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In the Darkness had me hooked from the start. Fossum’s writing is insightful and descriptive without being showy. There are no tricks or cliff hangers, just confident storytelling, refreshingly free from sudden bursts of implausibility. Her characters feel like real people, living in a real world, where money is tight and motivations are murky.

It is Karin Fossum’s wry observations of human frailty and the warmth with which she portrays even her flawed characters - that make this book such a pleasure to read. It’s rare for me to find a book that I love so much I can’t put it down, but this was one of them.

Dark, atmospheric tale of murder in a small-town world.

A dark but powerful debut novel ... Hoffman maps the atmosphere of paranoia that descends on the formerly tranquil town as she moves deftly between its inhabitants.

A skillful, psychologically acute tale of how violence affects a small town

[A] fearless first novel

This female-centric thriller gets to grips with financial and familial intrigue: a stylish debut

Fast-paced thriller

Truly deserves the description "a real page-turner"

A deservedly acclaimed read.

A fascinating, funny and memorable read

The clash between Christopher's view of the world and the way it looks to the rest of us makes this an extraordinarily moving, often blackly funny read. It is hard to think of anyone who would not be moved and delighted by this book, so the decision to publish it simultaneously for older children and adults is certainly well-founded

A wonderful first person narrative of a boy with Asperger's Syndrome; funny, sad and extraordinarily original

I'm all for hearing different voices in fiction and I got my wish with this book. The story showed just how someone with Asperger's might view the world. Christopher finds a dead dog and sets about trying to find the dog's killer, but the book is much more than a mystery story... I loved the way Christopher tries to bring order to his world by using Maths which he finds far easier to understand than people

So genuine...It is chillingly heartbreaking and passionately positive in equal measure

So what makes these different to any other set of classics? In a moment of inspiration Random House had the bright idea of actually asking Key stage 2 children what extra ingredients they could add to make children want to read. And does it work? Well, put it this way...my 13-year-old daughter announced that she had to read a book over the summer holiday and, without any prompting, spotted The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas...and proceeded to read it! Now, if you knew my 13-year-old daughter, you would realise that this is quite remarkable. She reads texts, blogs and tags by the thousand - but this is the first book she has read since going to high school, so all hail Vintage Classics!