Flat 401 is a dark, propulsive thriller that gripped me from the start and made it hard to put down! Kingsley Pearson triumphs with this debut. Crafting a layered, multi-narrator story that explores guilt, identity, race, sexuality, and the lingering scars of trauma. Pearson delves into the grey spaces between innocence and guilt, desire and shame, redemption and despair. The characters are richly complex, the plot full of secrets and devastating twists. More than just a thriller, Flat 401 is a powerful exploration of the human condition and a bold new voice in crime fiction. It's tense, thought-provoking, and utterly compelling—an outstanding debut that will stay with you long after the final page. Cannot wait to read more from this new author!!

Flat 401 is an incredibly thought-provoking thriller – written with such confidence and complex characterisation. It is arresting. This is a book that is obsessed with the ideas of vengeance and justice. It asks difficult questions about what retribution is against revenge and where the justice system comes into play, as well as interrogating its failings. This is particularly concerned around survivors of crime and the bystander effect, asking at what point someone becomes culpable for harm inflicted upon others. We delve into offenders reentering society as well and the challenges of this. Ultimately, the system feels irreparably broken but with some good people working within it. It is desolate but there are sparks of hope and a chance to claim your life once again. Pearson eloquently explores the ongoing effects of trauma, how it shapes your worldview and the way you simply exist walking through it. I particularly enjoyed the throughline about guilt and how deeply that can affect a person. Overall, this book sits in its murky morality, puzzling over these topics in a way that really stays with you. Reflecting that nuance is Jay, the core of this story. He is wracked with guilt and haunted by the choices he has made but also trying to rebuild his life. There are a lot of layers to Jay which he shares slowly through the two timelines the narrative follows. Immediately, there is a sense of pathos in the tragic end you know the past will eventually have, but you still root for it to end differently this time. He is caught up in this turbulent web and some of his actions will be polarising for readers. I really enjoyed spending time with him and his voice was so compelling. Around him are an equally fascinating cast of three-dimensional characters that Pearson infuses with heart and humour in some cases and the monstrous darkness humanity can have in others. Flat 401 is a compulsively readable examination of grief, guilt and vengeance – particularly within a broken justice system. It is such a strong debut.

Flat 401 by Kingsley Pearson This book will have people who love it, hate it, or that it doesn’t work for at all. I believe that I am in the last category. The prologue grabbed me, and made me want to find out why someone died and who the killer was but by page fifty I realized that I would have to do what I usually do…read the end to see if it was a book I wanted to read word for word. The ending didn’t make a lot of sense to me, so I read some more from page fifty on skimming and read in more depth some places than others to eventually realize…this book was not for me. I picked up that Jay has a secret he will do just about anything to keep from being exposed, he is conflicted, he wants a future with promise (though I am not sure he knows what that might be), he lives in a place that is like a small community with everyone knowing everyone else’s business, and that it is not a place I or (probably) Jay found comfortable. There are dark undercurrents, creepy characters lurking about that cause mental turmoil, other characters who want justice or revenge or perhaps…just the truth, and a few supportive friend-type characters…maybe. The conclusion is also dark with a bit of an unfinished feeling about it that did not make me want to go back and read word for word to get to know any of the characters better. Did I like this book? Not really Would I read more by this author? Maybe, if the synopsis appealed to me Do I think others will like it? Yes, some will not be able to put it down Would it help to have a better feel for the community/setting of the book? Perhaps Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for the ARC – This is my honest review. 2-3 stars for me 3-5 stars for others 3-4 stars on average