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Detective Sergeant Pace #2
Nothing Important Happened Today
When strangers take part in a series of group suicides, everything suggests that a cult is to blame. How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?
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.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 14, 2019
143 people are currently reading
2040 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 344 reviews
November 15, 2019
It is evening on Chelsea Bridge. Everything seems normal. A commuter train pulls in to Victoria Station. The eyes of the passengers in two carriages are drawn to a row of people standing by the barrier at the side of the bridge. Screams ring out as simultaneously, they all jump over, and it is realised they all have nooses round their necks.
This is the opening, described collectively, by The People of Choice, as they become known throughout the world. Who and what are they? Why do they all want to kill themselves? And who has commanded them to do so?
Will Carver delves into the lives of the London suicides – the nobodies, as he calls them. And you can't help agreeing that they are nobodies, as you learn more about their empty lives. It is thought by the public that they are a cult, so Carver examines some of the famous death cults of the past, and some of the serial murderers.
They have all received a letter, which begins “Nothing important happened today”. It goes on to give precise instructions for the communal act of suicide, and it is only at the last moment, when it is too late, that they think that perhaps they don't want to die after all. You wait throughout the story for someone who decides they don't want to die before it is too late but they all regard the suicide as an achievement. The people of choice follow a variety of occupations, from out-of-work idlers to doctors and ex-bankers, dirt-poor to wealthy.
It is in many ways a frightening and depressing book. But I certainly couldn't put it down, and read it in one sitting.
This is the opening, described collectively, by The People of Choice, as they become known throughout the world. Who and what are they? Why do they all want to kill themselves? And who has commanded them to do so?
Will Carver delves into the lives of the London suicides – the nobodies, as he calls them. And you can't help agreeing that they are nobodies, as you learn more about their empty lives. It is thought by the public that they are a cult, so Carver examines some of the famous death cults of the past, and some of the serial murderers.
They have all received a letter, which begins “Nothing important happened today”. It goes on to give precise instructions for the communal act of suicide, and it is only at the last moment, when it is too late, that they think that perhaps they don't want to die after all. You wait throughout the story for someone who decides they don't want to die before it is too late but they all regard the suicide as an achievement. The people of choice follow a variety of occupations, from out-of-work idlers to doctors and ex-bankers, dirt-poor to wealthy.
It is in many ways a frightening and depressing book. But I certainly couldn't put it down, and read it in one sitting.
September 25, 2019
# Because of the content/subject of the book which is suicide and at times quite graphic description of mass suicides I think its wise to say that this book would be upsetting if you have been affected by this and also tbh for some people if you haven’t been affected by it #
This book is unusual, unusual in content, writing style and presentation to any I have ever read
The book starts with a mass suicide on Chelsea Bridge and in its unique raw and shocking way it goes on via explicit description and many facts on cults and serial killers to discover who is behind this atrocity, and others that follow
The hard hitting narrative leaves you breathless tbh and at times I was wavering between disgust/shock and fascination, I loved the insight into social media and how our lives are lived through it and I doubt many people could read these parts without a guilty grimace or two, I certainly had them!!
The person behind these mass suicides was a surprise to me and his motives but it was a clever ending to the book
This book is dark, theres no dressing it up as beige or grey or pedestrian in any way shape or form, it is unforgiving in its rapid fire nature of shock and more shock and there isn’t a seconds reprise from the opening line to the final one
For me this book is not one to say I enjoyed, however I can most definitely say if there was a prize for a challenging read, out of the norm and one that a reader will remember in 10 years time then it would win outright
Disturbing, unique, chilling and every other word that describes something that leaves you unnerved
I am giving no marks for this book on enjoyment/likeability as not sure how to mark it however for originality it has to be
10/10
5 Stars
July 18, 2020
Nothing Important Happened Today
If you get an envelope and a page falls out with the above words on it… Well, it doesn’t bear thinking about.
This book is utterly chilling. There is no other way to describe how I felt reading it. It is so disturbing and is a psychological mess. It delves so deeply into human frailty and our overwired psyche. And how even those that supposedly have it all, can feel such a cavern of emptiness inside, that is immeasurable.
A commuter train pulls into the station across from Chelsea Bridge. After a long day at work, people on the train are tired. Some are listening to music, or reading books, many are asleep. Some are simply staring into space. Thirty two people look out the window at the same time and cannot believe what they see. Nine figures wearing identical black hooded tops, with nooses around their necks, hurl themselves into space, over the bridge, to the depths below. Is it an art installation? Is it real? Did this just happen? Nine hanging bodies swaying in the breeze seem to suggest that this did indeed occur. A Cabaret Grotesque performance in peak hour.
“There’s screaming on a halted train as it overlooks a scene of mass suicide. Outside, nine strangers hang from Chelsea Bridge by their broken necks.”
“This is the theatre of cruelty.”
What is the mindset behind the various cults and atrocities that have occurred in recent history? Social media, shiny happy lives only showing the good stuff. Editing out the ugly parts. The reality. 24/7 rolling news coverage of misery and destruction. No wonder people are popping pills left, right and centre. There is no balance. And Will Carver really hones in on so much of what is rotten in modern society. Does this dichotomy result in tipping some people over the edge? To seek more, look deeper, even to the point of manic dogma, for some sort of meaning. To make sense of this thing called life.
“While social media can be a tool for spreading motivational quotes and messages, it is also ideal for disseminating hatred and mayhem.”
“People lie. Everybody lies.”
The original nine suicides are just the beginning. Others follow. Around the world. Are they linked with the “People of Choice” cult? How can there be a cult where the members are unaware of each other's existence, let alone ever having met.
”Starting a cult is easier than ever.”
But why have these people taken this final step? Though the book calls them ‘nobodies’ and assigns numbers rather than names to them, we do discover who they are. The burnout and guilt that defines their lives. Empty relationships and careers devoid of happiness. No matter how successful they appear to be, there is an emptiness there, that all the material goods that money can buy cannot fill.
”Wake. Read. Cry. Sulk. Drink. Spend. Party. Sleep. This is no way to live.”
"Thing. Like things ever made anybody happy. Like things give you a sense of fulfillment. That's what you're missing. A full bank account is no substitute for any empty soul."
And what of the families that are left behind? How do they deal with the fallout of their loved ones supposedly being part of a secret cult. Most had a suspicion that something was amiss. Thar something wasn’t quite right. Though they're unable to admit this even to themselves.
Yes, Will Carver’s first DS Pace book Good Samaritans was ‘out there’. But this has gone further. So much further. I cannot begin to unravel my thoughts coherently. My mind is still trying to digest all of the messages that were fed to it. About self, individual v follower, oneness v alonesss, community v cult. The power of suggestion.
Mr.Carver discusses the many sieges, bombings, and general annihilation that humans have been bestowed on one another in recent times. Hijackings, skyjackings, terrorism. The urban grit of graffiti. He mentions various serial killers and loony cults that have existed. “Made news” and are then forgotten, as new, even wilder events take their place. Jeffrey Dahmer, the Manson murders, WACO and the Davidians. The celebrations which occurred outside the prison at the execution of Ted Bundy by lethal injection were understandable but disconcerting. They were selling trinkets and t-shirts. Justice. Retribution.
And the scariest thing of all? Look around you. Protest. Unrest. Panic buying. Lockdown. Shutdown. Trigger happy. Pandemic mania. Anxiety overload. It doesn’t take much for a charismatic leader to have people follow him (or her) down whatever yellow brick road they say leads them on the road to Oz. Think about it.
”We are nine nobodies. And the cycle of recruitment has already begun.”
As in Will Carver's previous book Good Samaritans DS Pace is somewhat of an ancillary character, existing on the periphery. He's quite the enigma. In fact, he doesn't appear until three quarters of the way into the book. Seems he’s been having some issues of his own, and we rejoin him as he’s going to the first of five counselling sessions with a psychologist. He’s not allowed back to work until he gets the proverbial nod from Dr. Artaud...
"It's not his case. But he wants it...Detective Sergeant Pace doesn't care what they say. Detective Sergeant Pace does not buy their bullshit. He wants the bridges. He wants the People of Choice. He wants back in."
This is a very confronting book. There is no other way around it. Usually I shy away from these types of stories, as I simply don’t have the stomach for them. But it’s for the fact that Will Carver isn’t using violence gratuitously, but to better illustrate his themes of how easy it can be for people to be manipulated.
This book doesn’t provide you with any answers. Only more questions.
“Nine suicides. One cult. No leader.”
Remember the movie “Being John Malkovich”? Imagine if they did one called “Being Will Carver”. What would we find?
4.5 ✩ spine chilling stars. This story will stay with you for a long, long time.
Trigger warnings
Suicide. Thoughts of suicide. Graphic descriptions of suicide. Graphic violence and descriptions of violent acts. Strong content. Mature themes.
