Upstairs at the Beresford: The devilishly dark, explosive prequel to cult bestselling author Will Carver’s The Beresford
£6.49
Hotel Beresford: a grand old building, just outside the city, where any soul is welcome, and strange goings-on mask explosive, deadly secrets. A chilling, darkly funny sequel to Will Carver’s bestselling The Beresford…
`Superbly paced and remarkably inventive, a book that demands to be read in a single sitting´ M.W. Craven
`Delightfully dark and wickedly inventive … with characters that stick around long after the final page is turned, whether you want them to or not´ S J Watson
`From the wondrous mind of Will Carver … a tour de force that covers life, death and everything beyond´ David Jackson
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There are worse places than hell…
Hotel Beresford is a grand, old building, just outside the city. And any soul is welcome.
Danielle Ortega works nights, singing at whatever dive bar will offer her a gig. She gets by, keeping to herself. Sam Walker gambles and drinks, and can’t keep his hands to himself. Now he’s tied up in a shoe closet with a dent in his head that matches Danielle’s broken ashtray.
The man in 731 has been dead for two days and his dog has not stopped barking. Two doors down, the couple who always smokes on the window ledge will mysteriously fall.
Upstairs, in the penthouse, Mr Balliol sees it all. He can peer into every crevice of every floor of the hotel from his screen-filled suite. He witnesses humanity and inhumanity in all its forms: loneliness, passion and desperation in equal measure. All the ingredients he needs to make a deal.
When Danielle returns home one night to find Sam gone, a series of sinister events begins to unfold. But strange things often occur at Hotel Beresford, and many are only a distraction to hide something much, much darker…
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Praise for Will Carver
`One of the most exciting authors in Britain’ Daily Express
`A smart, stylish writer´ Daily Mail
`Incredibly dark and very funny´ Harriet Tyce
`Unlike anything you’ll read this year´ Heat
`Impossibly original, stylish, sinister and heartfelt´ Chris Whitaker
`Weirdly page-turning´ Sunday Times
`Ambitious, dark and funny´ Mike Gayle
`A highly original state-of-the-nation novel´ Literary Review
`Oozes malevolence from every page´ Victoria Selman
`Arguably the most original crime novel published this year´ Independent
`Mesmeric´ Guardian
`Memorable for its unrepentant darkness…’ Telegraph
`Perceptive and twisted in equal measure´ CultureFly
`Pitch-dark, intelligent and utterly addictive´ Michael Wood
`Unflinching, blunt and brutal´ Sam Holland
`Equally enthralling and appalling´ James Oswald
`One of the most compelling and original voices in crime fiction´ Alex North
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Additional information
| Publisher | Orenda Books (9 Nov. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 2868 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 411 pages |
by Kate
Before we begin, let me just say I have no idea where to actually begin, and nothing I write in this review will fully convey the absolute madness and genius of Upstairs At The Beresford. Will Carver is a phenomenal writer and I love that his writing makes me think in a way I’ve never come across before with any other writer. There is a lot of discussion around aspects of modern society – sex, relationships, religion – and I love the boldness of this in a complex, yet compelling novel.
Upstairs At The Beresford is set in The Beresford Hotel, an establishment which is home to a number of interesting characters. Although they are not all likeable, Will Carver has created a group of characters that represent a range of people that the reader will recognise, either from their own lives or around the places that they live. This means he is able to present a number of issues to us. It’s not always easy to read and some of the topics are upsetting, but I loved the way the characters are so well observed, and even if I had no experience of the issues they presented, I was able to gain some insight into the difficulties they faced.
I found that Upstairs At The Beresford had a more linear plot than some of Will Carver’s previous novels and being able to follow the story slightly more easily definitely helped me to become more engaged in the novel. As elements of the plot started to come together, I enjoyed the increase in tension and I was intrigued to see how the story would end.
I do hope the Beresford has an opportunity to open its doors again in future.
by Jacob Collins
Will Carver has a real talent for creating characters that are lost souls. I was so excited to hear that he would be returning to The Beresford, as I loved the first book in this series. Upstairs at the Beresford, really does take us on an unusual and a gripping journey, and that is what I’ve come to expect from Will Carver’s novels, and it’s what makes him such an exciting writer. He is a writer, who always manages to surprise me with each book, and I always start his books with great anticipation, wondering what Will Carver has in store for us next, and he always delivers.
