some kind of existence within the sunken hull all led by an extremely resourceful purser. (Oh the joys of the internet - somebody else roused by the same curiosity of imperfect memory asked the same question and got an answer The film was led not by Vincent Price as I had thought but Christopher Lee and is titled Goliath Awaits )
Just as the sunken survivors of the Goliath had to be resourceful and inventive, so too Matthews lavishes care and thought on how some kind of normality might assert and define itself in such submerged circumstances as Corin's world faces. It makes for an engaging and thought provoking read.
The plot is at once simple and complex. There are bad guys who put Corin in danger and he has to work his way out of it. Their motivations and the routes to confound them prove somewhat tortuous. I read the Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep a long time ago and the plot to Nothing is Ever Simple has the same kind of organic style. The story appears to advance by the author throwing a series of curve balls at his protagonist and then following his reactions. In that sense, the plot feels more like the gym in which Matthews tests and develops his world building and the protagonist's persona, rather than the engine which drives the plot. Nonetheless it rattles along at a good pace.
I will again raise reservations about the freedom with which Corin uses blunt instruments. People are bludgeoned into lengthy periods of unconsciousness with the same abandon that I last saw in a Modesty Blaise book (and before that in early Enid Blyton's).
While my younger self accepted this, decades of watching the TV show Casualty have heightened my knowledge of subdural haematomas - while health and basic safety training taught me to treat any potential concussion with extreme caution. So my suspension of disbelief skated over some thin ice (in so far as a suspension can skate) when Corin bound up an unconscious villain and blithely waited hours for the fellow to make a natural and total recovery.
Those reservations aside, Corin continues to be an engaging and readable hero in a radically different but eminently sustainable setting.
Corin's is an engaging voice - world-weary but still wise-cracking, with some quotes sharp enough to cut. For example, "We hold onto our past, sometimes with fingers dug so deep into its flesh that we are part of it."
Book 2 carries us in a different direction, both geographically and narratively, from Book 1. The threads of personal tragedy and deferred vengeance are left dangling as fresh challenges and swift undercurrents sweep Corin into new and deep dangers,
After the distinctive noir-ness of Corin's voice, the next feature of the book to catch the eye is the world building. In a population condemned to living at the bottom of its oceans, there will be many difficulties of economy, nutrition and society to address.
Long ago I watched a horror/sci-fi film about a team of divers investigating a Titanic like sunken liner decades after it foundered. They found against any expectation that there were survivors - that shocked moment when the diver's torch sweeps over a porthole and a live face peers back. They had fashioned some kind of existence within the sunken hull all led by an extremely resourceful purser. (Oh the joys of the internet - somebody else roused by the same curiosity of imperfect memory asked the same question and got an answer The film was led not by Vincent Price as I had thought but Christopher Lee and is titled Goliath Awaits )
Just as the sunken survivors of the Goliath had to be resourceful and inventive, so too Matthews lavishes care and thought on how some kind of normality might assert and define itself in such submerged circumstances as Corin's world faces. It makes for an engaging and thought provoking read.
The plot is at once simple and complex. There are bad guys who put Corin in danger and he has to work his way out of it. Their motivations and the routes to confound them prove somewhat tortuous. I read the Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep a long time ago and the plot to Nothing is Ever Simple has the same kind of organic style. The story appears to advance by the author throwing a series of curve balls at his protagonist and then following his reactions. In that sense, the plot feels more like the gym in which Matthews tests and develops his world building and the protagonist's persona, rather than the engine which drives the plot. Nonetheless it rattles along at a good pace.
I will again raise reservations about the freedom with which Corin uses blunt instruments. People are bludgeoned into lengthy periods of unconsciousness with the same abandon that I last saw in a Modesty Blaise book (and before that in early Enid Blyton's).
While my younger self accepted this, decades of watching the TV show Casualty have heightened my knowledge of subdural haematomas - while health and basic safety training taught me to treat any potential concussion with extreme caution. So my suspension of disbelief skated over some thin ice (in so far as a suspension can skate) when Corin bound up an unconscious villain and blithely waited hours for the fellow to make a natural and total recovery.
Those reservations aside, Corin continues to be an engaging and readable hero in a radically different but eminently sustainable setting.
September 2, 2017
The full review is here, on my blog
What better way to follow up reading a slightly depressing story during a hurricane than reading a story that takes place underwater because of severe flooding during a severe flood, amirite?
This story is a an adventure that can be enjoyed without having read the previous one, but I’m glad that I read Silent City first so that I got a proper introduction to Corin, his Fish-Suit, and his snark.
