Rendell understands the nature of evil... Her gimlet intelligence eschews compassion; reading this collection is similar to being harangued by one of her unstable creations who behind your back, sharpens the knitting needle.

Each [story] is like a condensed, polished Rendell novel.

Rendell's mastery of the short story is unsurpassed.

Ruth Rendell, like all the great creators of crime fiction, keeps her pact with the reader. There’s a murder mystery, there are clues, there is a solution. It’s a very satisfying read

Here are the fears that haunt us, the nightmarish urban myths of our time... One of the most remarkable talents writing today

Chief Inspector Wexford is Rendell’s most enduring and best creation

Dolan gets everything right in his debut, a suspense novel that breathes new life into familiar themes. Pitch-perfect prose and sophisticated characterisations drive the noirish plot, which offers plenty of unexpected twists. Fans of Peter Abrahams and Scott Turow will find a lot to like...the talent Dolan displays suggests he has a bright future.

Harry Dolan has written a wonderfully moody and atmospheric story ... a tightly plotted, sophisticated, and engrossing debut novel. Dolan has a fine ear for good dialogue and an uncanny sense of how people think and act, and why they do what they do. This is a winner

From the astringent first sentence - 'The shovel has to meet certain requirements' - Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan builds like a thunderhead into an atmosphere of darkness, dread, and impending doom. It is a hypnotically readable novel, with richly wrought characters, a corkscrew plot, and dialog worthy of Elmore Leonard. What a breathtaking debut.

tasty tale...Dolan's neatly symmetrical plot is tight, his dialogue is crisp, and his humor wry. (Rarely have suspects been so archly articulate.) A twisty whodunit with a thriller's pace...

a brilliant first novel

Offers penetrating insights into the new India

Tarquin Hall is a distinguished journalist and has no problem marshalling details to create a sense of what everyday life is like in Delhi: the smell of chat and kachoris seems to waft from the page, as indeed does the stench of political corruption

Pour yourself a cup of tea and pull up a comfy chair. Great fun - a seething slice of the sub-continent

Adam Ross has crafted a diabolically intricate novel, one that presents all the pleasures and challenges of a well-wrought Sudoku puzzle. There's a whiff of alchemy to the book; you can't quite believe that its many pieces fit together so snugly. Yet they do. Once you've finished, you run your eye back and forth and up and down, and every way you look it adds up. Mr. Peanut is smart, funny,
gripping and - in its ultimate unravelling - sneakily sad

Superbly suspenseful storytelling, weaves missing children, romantic trauma and professional misconduct into a riveting read

Consider yourself in the hands of a most assured master - with a canny sense of humour