The Beresford Hotel really does feel like the last throw of the dice for the characters in this book. It’s where people go when they don’t have any other option, and it’s a place which seems to consume the very souls of its inhabitants. This is what seems to happen the very moment, when residents sign up for a room with the hotel receptionist, Mrs May. There are so many intriguing characters that are currently staying at the hotel. I really felt for Danielle and Odie. Danielle has to make some tough, and heart breaking life choices, just so she can continue to afford to keep a roof over their heads. You can see just how innocent her son is in all of this, and how much he loves his mum, and I wanted things to get better for them.
Will Carver creates such a creepy atmosphere with the hotel, and it becomes a character in its own right. It certainly does feel that once you enter the hotel, that your lives are no longer yours, and that you’re every move is being watched. There is certainly one unnerving character, Mr Balliol, who seems to be keeping an eye on everyone who resides there. This is what makes this book such an intense read.
What Will Carver explores so well in this book, is what we, as humans, will be prepared to do just so we can protect our loved ones. You can feel the emotions the characters are going through, as they feel as though they have no other option. It’s what really made me invest in their lives as I was reading. I wanted to understand what their reasons were for going down this particular path, and it really did make me shudder as I read these scenes.
Once again, Will Carver has crafted a pacy, addictive read. Will Carver takes darkness to a whole new level in his writing and Upstairs at the Beresford is another exceptional read that I highly recommend.
by Spicewalker
I am getting to the point now where I am not sure I have anything new original to write when it comes to a Will Carver novel. Every time I pick up a book I mentally prepare myself to be taken on some strange, mind bending, often angry, always unique, journey, one that will have me smiling and, perhaps more disturbingly, nodding in agreement with many of the observations that emerge through the course of the book. Not that I necessarily agree with the actions of some of Mr C’s protagonists – that’s a step too far even for me on a bad day. But Will Carver has a canny knack of really getting down into the minutiae of human behaviour, drawing out the innermost demons, sometimes literally, of his characters and giving them a disturbingly authentic personality, highlighting all the quirks and foibles that make us the contradictory, challenging mess that we are.
Yes, he also takes his stories to the next level, and when it comes to the occupants of The Beresford, they really are an unusually eclectic bunch. For anyone who has already visited The Beresford (the novel, not the hotel), some of what, or perhaps who, we see may seem familiar. But this book is set before Abe and Blair have their fateful meeting with Mrs May, taking up residence in the building that is going to radically (gross understatement, I know) change their lives. We get a sneak peak within of the ‘after’ of this once iconic hotel’s existence, and in Upstairs At The Beresford, the author shows us the ‘before’. A mixture of bad actions and good intentions. Misadventure and misdeeds. And all of it orchestrated by someone who makes their career being the puppet master of bad decisions.
I’m really trying to be careful about what I say about the book. I think it is a case where less really is more and you need to read it yourself to fully understand and appreciate what the book is all about. Like many of his other novels, some more overtly than others, the author explores the dividing line between good and evil, highlighting the blurring of the lines that is sometimes dictated by circumstance, often driven by ego. I liked the duplicity of the characters, the fact that the residents act like a mirror to the darkness that is infused in every brick of the building, reflecting it back in a stark, occasionally shocking, way. It’s a darkness that permeates the soul of everyone who passes through the door, although arguably it may just be that the building amplifies what was already there.
I really liked the mixture of characters in this book. From the innocent souls like Odie, who just loves to read, through to Jazz singer, Danielle; Hotel Manager, Carol, or the mysterious Mr Balliol, Will Carver captures and portrays such a myriad traits that it is possible to find an echo of almost anyone you know amongst them. Okay, so most of them leave a lot to be desired in the personality stakes, but I was invested in each and every one of their stories. As the narrative moves back and forth between their points of view, a style the author really excels at, we accompany them in a kind of voyeur capacity, seeing the highs and overwhelming lows of their lives.
Although it sometimes seems hard to pick out any particular moments of light in the creeping, leeching darkness, there are soft moments to be found. Poignant scenes in which we are able to pause for a moment, take a breath and nod in understanding of true love and compassion. Yes, this book really does force home the point of asking what you might do, what you might sacrifice, to get your heart’s desire, but it’s not all framed in a bad way. Sometimes that sacrifice is laced with pure love. Mr Carver can do romantic too. After a fashion.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, possibly for all of the right reasons – great characters, good, but dark humour, and a completely engrossing story – but, undoubtedly for some of the wrong ones too. You don’t come to a Will Carver novel expecting a happy ever after fairytale ending. If this were a fairytale, it would be far more Brothers Grimm than Disney, and, got to be honest, that’s just the way I like it. Definitely recommended.