Description

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?

***Telegraph Book of the Year***
***Longlisted for Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award***
***Longlisted for Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2020***

‘Heavy gusts of bedsit nihilism usher in this strange mystery … weirdly page-turning’ Sunday Times

‘Laying bare our 21st-century weaknesses and dilemmas, Carver has created a highly original state-of-the-nation novel’ Literary Review

‘Arguably the most original crime novel published this year’ Independent

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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?

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‘Cements Carver as one of the most exciting authors in Britain. After this, he’ll have his own cult following’ Daily Express

‘At once fantastical and appallingly plausible … this mesmeric novel paints a thought-provoking if depressing picture of modern life’ Guardian

‘This book is most memorable for its unrepentant darkness…’ Telegraph

‘Unlike anything else you’ll read this year’ Heat

‘Utterly mesmerising…’ Crime Monthly

Publisher Review

'It's unusual, it is original, and it is a brilliant read' * Crime Fiction Lover * 'Beautifully written, smart, dark and disturbing - and so original. The whole thing feels like a shot of adrenaline... -- Alex North 'Dark and disturbing, Carver goes from strength to strength' -- S.J. Watson 'A gloriously melancholy, twisted and twisty, with so much to say on modern lives it'll stay with me for a very long time' -- Tom Wood 'A literary thriller with the darkest storyline and the most ingenious execution I've ever read...' -- SJI Holliday 'Will Carver has taken the rules of a serial killer novel and ignored every single one of them ... this book will mess with your head' -- Michael Wood 'Thrilling and completely original ... deserves to become an instant classic' -- Kevin Wignall 'A taut, highly original novel from one of the most under-rated crime writers out there' -- Simon Kernick 'I've never read such an original, stunning, clever, literary thriller. I'm absolutely blown away' -- Sarah Pinborough