The Girl Next Door is vintage Rendell and a perfect celebration of her half-century. She’s so effortlessly prolific that it’s easy to take her for granted; we assume that if we miss one of her books, there’ll be another one along in a minute. This novel, however, reminded me of the singularity of Ruth Rendell’s talent, her effortless mastery of language and her uncanny genius for mapping a criminal mind.

Rendell is as masterful as ever; her writing tense, brittle, and brilliant.

She is the peer of Kingsley Amis and Muriel Spark. The Girl Next Door is as great a novel as Stanley and the Women or Memento Mori . . . a joy to read. Rendell's novels establish a sense of order that is deeply satisfying.

Fifty years on, the girl from Essex has become the unchallenged crime queen of suburbia. Her powers of observation are as acute as ever, and she writes about old age with as much gusto as any of the subjects she has tackled in her long career.

This book is extraordinarily courageous, a demonstration that fiction can take us where reportage dares not go.

Rendell gives an acutely observed portrayal of old age through her characters’ regrets, losses and bewilderment . . . Difficult themes such as death, usually dressed up in mystery in a crime novel are, thanks to these elderly protagonists, real, hard-hitting and constant.

That The Girl Next Door works as a standalone novel is partly attributable to Rendell’s deftness in parrying comparisons with her best-known creation. It also unravels a satisfying mystery, stretching tentacles into the past.

An excellent analysis of re-found youth, this novel shows how people can surprise themselves even in their winter years.

In this engaging novel, the portraits of elderly people living today and their preoccupations are presented with almost sociological precision, and scattered throughout are acute observations about changing language and manners.

Nobody does the suburbs like Ruth Rendell: in her expert hands they exert a morbid fascination. Behind the immaculate exteriors lurks a world of unhappiness and deceit – and at times murder. An excellent read.

Vintage Ruth Rendell

A beautifully written psychological thriller that’s going to be huge

Going to be THE summer read

Thrilling, gripping and well-written

Tense and packed with suspense, it tears along like a runaway train

[a] stunning first novel (catch it before the inevitable film)… I stayed up for too late reading this and it was very bad for my blood pressure

dark and twisted tale

A thrilling ride and Ware keeps us guessing right up until the final pages

Excellent characterisation give the ending a mesmerising, slow-motion car crash appeal

the novel is a thrilling ride and Ware keeps us guessing right up until the final pages

Gripping and gruesome

The hen night from hell ends in catastrophe. Creepy, compelling and clever.

Smart, darkly funny and packed with plot twists… Heroine Janie is an engaging and complex character… An enjoyable romp of a read which is incredibly difficult to put down

Janie Jenkins [is] a snide, sharp-tongued and sparky LA bitch channeling her inner Paris Hilton

Captivating… Sharp and dramatic – we couldn’t put it down!

Original and full of twists

[Janie’s] wit is bitter and devastating, her put-downs Pulitzer-worthy

Fresh and fizzing and original, this is such an impressive debut

a sassy firecracker of a crime novel

If you like dark and disturbing psychological thrillers then Black Eyed Susans should definitely go on your list

A fascinating, educated, highly absorbing read that I struggled to put down for any length of time. Any free moment was spent with my head in this book.
Intense, creepy and atmospheric, Black-Eyed Susans is a intelligent character driven masterpiece excellently paced with some great plot twists which had me guessing right to the very end ... brilliant!

Heaberlin drip-feeds an intriguing story at a tantalising pace . . . Heaberlin has written an intelligent, absorbing and well-researched page-turner that will delight fans of Megan Abbot and Tana French

Fascinating details about identifying remains through bone and DNA analysis are woven through equally compelling present-day narration and flashbacks to Tessa's therapy sessions and trial testimony. The pieces can't come fast enough as the story builds to a shocking and satisfying conclusion. Deliciously twisty and eerie, Heaberlin's psychological suspense novel is intricately layered and instantly compelling

This book is a rarity in that the research underpinning it is evident but not obtrusive. Black Eyed Susans is a fine achievement. It drips with authenticity, empathy and dread, meditating on the Death Penalty as well as offering an empathetic study of the life of a survivor. Take note - Julia Heaberlin belongs on every suspense fan's bookshelf

Creepy and compelling, Black-Eyed Susans is a shadowy and crooked journey to a very dark place indeed, a twisty fairytale that deceives you just when you think you've cracked it and a thriller to make you remember why you love thrillers. Don't miss it.

A powerful thriller . . . With a fairy-tale-like atmosphere, the creepy thriller works insidiously on the senses . . . Clever, ingeniously manipulative and elegant.

This dark, complex thriller is not just a gripping page-turner, but also brilliantly explores the psychology of the victim.

This is the debut novel of Julia Heaberlin, and again it's excellent . . . Beautifully written . . . It's a great book

Black Eyed Susans is haunting, intense and original - it'll keep you guessing till the last page

A powerful thriller . . . With a fairy-tale-like atmosphere, the creepy thriller works insidiously on the senses . . . Clever, ingeniously manipulative and elegant.

This dark, complex thriller is not just a gripping page-turner, but also brilliantly explores the psychology of the victim

Black Eyed Susans is haunting, intense and original - it'll keep you guessing till the last page

Taut, addictive, intelligent and impressive

Tense, pacy and compelling, Black-Eyed Susans is a taut psychological thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Julia Haeberlin masterfully ramps up the suspense gradually, building to an explosive denouement that you won't see coming. Quite simply, the best thriller you'll read this year - perhaps decade. Miss it at your peril.