Corin Hayes, freelance diver, alcoholic, repairer of underwater thingies, sneaky bastard and all around haver of some shite luck is at it again… being all those things. He gets into a bar fight with the wrong sort of people while out in a different city on a job, who then blackmail him into doing a shady job for them. It gets worse for him from there. Poor Corin. He was just trying to be a good guy. After the job is done, he’s gotta clear his name, because Corin may not have much, but he has his self-respect, goddamn it!
This one was an action packed romp through all kinds of shenanigans, both in and out of his Fish-Suit. Corin remains an awesome character to hear tell his tale. It’s full of cool little references that if you’re a nerd like me, will probably make you smile. Everything from TNG to referring to ‘the classics’ by lumping a few names I know quite well in with names like Shakespeare and Salinger. In fact, there were a few names I recognized in this story, blended right in. I loved it! The flooded future is a very interesting place, really!
The only criticism I have for this one is that it could use a tad more editing. Normally, I’d be the first person to write down any mistakes I found and let the author know about them, but in this instance, with my being displaced from home right at the moment due to the aforementioned hurricane and flooding, I didn’t really have the chance with this one. Either way, all small stuff and pretty infrequent, but they’re there. I did receive an ARC of this novel from the author, so for all I know this could be a moot point if it’s an unedited version, but whatever. 😄
All told, this was a fun time. Great story, great pacing, great characters. Corin is awesome!
What better way to follow up reading a slightly depressing story during a hurricane than reading a story that takes place underwater because of severe flooding during a severe flood, amirite?
This story is a an adventure that can be enjoyed without having read the previous one, but I’m glad that I read Silent City first so that I got a proper introduction to Corin, his Fish-Suit, and his snark.
Corin Hayes, freelance diver, alcoholic, repairer of underwater thingies, sneaky bastard and all around haver of some shite luck is at it again… being all those things. He gets into a bar fight with the wrong sort of people while out in a different city on a job, who then blackmail him into doing a shady job for them. It gets worse for him from there. Poor Corin. He was just trying to be a good guy. After the job is done, he’s gotta clear his name, because Corin may not have much, but he has his self-respect, goddamn it!
This one was an action packed romp through all kinds of shenanigans, both in and out of his Fish-Suit. Corin remains an awesome character to hear tell his tale. It’s full of cool little references that if you’re a nerd like me, will probably make you smile. Everything from TNG to referring to ‘the classics’ by lumping a few names I know quite well in with names like Shakespeare and Salinger. In fact, there were a few names I recognized in this story, blended right in. I loved it! The flooded future is a very interesting place, really!
The only criticism I have for this one is that it could use a tad more editing. Normally, I’d be the first person to write down any mistakes I found and let the author know about them, but in this instance, with my being displaced from home right at the moment due to the aforementioned hurricane and flooding, I didn’t really have the chance with this one. Either way, all small stuff and pretty infrequent, but they’re there. I did receive an ARC of this novel from the author, so for all I know this could be a moot point if it’s an unedited version, but whatever. 😄
All told, this was a fun time. Great story, great pacing, great characters. Corin is awesome!
July 23, 2017
Corin Hayes is back. Reluctantly. Grumpily.
I like Hayes. I know, he would look at me like I was crazy for liking him. He's written to be an anti-hero that you just can't like, but I still like him. Let's not look too deeply into my motivations; if my subconscious sees too much of Corin Hayes in myself, I don't want to know.
I can't believe nobody has reviewed this book, yet. It's a really good book. Yes, like the first book, there were some editing bits and pieces that weren't quite perfect, but they didn't reach anywhere near a level that they would detract from the story. One suggestion: plurals are not possessives ;)
Like the first CH book, this one's a page turner. The action is fast, there's little if any fat that could be trimmed to make the story move along better, it's just a really well put together story that catches and keeps the reader's interest until the very end.
Buy this book, you won't regret it. Or sign up for Kindle Unlimited (as I have) and read it for FREE!!
I like Hayes. I know, he would look at me like I was crazy for liking him. He's written to be an anti-hero that you just can't like, but I still like him. Let's not look too deeply into my motivations; if my subconscious sees too much of Corin Hayes in myself, I don't want to know.
I can't believe nobody has reviewed this book, yet. It's a really good book. Yes, like the first book, there were some editing bits and pieces that weren't quite perfect, but they didn't reach anywhere near a level that they would detract from the story. One suggestion: plurals are not possessives ;)
Like the first CH book, this one's a page turner. The action is fast, there's little if any fat that could be trimmed to make the story move along better, it's just a really well put together story that catches and keeps the reader's interest until the very end.