And no, we still don’t know what Detective Sergeant Pace’s first name is.
I interspersed my reading this book with the audio version. Brilliantly narrated by Ciaran Saward. Big shout out to Randwick City Library for having such a wonderful selection of audio books to choose from.
September 26, 2019
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.
October 19, 2019
NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY is a shocking absorbing original pitch-black thriller, from the critically commended author of Good Samaritans, Will Carver.
I was literally blown away with this book. I have never read anything like it before and I read a lot of crime, psychological, mystery thrillers. Go into this book blind. It will be so addictive you will be flipping the pages to see what is going to happen next.
The writing style is written in the third person and the collective first person. It is neither a full-blown crime thriller nor a cult manual, where the main detective doesn’t show up into later in the novel.
Strangers take part in a series of group suicides. Is it a cult? But how do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?
Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They each have a bag that contains a rope. They’ve never met. They don’t talk. They all know what they have to do. They all jump from the bridge to their death. 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.
Each person had “been chosen” to become a part of the People Of Choice: A mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another. They each were assigned a number from 225 to 255 from all walks of life…someone you might know. The reader gets to learn a little bit about the character of each “number” but never learn their actual names.
They don’t want to die so why are all these strangers joining together and ending their own lives and what is the link that joins them all together.
Thirty-two commuters on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. Recruited, but do not know this yet!
DS Pace has no idea what has just happened. It is not his case, but later starts to put the pieces together. The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader that does not seem to exist.
The social media now has thousands of followers for the new movement (People Of Choice) appearing around the globe.
This is not an easy read. It's very dark, and uncomfortable to read at times, but totally addictive. It will make you think…and question many things we take for granted in our lives. The writing is fast-paced with short chapters that serve to move the story forward, to the satisfying conclusion.
One of the most thought-provoking novels I have read this year, and one that I will long remember!
Many thanks to the author and The Book Club Reviewer Request Group (FB) for my digital copy.
“We make our choice to live
By Having the courage to die.”
I was literally blown away with this book. I have never read anything like it before and I read a lot of crime, psychological, mystery thrillers. Go into this book blind. It will be so addictive you will be flipping the pages to see what is going to happen next.
The writing style is written in the third person and the collective first person. It is neither a full-blown crime thriller nor a cult manual, where the main detective doesn’t show up into later in the novel.
Strangers take part in a series of group suicides. Is it a cult? But how do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?
Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They each have a bag that contains a rope. They’ve never met. They don’t talk. They all know what they have to do. They all jump from the bridge to their death. 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.
Each person had “been chosen” to become a part of the People Of Choice: A mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another. They each were assigned a number from 225 to 255 from all walks of life…someone you might know. The reader gets to learn a little bit about the character of each “number” but never learn their actual names.
They don’t want to die so why are all these strangers joining together and ending their own lives and what is the link that joins them all together.
Thirty-two commuters on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. Recruited, but do not know this yet!
DS Pace has no idea what has just happened. It is not his case, but later starts to put the pieces together. The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader that does not seem to exist.
The social media now has thousands of followers for the new movement (People Of Choice) appearing around the globe.
This is not an easy read. It's very dark, and uncomfortable to read at times, but totally addictive. It will make you think…and question many things we take for granted in our lives. The writing is fast-paced with short chapters that serve to move the story forward, to the satisfying conclusion.
One of the most thought-provoking novels I have read this year, and one that I will long remember!
Many thanks to the author and The Book Club Reviewer Request Group (FB) for my digital copy.
“We make our choice to live
By Having the courage to die.”
December 11, 2019
I heard SUCH good things about this book, but for me it was just okay. There really weren't any twists or turns, and while it's a dark subject matter (mass suicides) I didn't feel any sense of urgency or tension reading the book. Clearly many other readers loved it, but I clearly wasn't the right reader for this book.
October 13, 2019
My head is broken! My words have disappeared. I honestly cannot stop thinking about this dark, twisted, powerfully told story, but I am struggling to explain why.
I've read a lot of books over the years and whilst reading this one I couldn't help but think of the only other author who made me feel this way. The story screams Kafka to me; there's that fusion of realism and fantasy, with the isolation of the nameless characters who form a cult, yet are totally separate from one another.
Yes! That's it - Nothing Important Happened Today is 'Kafkaesque' .... with vivid imagery and flickers of humour incorporated throughout.
The outline of the story is all in the blurb. Nine seemingly unrelated people travel to Chelsea Bridge one night. They each have a bag that contains a rope. They don't speak to each other. They don't have to. They know exactly what to do and when to do it. They all jump from the bridge.
There are thirty-two witnesses on the train that is passing by ... two of those witnesses will join the other nine. And there will be more, and more. This is a cult, or so it seems, but nobody knows who is the leader. Those nine people are just the beginning; more follow as the effects of the initial deaths spread worldwide.
Every person who dies by suicide in this book has a number, and apart from two people, the reader never learns their actual names. They are the people who serve you in the supermarket, who fix your drains, who wash your car. They are the People of Choice ..... their paths will have crossed at some time in their lives, but it is the one plain envelope that they all receive that joins them.
Despite their anonymity, this clever author makes every character real and genuine; each one has their own particular qualities, and whilst they may be just another cult member to the onlookers and the people reading about them in the news; as a reader we begin to know them intimately.
Of course this is a mystery story; a crime story; a thriller. Of course the police are desperately looking for the leader; the person who has so much influence that ordinary people will take their lives, even though they don't want to die. They don't want to die, we know that, yet they do, at their own hand.
This is not an easy read. It's very dark, often uncomfortable and at times, I found it quite distressing.
Carver leads his readers a merry dance, and I was convinced that I knew who, if not why. What a fool I am! The author is sharp and shrewd, with an imagination that I could never foretell. The ending is cunning genius and even though I am still a tiny bit baffled by it all, it's a satisfying conclusion that makes the intriguing prologue make sense.
This is stylish and extraordinary writing. It's puzzling and perplexing but so damn good. There is something quite mesmerising about this story that defies genre and quite frankly, logic.
Stunning ... this will linger in my mind forever.
I've read a lot of books over the years and whilst reading this one I couldn't help but think of the only other author who made me feel this way. The story screams Kafka to me; there's that fusion of realism and fantasy, with the isolation of the nameless characters who form a cult, yet are totally separate from one another.
Yes! That's it - Nothing Important Happened Today is 'Kafkaesque' .... with vivid imagery and flickers of humour incorporated throughout.
The outline of the story is all in the blurb. Nine seemingly unrelated people travel to Chelsea Bridge one night. They each have a bag that contains a rope. They don't speak to each other. They don't have to. They know exactly what to do and when to do it. They all jump from the bridge.
There are thirty-two witnesses on the train that is passing by ... two of those witnesses will join the other nine. And there will be more, and more. This is a cult, or so it seems, but nobody knows who is the leader. Those nine people are just the beginning; more follow as the effects of the initial deaths spread worldwide.
Every person who dies by suicide in this book has a number, and apart from two people, the reader never learns their actual names. They are the people who serve you in the supermarket, who fix your drains, who wash your car. They are the People of Choice ..... their paths will have crossed at some time in their lives, but it is the one plain envelope that they all receive that joins them.
Despite their anonymity, this clever author makes every character real and genuine; each one has their own particular qualities, and whilst they may be just another cult member to the onlookers and the people reading about them in the news; as a reader we begin to know them intimately.
Of course this is a mystery story; a crime story; a thriller. Of course the police are desperately looking for the leader; the person who has so much influence that ordinary people will take their lives, even though they don't want to die. They don't want to die, we know that, yet they do, at their own hand.
This is not an easy read. It's very dark, often uncomfortable and at times, I found it quite distressing.
Carver leads his readers a merry dance, and I was convinced that I knew who, if not why. What a fool I am! The author is sharp and shrewd, with an imagination that I could never foretell. The ending is cunning genius and even though I am still a tiny bit baffled by it all, it's a satisfying conclusion that makes the intriguing prologue make sense.
This is stylish and extraordinary writing. It's puzzling and perplexing but so damn good. There is something quite mesmerising about this story that defies genre and quite frankly, logic.
Stunning ... this will linger in my mind forever.
October 18, 2020
Audio 5+ Stars
Story 3.5 Stars
Story 3.5 Stars
October 11, 2019
Holy guacamole! What … the …. flipping … hell … was … this?! 🤯
And breathe.
Nothing important happened today. And even if it did, I wouldn’t remember because what little brain I have was blown to smithereens from reading Will Carver’s weird and wonderful new book. I don’t know what they put in his breakfast but it sure is providing us with the most exceptional and deliciously dark stories I’ve ever come across.
