[A] rich adventure, the kind of long, lush, thoughtful page-turner many of us crave but rarely get our hands on

The best novel I've read this year

A powerful, atavistic book...full of threat and mystery. Wonderful strong stuff

Engrossing and memorably exciting

A great storyteller who knows how to make sure that the reader has to turn the pages out of a desperate need to find out what is going to happen next.

Unequalled ability to build a sustain suspense

Remarkable . . . genuinely clever and learned, often funny, brilliantly constructed and surprisingly touching . . . a debut of scintillating intelligence and scope.