Review: Kill Them with Kindness

Kill Them with Kindness by Will Carver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can't really tell you precisely what this book is about, but that may well be due to me trying too hard to find a single subject to hang on to it. Near the beginning I thought it was about possible theories as to how the Covid outbreak may have started, but it wasn't that. Later I wondered whether it was intended to poke fun at one of our previous UK Prime Ministers. It certainly did a lot of this, but I'm sure that wasn't its primary aim. One theme that came through quite strongly, to me at least, is the problem of unintended consequences. In the same way that the American laws on child seats in cars may have affected if/when families may have a third child, the good that was attempted in this book may not have manifested itself in the way the initiator had expected. Most of the narrative focuses on a scientist who releases a virus which makes people nicer and more compassionate. But the ultimate horrific deed actually had little to do with this aspect of the story. Unusually for one of Will's books, there are a few plot holes. It is in this parallel, slightly related, story that the plot holes exist. All through the book I was very hooked. I was just a bit disappointed in what felt like a rather slapdash and contrived denouement.

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