Nine strangers meet on Chelsea Bridge and jump to their deaths. Thirty-two people on a train witness the event. Two of those witnesses will die next. The People of Choice are here and their movement is growing. It all feels like something from a cult. But how do you stop a cult when people do not know they are members? And how do you find their leader when it doesn’t look like there is one?
This is unlike anything I’ve read before, which I’m pretty sure I said about Will’s previous book too. I was all set to expect the unexpected but I was not prepared for the amount of “WTF’s” that went through my head. Fifty pages in, I was already panicking about having to write this review, wondering what the heck I was reading and how to go about convincing you to pick this one up as soon as you can. I often struggle with reviewing Orenda books but this one? This is the kind of book that makes you want to throw in the reviewer towel altogether and just admit you’re not good enough. WTF and exclamation points abuse seem to be the extent of my vocabulary. Or I could try to say it with emojis, which would look like this 🤨🤔😲🤯
As I’m sure you’ve noticed from the book descriptions, this is not the easiest of topics to tackle. Some of it is heartbreaking, a lot of it is hugely uncomfortable. Nothing Important Happened Today is one of the most dark and disturbing stories out there but it’s immensely compelling from start to finish. All the while, it manages to highlight some of the issues modern society deals with, or doesn’t deal with depending on how you look at it, and it all just pulls you in like a magnet and doesn’t let go. I couldn’t at all figure out what the heck was going on but I enjoyed every bloody single minute of this unique, suspenseful and tense ride.
You know what? I have no idea what else I’m supposed to say. Nothing Important Happened Today is an amazingly original and extremely shocking story of manipulation and a total WTF book from the highest WTF shelf. You should read it, that’s all there is to it. Thank me later.
And breathe.
Nothing important happened today. And even if it did, I wouldn’t remember because what little brain I have was blown to smithereens from reading Will Carver’s weird and wonderful new book. I don’t know what they put in his breakfast but it sure is providing us with the most exceptional and deliciously dark stories I’ve ever come across.
Nine strangers meet on Chelsea Bridge and jump to their deaths. Thirty-two people on a train witness the event. Two of those witnesses will die next. The People of Choice are here and their movement is growing. It all feels like something from a cult. But how do you stop a cult when people do not know they are members? And how do you find their leader when it doesn’t look like there is one?
This is unlike anything I’ve read before, which I’m pretty sure I said about Will’s previous book too. I was all set to expect the unexpected but I was not prepared for the amount of “WTF’s” that went through my head. Fifty pages in, I was already panicking about having to write this review, wondering what the heck I was reading and how to go about convincing you to pick this one up as soon as you can. I often struggle with reviewing Orenda books but this one? This is the kind of book that makes you want to throw in the reviewer towel altogether and just admit you’re not good enough. WTF and exclamation points abuse seem to be the extent of my vocabulary. Or I could try to say it with emojis, which would look like this 🤨🤔😲🤯
As I’m sure you’ve noticed from the book descriptions, this is not the easiest of topics to tackle. Some of it is heartbreaking, a lot of it is hugely uncomfortable. Nothing Important Happened Today is one of the most dark and disturbing stories out there but it’s immensely compelling from start to finish. All the while, it manages to highlight some of the issues modern society deals with, or doesn’t deal with depending on how you look at it, and it all just pulls you in like a magnet and doesn’t let go. I couldn’t at all figure out what the heck was going on but I enjoyed every bloody single minute of this unique, suspenseful and tense ride.
You know what? I have no idea what else I’m supposed to say. Nothing Important Happened Today is an amazingly original and extremely shocking story of manipulation and a total WTF book from the highest WTF shelf. You should read it, that’s all there is to it. Thank me later.
July 6, 2020
The worst crime any book can commit is to be boring. The second worst is to be smug. This book achieves both.
I really cannot stress that though Carver creates a dreary depressed mood very effectively, that’s all he can do. There’s no tension. There’s nothing at stake. There is no emotional connection to anything in this book. Perhaps this is the point? By the end the reader should be bored into a state of deep depression?
Also found it incredibly weirdly middle class, the characters on runs must listen to “”angry rap”” - Kanye’s Stronger, which is a pop banger by literally any account other than that of an incredibly white guy who is afraid of black men.
Another weird quirk is that Carver hates fat people and he really wants you to know it, there are pointless references throughout the book to the jiggling of overweight runners, the horrifying disgustingness of eating a takeaway pizza and ice cream, a shout out that listening to a morbidly obese man lying to himself about what he consumed would drive a person to self-destruction.
There’s also a disconnect between what Carver THINKS is on social media and what actually is. If Carver thinks that half the 20 and 30 somethings in London aren’t all talking openly about their mental health and psychiatric help, he’s very out of touch.
Finally, Carver has done truly no research at all on this - which is clear when he referenced that “sometimes” psychiatrists must visit another psychiatrist and this is their mates giving them mates rates. All psychiatrists and counsellors in the UK are required to continuously undergo their own therapy in order to ensure there’s no transference or other factors clouding their professional abilities. This is also not a thing pals do for other pals, because that’s not ethical in the slightest.
I can understand a writer attempting this as an experiment but to release this book in this form was self indulgent.
It’s rare to read a book that so thoroughly makes you feel the author is a real knob but this is Carver’s only achievement.
I really cannot stress that though Carver creates a dreary depressed mood very effectively, that’s all he can do. There’s no tension. There’s nothing at stake. There is no emotional connection to anything in this book. Perhaps this is the point? By the end the reader should be bored into a state of deep depression?
Also found it incredibly weirdly middle class, the characters on runs must listen to “”angry rap”” - Kanye’s Stronger, which is a pop banger by literally any account other than that of an incredibly white guy who is afraid of black men.
Another weird quirk is that Carver hates fat people and he really wants you to know it, there are pointless references throughout the book to the jiggling of overweight runners, the horrifying disgustingness of eating a takeaway pizza and ice cream, a shout out that listening to a morbidly obese man lying to himself about what he consumed would drive a person to self-destruction.
There’s also a disconnect between what Carver THINKS is on social media and what actually is. If Carver thinks that half the 20 and 30 somethings in London aren’t all talking openly about their mental health and psychiatric help, he’s very out of touch.
Finally, Carver has done truly no research at all on this - which is clear when he referenced that “sometimes” psychiatrists must visit another psychiatrist and this is their mates giving them mates rates. All psychiatrists and counsellors in the UK are required to continuously undergo their own therapy in order to ensure there’s no transference or other factors clouding their professional abilities. This is also not a thing pals do for other pals, because that’s not ethical in the slightest.
I can understand a writer attempting this as an experiment but to release this book in this form was self indulgent.
It’s rare to read a book that so thoroughly makes you feel the author is a real knob but this is Carver’s only achievement.
September 17, 2020
Relevant, original and thought-provoking read!I've never read a book
like this.This is so much more than your average crime thriller.Even though
is nihilistic and depressive in tone it kept me glued the entire time I was
reading it.So many important topics and harsh truths about our society,culture
and world that are we living in are disccused here.There were some bits about real
serial killers and cults that were eye-opening and chilling to read.This book is
sarcastic, dark and not for the faint-hearted but everyone should read it beacuse
is talking about things that we would rather forget or deny but that are very real
and we should not close our eyes on them!
like this.This is so much more than your average crime thriller.Even though
is nihilistic and depressive in tone it kept me glued the entire time I was
reading it.So many important topics and harsh truths about our society,culture
and world that are we living in are disccused here.There were some bits about real
serial killers and cults that were eye-opening and chilling to read.This book is
sarcastic, dark and not for the faint-hearted but everyone should read it beacuse
is talking about things that we would rather forget or deny but that are very real
and we should not close our eyes on them!
January 18, 2020
I quit reading at 25% because of subject matter.
This book explores suicide, cults, and mass psychology. The tone is effectively detached with the characters being numbered, not named. This and other aspects, seemed cold and clinical which was probably intentional by the writer, but didn't work for me.
I've read many dark novels but this was too depressing, especially at this time of year. If I'd tried it during the summer season during longer and sunnier days, MAYBE I'd have felt differently. I sincerely doubt it though.
I'm in the minority on this one, so I hope others will give it a chance and enjoy it.
This book explores suicide, cults, and mass psychology. The tone is effectively detached with the characters being numbered, not named. This and other aspects, seemed cold and clinical which was probably intentional by the writer, but didn't work for me.
I've read many dark novels but this was too depressing, especially at this time of year. If I'd tried it during the summer season during longer and sunnier days, MAYBE I'd have felt differently. I sincerely doubt it though.
I'm in the minority on this one, so I hope others will give it a chance and enjoy it.
October 7, 2019
This is an extremely original crime thriller but it does come with a warning - it's as dark as they come. But complementing its bleakness and, at times, devastating sadness is its wit and cunning. A fast and intense, memorable read. Review to follow shortly on For Winter Nights.
