“Just outside the city – any city, every city – is a grand, spacious but affordable apartment building called The Beresford.

There’s a routine at The Beresford.

For Mrs May, every day’s the same: a cup of cold, black coffee in the morning, pruning roses, checking on her tenants, wine, prayer and an afternoon nap. She never leaves the building.

Abe Schwartz also lives at The Beresford. His housemate, Sythe, no longer does. Because Abe just killed him.

In exactly sixty seconds, Blair Conroy will ring the doorbell to her new home and Abe will answer the door. They will become friends. Perhaps lovers.

And, when the time comes for one of them to die, as is always the case at The Beresford, there will be sixty seconds to move the body before the next unknowing soul arrives at the door.

Because nothing changes at The Beresford, until the doorbell rings…

Eerie, dark, superbly twisted and majestically plotted, The Beresford is the stunning standalone thriller from one of crime fiction’s most exciting names.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of The Beresford by Will Carver. The Beresford was published by Orenda Books on 22nd July 2021 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats.

I’ve been a fan of Will Carver’s books for a while now so when The Beresford was suggested as one of my ’12 books in 12 months’ reads, I immediately added it to the list. Huge thanks to @NickiRICHARDS7 and @the_sara_post for their recommendations. I thoroughly enjoyed this dark and twisted tale!

Looking for a room on the outskirts of the city? Then look no further! The Beresford is the answer to all your problems. The deposit required to secure your room is so small it’s laughable and the monthly rent certainly won’t be a stretch. You CAN have it all. What’s that…? It sounds too good to be true? That’s because it is! Move into The Beresford and there’s a good chance you won’t be moving out again…

Dark and twisted decadence from the absolute master of all things dark and twisted. The Beresford ensnares the reader from the moment they crack the spine and what a devilishly good read it is! This is not a book for the faint hearted by any stretch of the imagination. Nor is it a book to read over a long period of time as once you pick it up, you ain’t putting it down again. I flew through this book in one day unable to resist the pull it had over me. Glorious!

The characters the reader is introduced to at the start all have a great amount of depth to them and I was really warming to new resident, Blair Conroy, and her blossoming romance with long standing Beresford tenant, Abe Schwartz when the author twisted the tale in the most exquisite way and left me open mouthed (but with the biggest grin on my face). From that point I was officially smitten with this book. I cannot not mention the mysterious yet venerable Mrs May who oversees everything that happens at The Beresford. The all-knowing, all seeing eye of this eerie abode. The other characters in the book are as equally strong as those we first meet and all have a very definite part to play. I felt I really got to know many of them, even if their appearance was only brief.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. If you’re a fan of dark and twisted (and twisty!) fiction then you need to get hold of a copy of The Beresford. It’s wicked and disturbing and gloriously dark and everything I want in the books I read. Carver is a master storyteller. One who is not afraid to take his tales places other writers wouldn’t dare and I applaud that. I loved the time I spent at The Beresford. Shocking, darkly humorous and so very compelling from the get-go. I feel bereft now that it’s over. Highly recommended.

The Beresford by Will Carver was published in the UK by Orenda Books on 21st July 2021 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | Book Depository | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop |

Will Carver is the bestselling author of the January Series – Girl 4 (2011), The Two (2012), The Killer Inside (2013), Dead Set (2013) – and the critically acclaimed Detective Pace series, which includes Good Samaritans (2018), Nothing Important Happened Today (2019) and Hinton Hollow Death Trip (2020), all of which were selected as books of the year in mainstream international press. The books in this series have also been longlisted/shortlisted for the Amazon Readers Independent Voice Award, Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, Not The Booker Prize and the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. Will spent his early years living in Germany, but returned at age eleven. He studied theatre and television at King Alfred’s Winchester, where he set up a successful theatre company. He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition business and lives in Reading with his children.