Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when one like Susan Hill does the result is stunning

Eagerly awaited by all aficionados of crime fiction

The real joy of the Serrailler series is Serrailler himself…rich in incident and intrigue

Arguably one of the UK’s best crime fiction writers

Hill is, as ever, a true writer and a true storyteller… Her writing, never fancy or over-elaborate, is sweet and and clear and true, lifting the story above mass-market mass-killer lit

This is a crime series that specialises in side-stepping conventions, always to exhilarating effect.. The books succeed in harnessing all the genre's addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination all their own

The crime part of the novel…is very good. But as in all these books, we are also engaged in the continuing story of the Serrailler family… All this gives the novel a much richer texture than is usual in crime fiction…(Susan Hill) writes as an honest and disturbing witness to our times

Hill has a keen eye for description, an accurate ear for conversation and an innate
understanding of relationships

As well as romance, there's as usual plenty of fast-paced, punchy action and deceptively deft plotting.

I was unable to put thebook down...a brilliantly crafted mystery and one of Child's best.

Turns into a sinister tri-state conspiracy with a massive body count...a Reacher novel par excellence, fuelled by the terse diague and breakneck action sequences that make Lee Child so popular.

No one writes more compelling thrillers than Child, who is at the top of his form with Make Me.

A crack detective who’s tougher than the toughest guys in the army…at bottom he’s a knight errant or a one-man A Team...he also has a streak of learning...Make Me is a return to form.

This is the innocent-seeming start of a journey into the very darkest recesses of the human mind; for such a nice woman, Rendell had an amazing empathy with psychotic killers. Dark Corners is Rendell at her incomparable best; talk about going out in style!

Rendell was a prolific and hugely popular writer of intricately plotted mystery novels that combined psychological insight, social conscience and, not infrequently, teeth-chattering terror.

Rendell was unequivocally the most brilliant mystery writer of our time.

When many of the literary novelists of our time are forgotten, Ruth Rendell’s books will remain, and future generations will see that not only did she keep her readers on tenterhooks with every book, she also wrote stories which held up a mirror to her times.

Rendell’s work, mapping the manic and malevolent extremes of human behaviour, was distinguished by terse yet elegant prose and sharp psychological insights.

Rendell’s novels have been a major force in lifting crime writing out of genre fiction and into both cutting-edge and mainstream literature.

Ruth Rendell: one of the all-time greats.

Every aspect of Ruth Rendell’s dark art is splendidly showcased in Dark Corners. One can’t say she saved the best for last, because a great many books by Ms Rendell and her alter ego Barbara Vine are so splendid, but it’s among the best. You won’t put it down. I loved it.

Rendell set an extraordinarily high benchmark in crime fiction that continued throughout her long career. She is revered by all who came after her.

Rendell transformed what had become a staid and formulaic genre into a different kind of crime novel. She turned it into a prism for examining the world around her with a critical eye.

WHAT SHE LEFT is bold and inventive storytelling. The reader becomes the investigator, sorting through diary entries, letters, tweets, and emails to discover the truth beneath the tales of an entire cast of potentially unreliable narrators. This is not only a clever thriller, but an insightful exploration of identity and the personae we create in the social-media era

I loved Falling, Emma Kavanagh’s debut novel. With Hidden I feel she has taken it to the next level. Emma Kavanagh is bound to be a leading light in psychological thriller authors. This is gripping, compulsive read. If her next book is half as good as this one it will be a cracking read.

This book is a refreshing take on your traditional thriller. There is no lengthy police investigation after the event - instead, the entire book is devoted to events prior to the shooting. Less a 'who done it' than a 'who's going to do it?' And it works brilliantly, with Emma Kavanagh laying her bait cleverly. Just when you think you've worked everything out, she throws in a bit more information and you realise you're barking up quite the wrong tree. Hidden is a very well-written book, packed with detail yet remaining a book so easy to read that you could devour it in just a few greedy gulps. Dialogue is relevant and characterisation is excellent, making for a most enjoyable, and layered, read.

I think this is the first book I’ve read where the main police character is a Police Firearms Officer rather than a detective. This fresh angle really makes the story stand out, as does the rest of the brilliantly drawn characters and the complex relationships (and hidden secrets) they have with each other. It’s hard to go into detail about this book without giving away spoilers, but what I can say is that it’s a story that keeps you on your toes as a reader. I love books that keep me guessing and challenge me to work out who is responsible, and this story did just that. With several crimes taking place, multiple narrators giving glimpses into different elements of the story, and a super pacey non-linear timeline, the author cleverly ramps up the suspense and the mystery, and kept me guessing right to the end. This is a gritty, tense, twisty page-turner of a book – and a must read for crime and thriller fans.

A second novel is a tricky beast – can the author do it again? Can they build on the success of the first? Can it follow in the same genre without being too much the same?
Kavanagh has succeeded with Hidden when other authors have failed. Similarly to some series on television, the novel starts with the crime and then takes the reader back a stage, to the start of the action. Rather than peeling away the layers to get at ‘who dun it,’ Kavanagh builds up the layers, so that we get to the ‘why’ of ‘who dun it’. Clever stuff, with multiple viewpoints. Kavanagh uses her years of experience training police forces and military units on the psychology of life threatening incidents, to give credence to her work. The tension builds, and never lets up.
Let’s hope there’s another Kavanagh gem soon. Bravo.

The most cunning crime novels, like many of the greatest detectives, trick you into believing you’re smarter than them before pulling out the rug from under you. None more so than Hidden… Kavanagh is certainly deft, batting around the reader like a car with a caught mouse.

It’s clever, complicated and the characters are completely believable….Kavanagh is an original and interesting addition to the genre.