July 31, 2019
Like absolutely nothing else I have ever read. Pure genius.
January 6, 2021
One of the biggest disappointments a book can have is promising to be a cult book and then NOT BEING A CULT BOOK. Here’s the thing though, Nothing Important Happened Today is a cult book. The cultiest cult book. The best cult book I’ve ever read! It’s about cults and serial killers and it warmed my little black heart!
Nothing Important Happened Today is about a mysterious cult popping up all over the world. People are hanging themselves from bridges en masse and jumping off of towers all at the same time. They all have a pre-written suicide note in their pocket, and the day they killed themselves, they received a note with only four words printed on it.
Nothing
Important
Happened
Today
Thoughts: This book was everything I’ve wanted and needed in a cult/serial killer book. It discussed so many famous serial killers and cult leaders and I couldn’t stop reading. This book was written in an odd way, like a manifesto, and it took a minute to get into it. Once I did, I couldn’t put it down. What was going to happen? Why were these people killing themselves? AND THEN THE REVEAL. 10/10 goosebumps and chills and I was here for it. I also really loved the short chapters and how unique the writing was. This book is disturbing in the best way and I highly recommend it. 5-devoted stars!
Nothing Important Happened Today is about a mysterious cult popping up all over the world. People are hanging themselves from bridges en masse and jumping off of towers all at the same time. They all have a pre-written suicide note in their pocket, and the day they killed themselves, they received a note with only four words printed on it.
Nothing
Important
Happened
Today
Thoughts: This book was everything I’ve wanted and needed in a cult/serial killer book. It discussed so many famous serial killers and cult leaders and I couldn’t stop reading. This book was written in an odd way, like a manifesto, and it took a minute to get into it. Once I did, I couldn’t put it down. What was going to happen? Why were these people killing themselves? AND THEN THE REVEAL. 10/10 goosebumps and chills and I was here for it. I also really loved the short chapters and how unique the writing was. This book is disturbing in the best way and I highly recommend it. 5-devoted stars!
September 24, 2019
First Will Carver I’ve read and ... wow. Totally different type of book, one that I expect will be the kind of book that will randomly pop into your mind even a couple of years from now. Great twists and turns, unique plot. The only aspect I wasn’t fully behind was the very graphic depictions of suicide, which were a little uncomfortable at times, but overall a great book.
October 13, 2019
Right. Here we go again. I swear to all the gods, reviewing a Will Carver book is the worst thing! Where does one even start?! Hell if I know! Part of me wants to just read his stories back to back and skip any kind of review because I might not be a baby blogger anymore but I’m still not equipped to deal with this kind of literary madness! But then there’s that pesky other part of me that wants to make sure everyone knows how utterly brilliant his stories are and that they must be read *sigh*
So here we are again. At the brink of what is supposed to be a raving review and all I can think of to write is: Christ on a cracker what the hell have I just read?! No one can make the words fall right out of my head like Will Carver does. I turned the final page and sat there gaping like a sick goldfish. It was NOT a sight for sore eyes, let me tell you!
After last year’s one crossed wire, three dead bodies and six bottles of bleach, this year we have nine suicides, one cult, no leader and just as many WTF moments. This is a batshit crazy story rife with batshit crazy events and batshit crazy people, told partly in the third person, partly in the collective first person, it’s neither a full-blown crime thriller nor a how-to-grow-your-own-cult manual and yet somehow manages to be both. I’m sure not many traditional publishers would touch this. And they’d be dead wrong. Books like these are why we need indie publishers like Orenda Books!
Nothing Important Happened Today is so dark that part of me wanted to read it in little chunks. A part that felt the need to take a step back, take a breather, read something upbeat and cheery and forget about serial killers and cults and suicides for a minute or two. I did not listen to that part. Because the other part of me was desperate to figure it out. What is the connection between the nine people jumping of the bridge? None of them wanted to die but then why go ahead with it anyway? Who was the wizard behind the curtain, pulling their strings? How did they know where to be and what to do? IT KILLED ME, the not knowing!! I was spluttering “but but but HOW?!?!” every two pages, looking around me in bewilderment but there was no one there to help. So, frankly, this was a bit of an uncomfortable read for me. Torn between needing a break and not wanting to take a break, drowning in the darkness of the narrative and the sadness of the characters and not knowing what was going on and being desperate to know. I had the same feeling when I read Good Samaritans, but less strongly, so fair warning: if you couldn’t cope with that, you won’t cope with this one. However, if you loved it, you will love this one too. However different in terms of storylines, the very distinctive Will Carver style that I so adore is here in spades.
The narrative jumps back and forth between the People of Choice (= those who receive a letter saying “nothing important happened today” and commit suicide), the wannabe People (= those who aren’t actually linked but commit suicide anyway), a Detective, a retired Detective / relative of one of the jumpers and How to Grow a Cult 101.
With regards to the People, the narrative jumps back and forth in time. You meet them before they jump. You learn things about their pasts afterwards. Still, it never gets confusing and it somehow fits the story perfectly because it’s not in an overly organised fashion, you never know what’s around the corner and it made me as a reader a bit disorientated but somehow also more involved, closer to the story and its people (of choice and otherwise).
With regards to the How to Grow a Cult 101, although it might not make sense at first, trust me, it does in the end. Will Carver obviously did his homework: he references quite a lot of (in)famous cults / cult leaders / charismatic criminals who gained a following. From the Manson Family over Dahmer and Shipman to Scientology, it’s all there but not in a dry, academic way. I’m rather fascinated with cults, and even more so by serial killers, especially the ones like Bundy who could charm their way out of anything (for a while anyway), so I loved this side of the narrative. So many little titbits and factoids and throw-away remarks that prove that Will Carver did his research and might even have a bit of a fascination with these people himself.
Batshit crazy. The noirest noir. Highly recommended!
So here we are again. At the brink of what is supposed to be a raving review and all I can think of to write is: Christ on a cracker what the hell have I just read?! No one can make the words fall right out of my head like Will Carver does. I turned the final page and sat there gaping like a sick goldfish. It was NOT a sight for sore eyes, let me tell you!
After last year’s one crossed wire, three dead bodies and six bottles of bleach, this year we have nine suicides, one cult, no leader and just as many WTF moments. This is a batshit crazy story rife with batshit crazy events and batshit crazy people, told partly in the third person, partly in the collective first person, it’s neither a full-blown crime thriller nor a how-to-grow-your-own-cult manual and yet somehow manages to be both. I’m sure not many traditional publishers would touch this. And they’d be dead wrong. Books like these are why we need indie publishers like Orenda Books!
Nothing Important Happened Today is so dark that part of me wanted to read it in little chunks. A part that felt the need to take a step back, take a breather, read something upbeat and cheery and forget about serial killers and cults and suicides for a minute or two. I did not listen to that part. Because the other part of me was desperate to figure it out. What is the connection between the nine people jumping of the bridge? None of them wanted to die but then why go ahead with it anyway? Who was the wizard behind the curtain, pulling their strings? How did they know where to be and what to do? IT KILLED ME, the not knowing!! I was spluttering “but but but HOW?!?!” every two pages, looking around me in bewilderment but there was no one there to help. So, frankly, this was a bit of an uncomfortable read for me. Torn between needing a break and not wanting to take a break, drowning in the darkness of the narrative and the sadness of the characters and not knowing what was going on and being desperate to know. I had the same feeling when I read Good Samaritans, but less strongly, so fair warning: if you couldn’t cope with that, you won’t cope with this one. However, if you loved it, you will love this one too. However different in terms of storylines, the very distinctive Will Carver style that I so adore is here in spades.
The narrative jumps back and forth between the People of Choice (= those who receive a letter saying “nothing important happened today” and commit suicide), the wannabe People (= those who aren’t actually linked but commit suicide anyway), a Detective, a retired Detective / relative of one of the jumpers and How to Grow a Cult 101.
With regards to the People, the narrative jumps back and forth in time. You meet them before they jump. You learn things about their pasts afterwards. Still, it never gets confusing and it somehow fits the story perfectly because it’s not in an overly organised fashion, you never know what’s around the corner and it made me as a reader a bit disorientated but somehow also more involved, closer to the story and its people (of choice and otherwise).
With regards to the How to Grow a Cult 101, although it might not make sense at first, trust me, it does in the end. Will Carver obviously did his homework: he references quite a lot of (in)famous cults / cult leaders / charismatic criminals who gained a following. From the Manson Family over Dahmer and Shipman to Scientology, it’s all there but not in a dry, academic way. I’m rather fascinated with cults, and even more so by serial killers, especially the ones like Bundy who could charm their way out of anything (for a while anyway), so I loved this side of the narrative. So many little titbits and factoids and throw-away remarks that prove that Will Carver did his research and might even have a bit of a fascination with these people himself.
Batshit crazy. The noirest noir. Highly recommended!
