Will Carver’s latest book, Kill Them with Kindness, is a speculative thriller that will take you to totally unexpected places. As you’ll know if you’ve read books like Nothing Important Happened Today or Psychopaths Anonymous, this is an author who creates wildly original plots that are a little bonkers, in the best way possible. With Kill Them with Kindness, he doesn’t disappoint. It will grab your attention from the first page.
As the story opens, people across the UK are lining up to receive their Dignity pills, which will give anyone who takes them a painless death. The government has issued them to offer people a kind escape from the enormous cloud of deadly biological gasses that will soon pass across the country. It’s expected to cause much pain and suffering once it arrives.
Unfortunately, the government has no way of countering this biohazard. Instead, they’re advising people to spend their final evening with their loved ones. They will send out an emergency alert when the deadly mass arrives so everyone can take their pills. The public has seen horrific photos and videos of the cruel deaths that happened to half the population of China. For many, Dignity seems like the easiest option. Carver creates a realistic picture of how various people respond to this catastrophic event by sharing brief glimpses into the lives of different characters.
There are two primary plot lines in the book. The first focuses on what’s happening in the UK in the present while the second takes place in China one year prior. There, we’re introduced to Doctor Haruto Ikeda, a respected Japanese scientist in a senior position at the Wuxi Institute research facility.
In spite of his brilliance, Haruto occasionally misplaces his electronic data. When this occurs, he will search the shared work drive for his documents. During one of these searches he accidentally comes across a file containing a disturbing plan to release the Tau virus out into an unsuspecting world. Haruto has been involved with Tau research and he knows that it could kill millions. Sadly, the file on the shared drive suggests that one of his colleagues is involved. An evil plan like this must be driven by society’s increasing greed and apathy.
His discovery leads Haruto to come up with his own audacious plan – to create a vaccine that will reduce this type of selfish behaviour and replace it with kindness and empathy. His plan to secretly test and implement a compassion vaccine leads Haruto to question his own ethics. He determines that a desperate time calls for a desperate measure. He decides to make his vaccine even though it will risk his job.
Although Haruto doesn’t share his plan with anyone at the Wuxi institute, he does discuss it with his wife Kimiko. She is a psychiatrist. Haruto and Kimoko have a solid trusting relationship and she supports him with his plan. It’s a race against the clock to complete sufficient testing of the vaccine on mice before it can be tested on a human being.
However, while Haruto is conducting his research and keeping his eyes on his co-workers, someone is observing him. It becomes an engaging mix of espionage and science.
There are many layers to this book. At some points, Carver provides social commentary on pandemics, corruption and an increasing apathy towards the needs of others. We see the greed of some individuals who choose to exploit people for profit during a crisis. As we learned from the COVID pandemic, nothing creates market demand like the fear of the unknown. Thankfully, some characters display genuine kindness to others.
We also see the lengths that some unethical individuals will go to in order to remain in power. The character of Harris Jackson, the British prime minister, has no boundaries or concept of service to those who elected him. His inappropriate behaviour is at times an embarrassment to UK citizens. Unfortunately, Jackson’s accepted persona as a pleasure-seeking bumbling idiot camouflages his evil intent. Some of his actions will be very familiar if you follow current affairs in Britain.
By the end of the book, the two timelines merge into a shocking conclusion. The final chapters will have you racing through the pages to find out what happens when the poisonous gas reaches the UK. Carver manages to get the right balance of dark humour, touching moments and razor sharp social commentary. Kill Them with Kindness is my favourite Carver novel thus far.
Orenda Books
Print/Kindle
£6.49
CFL Rating: 5 Stars
