Just when you thought that Harvey couldn’t get any better, up he pops with yet another brilliantly constructed, coolly written, chillingly sharp and utterly contemporary procedural.

John Harvey is not just a fine crime novelist but a fine writer, and an adornment to his chosen genre. I devoured Good Bait in a day, and defy any reader to do otherwise.Great stuff.

John Harvey returns in resounding form … Terrific plot and, in Karen Shields, a splendid new heroine.

Intricate, character-driven plotting and a large canvas full of telling detail lift this above the average police procedural.

John Harvey shows he is one of the best crime writers around: perhaps even Britain's answer to the great Elmore Leonard

Good Bait proves that John Harvey is always prepared to tackle something new and ambitious.

Harvey really does have his finger on the pulse of what is happening in the criminal underworld and some of the more deprived areas of London. There's a real sense, not just of what's happening, but of why it's happening and where there are gaps in the net. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

What makes this book and John Harvey stand out is the writing and the characters... If you love crime you've got to read John Harvey.

On page one I was gripped by Bale’s faultless narrative, by the final page I was left in a state of awe at his storytelling skills... The prose is masterful... All in all I have to say that The Catch is an everyman novel with an acute difference, instead of offering forward a potential hero, you are offered characters trying to get away with murder. I loved its intense pace, top notch characterisation and moralistic questioning

A clever tale of unintended consequences... Tom Bale manages to balance the seemingly ordinariness of his characters with their facility for lying and self-deception in such a way that you still can’t help but hope that they survive the nastiness that is heading their way like a runaway train

a tremendous read…well put together and an excellent example of the good writers craft. I can’t say much more because I wouldn’t want to spoil for you when you rush out to buy a copy 4/5

This book captures you from the start… then twists and turns in every chapter, taking you on an intriguing roller coaster ride until the end… Great stuff!

There are some lovely characters, a swift plot, not too many red herrings and lots of action. I think it is well worth investing in.

This is a tense, elegant, psychological thriller about an emotional tug-of-war... This tale of self-willing entrapment keeps us guessing to the end... Compelling and memorable.

Hooper has constructed a modern fairy tale of a kind, complete with Bluebeard and his castle, and using some of the fictional paraphernalia of Gothic horror and melodrama she delivers a compelling, at times disturbing, but always humorous and readable cautionary tale.

The difficulty with a thriller - even if it is literary - is not to fall into cliche and predictability. At the points where it seems as this may happen, Hooper wrong foots the reader without losing any credibility, leading to a very clever ending.

This beautifully crafted psychological thriller really got under my skin.

Hooper is a very clever writer. Her prose is uncluttered, but every phrase is packed with meaning.

A chilling, compulsive read.

New, dark literary thriller...read it for its seductive plot.

A dark unsettling read which will appeal to fans of the gothic as well as those who enjoy tales of twisted relationships such as Gone Girl.

Literary thriller The Engagement by Chloe Hooper takes a Fifty-shades style plot about erotic games between estate agent Liesel and business man Alexander to a darker place.

Part gothic novel, part thriller, this will keep you guessing until the end.

Hooper has crafted a terrific tale full of dark corners and dead-ends that leave the reader wondering what to believe. The result is a collision between a psychological thriller and a very dark romance that has something for fans of either genre.

The Engagement has all the ingredients of a top psychological thriller with the bonus of literary style. I think it could be a huge hit. I hope so. I really want to see the film…

Beautifully crafted and sleek psychological thriller… The Engagement, by one of Australia’s newest and brightest writers, explores mind control, power games and emotional abuse, so do not expect it to be a romance novel as it is, most definitely, not!

An unsettling thriller... A book which deftly explores the power of money and property, romance and sex

A dark, erotic and tense tale

Plain and lucid, with beautifully accurate word-choice, and plenty of grace-notes that one pauses to appreciate... A highly intelligent, unpredictable, very grown-up, and crazily readable novel

A sleek and sly two-hander, a thriller almost, that sets everything out clearly for the reader and yet remains filled with uncertainty

An intense psychological thriller, strewn with enough red herrings to satisfy the most demanding reader

Hooper's writing is singularly challenging and confrontational... For those who prefer their erotic literature less Fifty Shades of Grey, more Jane Eyre

A fine, literary thriller; cold, at times almost nauseatingly disturbing

A fascinating, subtle, really original modern Gothic thriller