September 17, 2020
I'm very sorry but this is a DNF for me. I was attracted by the blurb and the first two chapters were intruiging. However, the longer I read, the less attractive the book became. I say 'the book' and not 'the story' because I'm convinced there must be a great story somewhere... Some of the characters were realling interesting. But honestly, I couldn't read on because of the writing style. I can understand other people would love it, and it is indeed very original, but it was just not for me.
November 21, 2020
Far quicker to just write “I hate fat people and social media” and be done tbh.
October 14, 2019
When I opened up the book and saw the dedication on the flyleaf to "Nobody," I laughed with much hilarity. I took it to mean the author was tired of the banal dedications that all authors do dedicating to wives, husbands, childrens, moms.
I saw this as screw it. Not dedicating to no one which made me laugh. But then I turned the page.
If you've ever read Will Carver, you know he's a master at storytelling. But this book was written by a genius. A genius that sees and feels everyone he passes by. There are no "nobodys" in his world. You are seen and you will be filed away for future use in a chapter. You have been forewarned.
This book really makes you think about how social media has changed our values of others, and more importantly, in ourselves. How it causes destruction. Some of us didn't grow up with social media and so it might be easier for us to see.
The brilliance of this book had me staying up all night to read. Even at one point sitting on the floor next to an outlet when my new tablet needed to be recharged with it's 3-ft cable, cause I couldn't put down the book. It kept me up all night but it was well worth it.
This book is dark. Really dark. And at first you wonder what you're reading as it's not a traditional murder mystery. The detective doesn't appear in the first chapter. More like one third of the book in. So don't give up on this one part way in. The writing alone should keep you going.
They have to make this into a movie. They just have to. And if this is your first Will Carver book, do yourself a favor and pick up his last book Good Samaritans and the even older Girl 4 (First in a triology). Both incredibly good.
I saw this as screw it. Not dedicating to no one which made me laugh. But then I turned the page.
If you've ever read Will Carver, you know he's a master at storytelling. But this book was written by a genius. A genius that sees and feels everyone he passes by. There are no "nobodys" in his world. You are seen and you will be filed away for future use in a chapter. You have been forewarned.
This book really makes you think about how social media has changed our values of others, and more importantly, in ourselves. How it causes destruction. Some of us didn't grow up with social media and so it might be easier for us to see.
The brilliance of this book had me staying up all night to read. Even at one point sitting on the floor next to an outlet when my new tablet needed to be recharged with it's 3-ft cable, cause I couldn't put down the book. It kept me up all night but it was well worth it.
This book is dark. Really dark. And at first you wonder what you're reading as it's not a traditional murder mystery. The detective doesn't appear in the first chapter. More like one third of the book in. So don't give up on this one part way in. The writing alone should keep you going.
They have to make this into a movie. They just have to. And if this is your first Will Carver book, do yourself a favor and pick up his last book Good Samaritans and the even older Girl 4 (First in a triology). Both incredibly good.
February 22, 2020
The fact that I don’t quite know how to start this review/reflection is an indication of the intrigue of Will Carver’s ‘Nothing important happened today’. I don’t want my inadequate words to minimise or trivialise how deeply this book delves into the shape of humanity and i certainly don’t want to be cliche in my response to it. So I’m trying to choose my words carefully.
The first thing that strikes me with Carver’s writing is his style, which he indicates in his acknowledgements at the end of the book as being written in the third person and the collective first person. The constant switch between the collective, the individual and a third person commentary, coupled with short sentences and repetition of sentences with the same first words creates such a unique reading experience and one that felt like I was reading fiction and non-fiction simultaneously. I loved that experience because the book is essentially non-fiction wrapped up in fiction if you get me.
For me, ‘Nothing important happened today’ is ultimately a commentary on life in the twenty-first century. Will Carver takes the concept of ‘cult’ and bats it around relentlessly until he has shaken it to its core and left the reader pondering what position they take on hundreds of issues, how they respond to a myriad of media intrusions ever single day and what they choose to engage with or image they want to portray. Chapters entitled ‘you want to help’, ‘build a following’, ‘stay illusive’, ‘deal in certainty’, and ‘help by killing’ clearly emphasise the no holds barred kind of writing style that Carver employs. And he does this all the while overstating in an understated kind of way that 21st century socialisation provides the perfect foundation for breeding a cult following.
For me there are poignant passages in this book that made me stop, think, ponder, reflect and nod in wonder at how Carver managed to weave such home truths into this work. Take page 255... “we are so connected that we have become disconnected. We can’t have a thought, we have to have an opinion. Freedom of speech has gone too fucking far when we feel the need to share everything. When we filter the image of ourselves but feel no need to filter what we say out loud, hidden behind a new status and picture of ourselves when we were twenty pounds lighter”.
And again on page 209, “in a world where we show everyone pictures of the meals we are about to eat or we share videos of landmarks in our children’s lives that should be just for us, where thoughts are our latest status and kindness appears to have lost its currency, its often the things we don’t say that cause the most damage”.
So, needless to say this is a book with impact. The impact for everyone will be a little different. It needs to be read with openness to see what is in there for each human being. After all, we are human beings for our entire lives.
The first thing that strikes me with Carver’s writing is his style, which he indicates in his acknowledgements at the end of the book as being written in the third person and the collective first person. The constant switch between the collective, the individual and a third person commentary, coupled with short sentences and repetition of sentences with the same first words creates such a unique reading experience and one that felt like I was reading fiction and non-fiction simultaneously. I loved that experience because the book is essentially non-fiction wrapped up in fiction if you get me.
For me, ‘Nothing important happened today’ is ultimately a commentary on life in the twenty-first century. Will Carver takes the concept of ‘cult’ and bats it around relentlessly until he has shaken it to its core and left the reader pondering what position they take on hundreds of issues, how they respond to a myriad of media intrusions ever single day and what they choose to engage with or image they want to portray. Chapters entitled ‘you want to help’, ‘build a following’, ‘stay illusive’, ‘deal in certainty’, and ‘help by killing’ clearly emphasise the no holds barred kind of writing style that Carver employs. And he does this all the while overstating in an understated kind of way that 21st century socialisation provides the perfect foundation for breeding a cult following.
For me there are poignant passages in this book that made me stop, think, ponder, reflect and nod in wonder at how Carver managed to weave such home truths into this work. Take page 255... “we are so connected that we have become disconnected. We can’t have a thought, we have to have an opinion. Freedom of speech has gone too fucking far when we feel the need to share everything. When we filter the image of ourselves but feel no need to filter what we say out loud, hidden behind a new status and picture of ourselves when we were twenty pounds lighter”.
And again on page 209, “in a world where we show everyone pictures of the meals we are about to eat or we share videos of landmarks in our children’s lives that should be just for us, where thoughts are our latest status and kindness appears to have lost its currency, its often the things we don’t say that cause the most damage”.
So, needless to say this is a book with impact. The impact for everyone will be a little different. It needs to be read with openness to see what is in there for each human being. After all, we are human beings for our entire lives.
August 31, 2023
This was such an interesting book which had me on the edge of my seat reading it
October 17, 2019
As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...
They are the ‘People of Choice‘. Nine strangers, who in a coordinated jump, leap to their death from off Chelsea Bridge. None of them wants to die, they want to live but die, at their own hands they do. Unknowingly they are part of a cult, a movement and by jumping they become part of something.
The morning before they jump they all receive the exact same letter. The only thing that ties them all together, a plain white envelope and inside are two pieces of paper. One is a pre-written suicide note and the has just four typed words on it ‘Nothing important happened today’. Upon receiving the letter it is their time, they have been chosen, they have been called and it is their day to die.
They are the faceless of society, the nameless, those people you pass by on the street and bear no heed to, a nobody. Not celebrities. They are you, they are me, they are the harangued mother in the supermarket, the dad waiting to collect his daughter from school, the checkout staff who serve you, the receptionist who books your appointment, the taxi driver, the factory worker and the bank manager.
The characters in the book are a number, a personality trait and, apart from a couple they remain anonymous and you never find out their names. Using a person’s name makes it personal and knowing a name makes you care. You see the nameless dead as more than just a body and you realise that it is a person, someone’s brother, sister, father, mother, friend or lover. It isn’t some unknown and unnamed stranger who has killed themselves it is a named person. Even if you only know the name from reading it online or, hearing it on the news you still know the name and names like words have power. With no name there is a veil of anonymity, you are a nobody, you are irrelevant and you aren’t a person. To the People of Choice only your death matters, you are a number added to the total kills and nothing more.
Each of the characters has their own life, their own faults, their own flaws and their own issues. Even after their death, you learn more about them, who they were, those that they have left behind and the aftermath of their suicides reverberate. They have had their name taken away from them by the cult. But, in Carver’s hands, they are real people. Real people who didn’t want to die but compelled by the influence of the invisible leader behind the ‘People of Choice’ they go through with committing suicide.