Buy this book, you won't regret it. Or sign up for Kindle Unlimited (as I have) and read it for FREE!!
March 5, 2017
Great fun and a nice easy read. Corin, Corin, Corin you don't halve make life difficult for yourself sometimes but it does make an entertaining read.
July 13, 2017
Another glorious episode in the all-too-interesting life of Corin Hayes. I think I liked this one even more than the first because it's got a bit of the Hitchcock/Noir "wrong man" vibe about it, whereas the first was all about the covert mission. I think I said that Silent City was very Harry Harrison, but this is more Chandler/Hammet/Greene...with submarines, and a bit more humour.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
February 19, 2018
I read Nothing is Ever Simple in record time. It is a short book, but packs a powerful story. Corin Hayes, to whom I was introduced in Silent City, is his usual self-deprecating, morose, sharp-witted and witty self. In this story, which follows on nicely from the first but could also be a standalone book, Corin is sent to another city to fix a problem requiring his specific fish-suit skills. Once the job is done, he relaxes, then everything in Corin's world goes disastrously wrong.
There's fighting, blackmail, thieving, torture, more fighting. Characters sourced from classic noir sleuth novels populate the city's levels from rich to poor. References to literature and film that I enjoyed tremendously - especially the poetry as torture part - litter Corin's internal dialogue. Everything, including the pots and pans, are thrown into the mix, creating a plot filled with pitfalls, wrong-turnings, painful mistakes, and a measure or four of alcohol.
He survives by using what he can to his best advantage, from high tech, to low: 'The impact of a cast iron frying pan to your skull can make you all kinds of compliant.'
The excellent world-building of this dystopian underwater future for Earth continues. There is enough explanation, but not too much, of how things work in the city-state domes - economically, socially, structurally - to give the world Corin Hayes barely survives in authenticity. G R Matthews makes it seem possible that humans could survive in such an environment, unfortunately also bringing all their unlearned history along with them.
I look forward to the next story set in Corin Hayes tough, gritty, unfair world.
There's fighting, blackmail, thieving, torture, more fighting. Characters sourced from classic noir sleuth novels populate the city's levels from rich to poor. References to literature and film that I enjoyed tremendously - especially the poetry as torture part - litter Corin's internal dialogue. Everything, including the pots and pans, are thrown into the mix, creating a plot filled with pitfalls, wrong-turnings, painful mistakes, and a measure or four of alcohol.
He survives by using what he can to his best advantage, from high tech, to low: 'The impact of a cast iron frying pan to your skull can make you all kinds of compliant.'
The excellent world-building of this dystopian underwater future for Earth continues. There is enough explanation, but not too much, of how things work in the city-state domes - economically, socially, structurally - to give the world Corin Hayes barely survives in authenticity. G R Matthews makes it seem possible that humans could survive in such an environment, unfortunately also bringing all their unlearned history along with them.
I look forward to the next story set in Corin Hayes tough, gritty, unfair world.
August 2, 2017
* Review copy provided by the author *
Doing enough to stay good, not enough to become great.
I am not a fan of books following immediately after another. There are two days between the first book ending and this one starting and the protagonist has not had time to heal physically or to deal with his experiences. It makes the series frantic, making me wonder how this guy survived until now when these are apparently normal occurrences.
Despite that, I found it entertaining. It is still not exactly redefining the genre and the world is still in desperate need of expansion, but it does enough to stay solid. The main character (only character to be honest) gets a bit of development, not always believable but entertaining, and for some sequences I actually felt like the world was working better than in the first book. The ending even manages a nice little (very little) twist I did not see coming.
There is still lots of potential and the possibility of this series becoming more than it is right now. Until then it remains solid, but unremarkable.
Doing enough to stay good, not enough to become great.
I am not a fan of books following immediately after another. There are two days between the first book ending and this one starting and the protagonist has not had time to heal physically or to deal with his experiences. It makes the series frantic, making me wonder how this guy survived until now when these are apparently normal occurrences.
Despite that, I found it entertaining. It is still not exactly redefining the genre and the world is still in desperate need of expansion, but it does enough to stay solid. The main character (only character to be honest) gets a bit of development, not always believable but entertaining, and for some sequences I actually felt like the world was working better than in the first book. The ending even manages a nice little (very little) twist I did not see coming.
There is still lots of potential and the possibility of this series becoming more than it is right now. Until then it remains solid, but unremarkable.
September 5, 2018
Another excellent book by GR Matthews twist and turns and an excellent drive into the futuristic underwater world. Loved it, Corin Hayes is fast becoming a favourite character of mine!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews