Exciting, beautifully plotted

A more serious and complex writer than Chandler and Hammett ever were

America's greatest crime writer

Ross MacDonald is very important to me. I love the Lew Archer books

The finest series of detective novels ever written by an American

A magical book. It's one of those books that makes you feel as though you have been on an emotional rollercoaster.

Brilliantly empathetic. Believe the hype: a brilliant, heart-warming book

In telling a painful story in the voice of a 15-year-old boy with Asperger's, Haddon broadens ordinary minds and helps to understand how they work, too.

Mark Haddon's portrayal of an emotionally dissociated mind is a superb achievement. He is a wise and bleakly funny writer with rare gifts of empathy

I have never read anything quite like Mark Haddon's funny and agonizingly honest book, or encountered a narrator more vivid and memorable. I advise you to buy two copies; you won't want to lend yours out

Original, moving and entertaining for adults as well as for older children

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!