The cult leader, usually a charismatic figurehead, the focal point, is anonymous, hidden in the shadows and elusive. They are the puppet master pulling the strings and staying firmly behind the scenes. After the initial deaths of the nine people who jump from Chelsea Bridge the cult spreads like wildfire, social media blows up and the ‘People of Choice‘ morphs into its own kind of monster. As people start killing themselves around the world in the name of the ‘People of Choice’ the movement becomes a worldwide phenomenon.
Nothing Important Happened Today is a thriller. It takes a while for the detective to actually appear but, there is a detective and the police are fervently hunting for the identity of the cult leader and looking for connections between the dead. There are also bountiful references to cults and serial killers from history spread throughout the pages and the book partly reads like a ‘how-to’ guide on how to build a cult. A manifesto, a manual and a cutting commentary on how to create, grow and maintain a cult, the mistakes behind why the cult fails, why the serial killer was caught and the mentality behind cult leaders and serial killers.
The writing is fast-paced and snappy with short chapters that serve to propel the story forward. The story is dark, whip-smart, tackles a sensitive and tough subject, is both uncomfortable and graphic in places and is put together in a very intelligent way.
After finishing Nothing Important Happened Today I wasn’t quite sure what I’d just finished reading as it is like nothing I’ve read before. But, I knew that it was clever, devilish, disturbing and stylish with a vein of black humour coursing through the pages.
Nothing Important Happened Today is a book that raises its middle finger to conformity, to genre, walks its own path and it is brilliant.
They are the ‘People of Choice‘. Nine strangers, who in a coordinated jump, leap to their death from off Chelsea Bridge. None of them wants to die, they want to live but die, at their own hands they do. Unknowingly they are part of a cult, a movement and by jumping they become part of something.
The morning before they jump they all receive the exact same letter. The only thing that ties them all together, a plain white envelope and inside are two pieces of paper. One is a pre-written suicide note and the has just four typed words on it ‘Nothing important happened today’. Upon receiving the letter it is their time, they have been chosen, they have been called and it is their day to die.
They are the faceless of society, the nameless, those people you pass by on the street and bear no heed to, a nobody. Not celebrities. They are you, they are me, they are the harangued mother in the supermarket, the dad waiting to collect his daughter from school, the checkout staff who serve you, the receptionist who books your appointment, the taxi driver, the factory worker and the bank manager.
The characters in the book are a number, a personality trait and, apart from a couple they remain anonymous and you never find out their names. Using a person’s name makes it personal and knowing a name makes you care. You see the nameless dead as more than just a body and you realise that it is a person, someone’s brother, sister, father, mother, friend or lover. It isn’t some unknown and unnamed stranger who has killed themselves it is a named person. Even if you only know the name from reading it online or, hearing it on the news you still know the name and names like words have power. With no name there is a veil of anonymity, you are a nobody, you are irrelevant and you aren’t a person. To the People of Choice only your death matters, you are a number added to the total kills and nothing more.
Each of the characters has their own life, their own faults, their own flaws and their own issues. Even after their death, you learn more about them, who they were, those that they have left behind and the aftermath of their suicides reverberate. They have had their name taken away from them by the cult. But, in Carver’s hands, they are real people. Real people who didn’t want to die but compelled by the influence of the invisible leader behind the ‘People of Choice’ they go through with committing suicide.
The cult leader, usually a charismatic figurehead, the focal point, is anonymous, hidden in the shadows and elusive. They are the puppet master pulling the strings and staying firmly behind the scenes. After the initial deaths of the nine people who jump from Chelsea Bridge the cult spreads like wildfire, social media blows up and the ‘People of Choice‘ morphs into its own kind of monster. As people start killing themselves around the world in the name of the ‘People of Choice’ the movement becomes a worldwide phenomenon.
Nothing Important Happened Today is a thriller. It takes a while for the detective to actually appear but, there is a detective and the police are fervently hunting for the identity of the cult leader and looking for connections between the dead. There are also bountiful references to cults and serial killers from history spread throughout the pages and the book partly reads like a ‘how-to’ guide on how to build a cult. A manifesto, a manual and a cutting commentary on how to create, grow and maintain a cult, the mistakes behind why the cult fails, why the serial killer was caught and the mentality behind cult leaders and serial killers.
The writing is fast-paced and snappy with short chapters that serve to propel the story forward. The story is dark, whip-smart, tackles a sensitive and tough subject, is both uncomfortable and graphic in places and is put together in a very intelligent way.
After finishing Nothing Important Happened Today I wasn’t quite sure what I’d just finished reading as it is like nothing I’ve read before. But, I knew that it was clever, devilish, disturbing and stylish with a vein of black humour coursing through the pages.
Nothing Important Happened Today is a book that raises its middle finger to conformity, to genre, walks its own path and it is brilliant.
November 11, 2019
‘WISDOM IS THE REWARD YOU GET FOR A LIFETIME OF LISTENING WHEN YOU WOULD HAVE PREFERRED TO TALK’.
Right, so, how on earth can I write a review for Nothing Important Happened Today that’s going to make any sense at all because it BLEW MY MIND! I guess I’ll just start typing and see how it goes…
When strangers take part in a series of group suicides, everything suggests that a cult is to blame. How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?
Nine suicides. One cult. No leader.
Crikey Will, your book has carved up my brain, your sharp words and stabby no nonsense writing style had my undivided attention instantly. INSTANTLY I TELL YOU.
Nothing Important Happened Today has the most aggressive narrative I’ve ever read. Each page was telling me something I needed to hear, in straight up, no nonsense language. Words were being thrown at me, paragraphs hitting me square between the eyes. Whole pages making me forget to bloody well blink for gods sake!! Carver ensures that you are one hundred percent listening to what he has to say.
There was an odd familiarity to each character, a strange, relatable feeling that often made me STOP and just THINK. I’d find myself staring out the window, trying to understand why I connected to a diverse bunch of characters that surely I had nothing in common with…
ALSO!!! Is it just me, or are there HIDDEN MESSAGES in this book?? Am I going crazy? Is Mr Carver trying to tell me something? Advise me? I just don’t know.
Anyway, back to the story. I love crime fiction. I also thoroughly enjoy True Crime, but I’ve never read anything that incorporates the two together. One of the BEST things about NIHT (apart from the GENIUS STORYLINE) was the real life serial killer references, a fascinating and brilliant insight into the real crimes that gave this story real guts.
This is the deepest of darkest stuff people.
‘Take social media. Take these Millenials’.
To best describe this book, (the style of the writing more than the plot itself) I’d say it was the English equivalent of Irvine Welshs’ Trainspotting. (Minus the jacking up and Scottish lingo that even my Scottish husband can’t understand!)
I don’t want to start ooh-ing and aah-ing about how much I want you to go buy this book, or borrow it from the library or download it to your Kindle. (Other e-readers are available of course!)
I certainly won’t go on about how sensitive the subject matter is. This book is full of triggers.
I often experience difficulties when reading books with more than, say, 4 or 5 characters. I didn’t have any trouble here though. Carvers’ short chapters with simple titles helped to keep me in the loop.
This book was as EASY TO READ as it was HARD.
HANG ON A MINUTE! It’s just clicked. I related so much to Carvers’ characters because just like them, I’m a NOBODY!
I see it now. Crystal clear.
I don’t think I can write anymore about this book because it’ll be just mindless waffle. What I will say though is that I’m starting Good Samaritans by Carver in a minute because I simply need to read everything this authors written.
Thanks Will for writing this life-like freak show of a story. I loved everything about it.
Right, so, how on earth can I write a review for Nothing Important Happened Today that’s going to make any sense at all because it BLEW MY MIND! I guess I’ll just start typing and see how it goes…
When strangers take part in a series of group suicides, everything suggests that a cult is to blame. How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?
Nine suicides. One cult. No leader.
Crikey Will, your book has carved up my brain, your sharp words and stabby no nonsense writing style had my undivided attention instantly. INSTANTLY I TELL YOU.
Nothing Important Happened Today has the most aggressive narrative I’ve ever read. Each page was telling me something I needed to hear, in straight up, no nonsense language. Words were being thrown at me, paragraphs hitting me square between the eyes. Whole pages making me forget to bloody well blink for gods sake!! Carver ensures that you are one hundred percent listening to what he has to say.
There was an odd familiarity to each character, a strange, relatable feeling that often made me STOP and just THINK. I’d find myself staring out the window, trying to understand why I connected to a diverse bunch of characters that surely I had nothing in common with…
ALSO!!! Is it just me, or are there HIDDEN MESSAGES in this book?? Am I going crazy? Is Mr Carver trying to tell me something? Advise me? I just don’t know.
