Maeve Binchy has a gimlet eye for the seething cauldron of emotions which lies beneath the surface of everyday life

An adept storyteller with a sharp eye for social nuances and a pleasing affection for her characters

Amis's introduction to these five stories is a beautifully judged piece of polemic; a carefully reasoned emotionally charged attack on the unthinkable folly of nuclear war - an elegant, funny, moving book

The majority of the inhabitants of Knockemstiff, Ohio ... seem straight out of John Boorman's film Deliverance ... Life experience shows in this exceptional collection

What makes this an enjoyable read is Pollock's aptitude for a funny gag in the guise of amazingly inventive language

A serious, moving, funny, dark collection

KNOCKEMSTIFF by Donald Ray Pollock is the best book I have ever read. This is the America they don't let you see on television. This is real literature. It will be read for centuries

It's as if you put David Lynch, Denis Johnson, and a drunk speed freak body builder into a blender. The result are some of the darkest, wildest, most messed up, hilarious stories I've ever read. Knockemstiff is really something

This short story collection gives those new to her oeuvre a chance to delve into gems from her past...precociously vibrant