Anyway, back to the story. I love crime fiction. I also thoroughly enjoy True Crime, but I’ve never read anything that incorporates the two together. One of the BEST things about NIHT (apart from the GENIUS STORYLINE) was the real life serial killer references, a fascinating and brilliant insight into the real crimes that gave this story real guts.
This is the deepest of darkest stuff people.
‘Take social media. Take these Millenials’.
To best describe this book, (the style of the writing more than the plot itself) I’d say it was the English equivalent of Irvine Welshs’ Trainspotting. (Minus the jacking up and Scottish lingo that even my Scottish husband can’t understand!)
I don’t want to start ooh-ing and aah-ing about how much I want you to go buy this book, or borrow it from the library or download it to your Kindle. (Other e-readers are available of course!)
I certainly won’t go on about how sensitive the subject matter is. This book is full of triggers.
I often experience difficulties when reading books with more than, say, 4 or 5 characters. I didn’t have any trouble here though. Carvers’ short chapters with simple titles helped to keep me in the loop.
This book was as EASY TO READ as it was HARD.
HANG ON A MINUTE! It’s just clicked. I related so much to Carvers’ characters because just like them, I’m a NOBODY!
I see it now. Crystal clear.
I don’t think I can write anymore about this book because it’ll be just mindless waffle. What I will say though is that I’m starting Good Samaritans by Carver in a minute because I simply need to read everything this authors written.
Thanks Will for writing this life-like freak show of a story. I loved everything about it.
January 15, 2020
NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY | Will Carver
11.14.2019 | Orenda Books
Rating: 5/5 stars
Nine people meet one night on the Chelsea Bridge. They’re complete strangers, but something has brought them together on this day. Someone has instructed them that today is the day they will jump to their death. Someone has left them a letter containing only four words: Nothing important happened today.
This mysterious letter is how you know you’ve become one of the chosen ones. A member of the The People of Choice, a mysterious suicide cult whose members remain anonymous to each other. Is it possible to convince random people to commit suicide? Who would join a cult? How do you stop a group when people don’t know that their members until the day of their death?
What a unique story! I’ve always been fascinated by cults and what drives people to create them or join them. How do you possibly write a story about a cult where it’s members don’t even know they’re members? Will Carver continues to amaze me with his creative plots and engrossing stories.
When I first started this book I really didn’t know what to expect and well to be honest, it certainly wasn’t meeting a bunch of people identified by numbers. People who had interesting life stories and were carrying out their day to day lives. People who seemed normal. Right up until they jumped to their deaths off the Chelsea Bridge. Wait, what did you say?
Here’s the thing with this book, Carver sends you on an emotional rollercoaster. You’re busy connecting with these people and trying to understand them and why the heck you’re reading about them and then boom, they’re in a cult and committing suicide. No way people would just do that out of nowhere, right? This cult isn’t like all the others you might have read about. The premise is utterly unique and yet scarily possible. Like the kind of news stories you read about where you can’t believe someone would ever consider doing something like that...This. Is. That. How they get membership to this insane cult is quite fascinating and something you have to wait until the end to slot all the pieces of the puzzle together.
Are you completely confused by my rambling? It’s fine...my point in all this gibberish is to tell you that you should give this book a spot on your list! It’s dark and it’s disturbing and it’s crazy binge-worthy. I didn’t want to stop reading this book. I needed to know everyone and everything. Fair warning, it won’t be for everyone. This is certainly not a book for the faint of heart. It’s not gory or graphic in all the ways I normally have to scare people off of a book, but it’s a heavy mind trip that isn’t a fit for all readers. I say if you think it sounds interesting, if you’re into crazy, if you want a wild ride of a read, go snag a copy now!
A huge thank you to Orenda books for sending me a free copy of this book!
11.14.2019 | Orenda Books
Rating: 5/5 stars
Nine people meet one night on the Chelsea Bridge. They’re complete strangers, but something has brought them together on this day. Someone has instructed them that today is the day they will jump to their death. Someone has left them a letter containing only four words: Nothing important happened today.
This mysterious letter is how you know you’ve become one of the chosen ones. A member of the The People of Choice, a mysterious suicide cult whose members remain anonymous to each other. Is it possible to convince random people to commit suicide? Who would join a cult? How do you stop a group when people don’t know that their members until the day of their death?
What a unique story! I’ve always been fascinated by cults and what drives people to create them or join them. How do you possibly write a story about a cult where it’s members don’t even know they’re members? Will Carver continues to amaze me with his creative plots and engrossing stories.
When I first started this book I really didn’t know what to expect and well to be honest, it certainly wasn’t meeting a bunch of people identified by numbers. People who had interesting life stories and were carrying out their day to day lives. People who seemed normal. Right up until they jumped to their deaths off the Chelsea Bridge. Wait, what did you say?
Here’s the thing with this book, Carver sends you on an emotional rollercoaster. You’re busy connecting with these people and trying to understand them and why the heck you’re reading about them and then boom, they’re in a cult and committing suicide. No way people would just do that out of nowhere, right? This cult isn’t like all the others you might have read about. The premise is utterly unique and yet scarily possible. Like the kind of news stories you read about where you can’t believe someone would ever consider doing something like that...This. Is. That. How they get membership to this insane cult is quite fascinating and something you have to wait until the end to slot all the pieces of the puzzle together.
Are you completely confused by my rambling? It’s fine...my point in all this gibberish is to tell you that you should give this book a spot on your list! It’s dark and it’s disturbing and it’s crazy binge-worthy. I didn’t want to stop reading this book. I needed to know everyone and everything. Fair warning, it won’t be for everyone. This is certainly not a book for the faint of heart. It’s not gory or graphic in all the ways I normally have to scare people off of a book, but it’s a heavy mind trip that isn’t a fit for all readers. I say if you think it sounds interesting, if you’re into crazy, if you want a wild ride of a read, go snag a copy now!
A huge thank you to Orenda books for sending me a free copy of this book!
January 24, 2020
I can remember when this book was published and how many of the book bloggers helping with its blog tour, had trouble expressing their thoughts about it. Now I know how that feels.
Mass suicides. A cult. People in a cult, but don't know they are, and the others - those who would rather stick their phones in the air and video events rather than wonder what the hell is really going on.
That was another thing about this book. There were so many aspects of it that will make you think about yourself, your actions and your morals. Where is society going? Do you want to be part of it or would you rather be dead? Strange that, because it's those seeking help because they want to die who are saved. Saved how? Well that would be giving too much away.
I like the structure of the book. Characters are numbered, never named, each with their own small chapters. The story keeps moving along until that ending. What an ending.
Original, thought provoking and a very honest portrayal of modern life. My favourite line from it is: 'A full bank account is no substitute for an empty soul.'
Mass suicides. A cult. People in a cult, but don't know they are, and the others - those who would rather stick their phones in the air and video events rather than wonder what the hell is really going on.
That was another thing about this book. There were so many aspects of it that will make you think about yourself, your actions and your morals. Where is society going? Do you want to be part of it or would you rather be dead? Strange that, because it's those seeking help because they want to die who are saved. Saved how? Well that would be giving too much away.
I like the structure of the book. Characters are numbered, never named, each with their own small chapters. The story keeps moving along until that ending. What an ending.
Original, thought provoking and a very honest portrayal of modern life. My favourite line from it is: 'A full bank account is no substitute for an empty soul.'
January 12, 2020
It is important to note that this book is bleak, intense and relentless in it's depiction of cult mentality and suicide. The author does not change tack after the first few pages, so don't go on if it is too much. Is it a book for a school library - no, it won't inform or entertain in any positive way I can think of. I will be shelving it in 'File 101'.
Wish I hadn't read it, but it's my job and I do it so that I can pass on my thoughts to others through this site.
Wish I hadn't read it, but it's my job and I do it so that I can pass on my thoughts to others through this site.
April 22, 2022
Chelsea Bridge spans the river Thames in London and becomes the scene of a group suicide. What drove these nine strangers to take their own lives, are they members of a cult?
WOW! A thriller centred around suicide sounds rather dark and/or depressing but don’t let that put you off. This crime thriller is top class and is a wonderful read that would make a great film.
I loved the way Will Carver has told his story, he had me hooked in from the very start and my brain buzzing. As Will writes in his acknowledgements at the end of this novel “Who else would say “yes” to a book written in the third person and the collective first person, spliced between an instruction manual, where the main detective doesn’t show until the eighty-fifth page?”
I liked how this story was told from the different characters’ viewpoints and how this was a mixture of fact, history and fiction. The whole culture of serial killers and how cults are formed was fully explored. I loved the psychology involved and how this was explained. This story is very current day and focuses on modern trends and frustrations. For example…
Calling your daughter ‘Princess’ is setting her up for failure. If you are telling your child that they can do anything they want to do with their lives, if you are saying that they can be what they want to be when they grow up, you are doing them a disservice…
And another example…
Some actor that made a decent film a couple of decades ago has died and everybody seems terribly upset about it, though they haven’t thought about him once in the last five years. A million statuses say RIP like he’s logged straight onto the Internet from whatever lies beyond this mortal realm…
Will writes a lot about Millennials and how their problems are not real but are the result of lifestyle and the use of technology plus social media. He talks a lot of sense about modern day issues when you read the instruction manual parts of this story. Will has done a lot of research about serial killers and the formation of cults, so his book is very engaging. This is not a thin story and has not been padded out. What you get is a fully fleshed idea that has tonnes of reasoning behind it giving you an OUTSTANDING 5 star read. Don’t let the subject matter put you off, this is one hell of a thrilling and thought provoking read.
WOW! A thriller centred around suicide sounds rather dark and/or depressing but don’t let that put you off. This crime thriller is top class and is a wonderful read that would make a great film.
I loved the way Will Carver has told his story, he had me hooked in from the very start and my brain buzzing. As Will writes in his acknowledgements at the end of this novel “Who else would say “yes” to a book written in the third person and the collective first person, spliced between an instruction manual, where the main detective doesn’t show until the eighty-fifth page?”
I liked how this story was told from the different characters’ viewpoints and how this was a mixture of fact, history and fiction. The whole culture of serial killers and how cults are formed was fully explored. I loved the psychology involved and how this was explained. This story is very current day and focuses on modern trends and frustrations. For example…
Calling your daughter ‘Princess’ is setting her up for failure. If you are telling your child that they can do anything they want to do with their lives, if you are saying that they can be what they want to be when they grow up, you are doing them a disservice…
And another example…
Some actor that made a decent film a couple of decades ago has died and everybody seems terribly upset about it, though they haven’t thought about him once in the last five years. A million statuses say RIP like he’s logged straight onto the Internet from whatever lies beyond this mortal realm…
Will writes a lot about Millennials and how their problems are not real but are the result of lifestyle and the use of technology plus social media. He talks a lot of sense about modern day issues when you read the instruction manual parts of this story. Will has done a lot of research about serial killers and the formation of cults, so his book is very engaging. This is not a thin story and has not been padded out. What you get is a fully fleshed idea that has tonnes of reasoning behind it giving you an OUTSTANDING 5 star read. Don’t let the subject matter put you off, this is one hell of a thrilling and thought provoking read.
August 5, 2020
I love a book which keeps surprising you throughout your read.
This is a very original and completely different telling of a police "investigation".
Not to everyones taste, but if you are willing to go with the flow, this is a great read.
This is a very original and completely different telling of a police "investigation".
Not to everyones taste, but if you are willing to go with the flow, this is a great read.
December 15, 2019
I have to start this review by saying I have no idea how to write this review so apologies if this ends up being a ramble. Nothing Important Happened Today is like nothing I’ve ever read before and I don’t know how to write about it!
Nothing Important Happened Today opens with nine people who’ve never met before all arriving at about the same time on Chelsea Bridge, they put ropes around their necks and they jump to their deaths. We then find that they each received a letter in the post that morning telling them that Nothing Important Happened Today! This chilled me to the core but I simply had to know more so I kept reading.
The novel is told in short vignettes that gradually get pieced together to make up the whole story. We briefly see the lives of the nine who jumped, although we only know them by the numbers they’ve been assigned. This is clever because it means they’re the ‘everyman’ – they could be you or me or someone one you know. Interspersed with these stories we see an old man who seems obsessed with what happened on the bridge, we see a Detective who is on leave visiting his psychiatrist and wondering about the people on the bridge. We also get to see the lives of the poor 32 people on a train who witnessed the nine jump to their deaths and the impact it has on some of them.
The novel isn’t told from any one viewpoint but you feel like there is still an over-arching voice that is controlling what we learn and when we learn it. I felt like I was being pulled into something that I both wanted to look away from and wanted to know more about. I felt I was being manipulated by the person running the cult that isn’t a cult, and it really made me pause for thought about how cults come to be and how they draw people in.
This book isn’t an easy read for anyone. It gave me chills, it’s quite possibly the most disturbing book I’ve ever read. It plagued my mind when I wasn’t reading it and it affected my sleep but I would still absolutely say that it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year! It made me think more than any other book I’ve read this year, it’s still making me think now a couple of weeks after I finished reading it. You need to be in the right frame of mind to pick this book up but it’s absolutely a book worth reading. The insight into how we think of cults and how cults work was fascinating, the way it makes you think about everything in a slightly different light is brilliant.
I’ve lost people to suicide, and whilst I didn’t know the man there was a very public and horrific suicide attempt in my town recently that happened when I was reading this book, so this wasn’t the easiest of reads for me. I did have to keep putting it down and giving myself some space from it but I was always compelled to come back to it because it’s so well-written and it’s such a thought-provoking book.
Nothing Important Happened Today is a book that heavily features suicide but it’s not really about suicide, it’s about the way that society and social media has an affect on all of us. It’s about how people can be preyed upon when they’re vulnerable to it and therefore not aware of how someone is playing them. It’s about how we can find ourselves caught up in something awful and not even know we’re caught up in it until it’s too late. It’s also about the way we’ve become almost immune to horror because we see it all the time on social media and on the news channels. People are so quick to record everything on their phones and there’s always a rush to be the first person on social media talking about something horrible that’s happened. We forget that these things involve real people with loved ones. This book is makes such a powerful statement about modern society and it’s absolutely a wake-up call! This is a book for now, for our era and it’s a book that everyone should read.
Nothing Important Happened Today is so dark and disturbing, I feel like it’s really messed with my mind but it’s made its mark on me more than anything else I’ve read this year. This book is a future classic, mark my words! This book is a must-read and I highly recommend it!
This review was originally posted on my blog https://rathertoofondofbooks.com
Nothing Important Happened Today opens with nine people who’ve never met before all arriving at about the same time on Chelsea Bridge, they put ropes around their necks and they jump to their deaths. We then find that they each received a letter in the post that morning telling them that Nothing Important Happened Today! This chilled me to the core but I simply had to know more so I kept reading.
The novel is told in short vignettes that gradually get pieced together to make up the whole story. We briefly see the lives of the nine who jumped, although we only know them by the numbers they’ve been assigned. This is clever because it means they’re the ‘everyman’ – they could be you or me or someone one you know. Interspersed with these stories we see an old man who seems obsessed with what happened on the bridge, we see a Detective who is on leave visiting his psychiatrist and wondering about the people on the bridge. We also get to see the lives of the poor 32 people on a train who witnessed the nine jump to their deaths and the impact it has on some of them.
The novel isn’t told from any one viewpoint but you feel like there is still an over-arching voice that is controlling what we learn and when we learn it. I felt like I was being pulled into something that I both wanted to look away from and wanted to know more about. I felt I was being manipulated by the person running the cult that isn’t a cult, and it really made me pause for thought about how cults come to be and how they draw people in.
This book isn’t an easy read for anyone. It gave me chills, it’s quite possibly the most disturbing book I’ve ever read. It plagued my mind when I wasn’t reading it and it affected my sleep but I would still absolutely say that it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year! It made me think more than any other book I’ve read this year, it’s still making me think now a couple of weeks after I finished reading it. You need to be in the right frame of mind to pick this book up but it’s absolutely a book worth reading. The insight into how we think of cults and how cults work was fascinating, the way it makes you think about everything in a slightly different light is brilliant.
I’ve lost people to suicide, and whilst I didn’t know the man there was a very public and horrific suicide attempt in my town recently that happened when I was reading this book, so this wasn’t the easiest of reads for me. I did have to keep putting it down and giving myself some space from it but I was always compelled to come back to it because it’s so well-written and it’s such a thought-provoking book.
Nothing Important Happened Today is a book that heavily features suicide but it’s not really about suicide, it’s about the way that society and social media has an affect on all of us. It’s about how people can be preyed upon when they’re vulnerable to it and therefore not aware of how someone is playing them. It’s about how we can find ourselves caught up in something awful and not even know we’re caught up in it until it’s too late. It’s also about the way we’ve become almost immune to horror because we see it all the time on social media and on the news channels. People are so quick to record everything on their phones and there’s always a rush to be the first person on social media talking about something horrible that’s happened. We forget that these things involve real people with loved ones. This book is makes such a powerful statement about modern society and it’s absolutely a wake-up call! This is a book for now, for our era and it’s a book that everyone should read.
Nothing Important Happened Today is so dark and disturbing, I feel like it’s really messed with my mind but it’s made its mark on me more than anything else I’ve read this year. This book is a future classic, mark my words! This book is a must-read and I highly recommend it!
This review was originally posted on my blog https://rathertoofondofbooks.com
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