Keep Him Close was a magnetic, all-consuming read. A heart-breaking suspense which deals with love in all its forms, however it is expressed.

A moving account of family relationships and mainly low-level but devastating criminality

Keep Him Close isn't just a suspenseful mystery about two women's determination to discover the truth about the night that left one of their sons dead. It's also a really well-written, deeply moving and psychologically affecting study of motherhood and heartbreak. Highly recommended.

Powerfully written and packs a real emotional punch.

A gripping, dark domestic drama with motherhood at its heart. Beautifully written and emotionally charged, the characters leaped off the page and stayed with me.

A beautiful and heart-breaking story that I can’t stop thinking about. Simply stunning.

This is domestic noir as it's meant to be done; riveting and beautifully written.

Intriguing, heartbreaking and deftly drawn, Keep Him Close is a mystery novel with a beautiful character study at its heart.

A beautifully written novel with a cast of richly drawn characters, and a plot that grows ever more menacing as it twists to its powerful, unexpected conclusion.

Keep Him Close is a compelling and deftly plotted read, exploring complex dynamics with sensitivity and empathy.

I loved that at the core of the novel's mystery was these mothers' love and belief in their sons...A tense, taut page turner filled to the brim with emotion.

A hugely readable and assured thriller about what could be every parent’s nightmare.

A beautifully moving novel about acceptance and forgiveness.

I loved this book. Wonderful characterisation and tense plotting. Bravo!

Keenly researched, steeped in real life and dripping with tension, this book is a must-read for any fan of the genre.

Heart-wrenching and page-turning, Keep Him Close delivers and then some.

Twisty, emotional and addictive

This subtle novel is as moving as it is thrilling

Reveals a chilling truth in an unputdownable narrative full of unnerving moments and with a growing, inexorable sense of foreboding.

Katsu, an extensive researcher, has seamlessly woven true personal accounts and stories with her own brand of creeping, sinister horror leaving the reader to wonder what is real and what isn’t.

Atkinson has long been the standard bearer for literary crime fiction, and Big Sky sports her customary elegance…Once again, a vividly drawn cast of characters adorns a complex plot.

This clever page-turner tackles some sobering subjects, but the real draw is the return of Jackson Brodie, the dour but big-hearted private investigator

Brimming with the wit and let-justice-triumph tenacity that led the series to print bestsellerdom and a popular BBC-TV series... With Atkinson it's Raymond Chandler meets Jane Austen, and amazingly she makes it all work.

As is often the case in Atkinson's genre-defying fiction, assignments to track lost cats and unfaithful husbands are never quite what they seem.

He [Jackson] is one of the few characters in modern crime fiction so fully realised that one can imagine him living a life outside the books...By some alchemy Atkinson makes her sad stories supremely funny, even uplifting.

Ms Atkinson has been on the trail of lost children (particularly girls) since her very first novel...as in all [her] fiction, she supplies gruesome discoveries and a strong helping of violence, all nevertheless relayed with a deft and witty touch...Big Sky has all the sizzle of a British fry-up; Ms Atkinson's evocation of the beauty and desolation of faded seaside resorts is unerring. Several stories are woven into a seamless plot, with the help of credible-seeming twists of fate. And there is just enough unfinished business to leave readers impatient for [Brodie's] next outing.

Beautifully written, with the unfolding narrative revealed from many different points of view.

Every person here is written from the inside out, without any signs of prejudice. Atkinson saves judgement for when it matters: to bring wrongdoers to justice. Sad bastards, low-life heroes, pervy types: the streets of the seaside town are well-populated. A fantastic mosaic of a book.

A profoundly emphatic work of creative genius that will stay with you forever

Created from whole cloth, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a richly textured rendition of a world little seen in Indian literature. There is no desire to smooth and tidy in fiction what is untidy in life, but instead there is a pay off for the reader in a story that is as quietly troubling as it is convincing

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is unlike any book I have ever read—surprising, vividly imagined, and full of humor and humanity—and I fell head over heels for Jai, the police-show-obsessed narrator on a quest to find his missing classmate. Deepa Anappara is a writer of rare insight and a sure-footed storyteller. This book will charm you on one page, and rip your heart out on the next

Deepa Anappara takes us inside urban India with astonishing specificity, into a funny and heartbreaking child’s world of wonder and cruelty. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is addictive and unforgettable. Once you’re in Jai’s neighbourhood you don't want to leave

Informed by her times as a journalist in Mumbai and Delhi, Deepa Anappara’s debut is a fine portrait of modern-day India… an utterly convincing voice–lively, cheeky and irrepressible… Anappara skilfully reveals the harsh reality that lies just beyond Jai’s understanding of his world

A story full of humor, warmth, and heartbreak … Jai's voice is irresistible: funny, vivid, smart, and yet always believably a child's point of view … Engaging characters, bright wit, and compelling storytelling make a tale that's bleak at its core and profoundly moving

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is likely to be one of the country's standout works of fiction in 2020

Vivid writing and a gripping plot with an unforgettable narrator

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is less a reading experience than an encounter with a life force. The rattle-tattle energy of the basti will pull the readers in as they experience the smells, colours and tastes of this captivating world. From relaying the rampant poverty to inherent cultural barriers, to corruption including openly bribing police, the book is utterly mesmerising

Anappara’s debut novel immediately charms through Jai’s voice, and Anappara has caught the scale of a child’s world perfectly… Djinn Patrol is the kind of novel you both can’t stop reading and don’t want to end, because it means letting go of characters who feel like friends

This moving and stylish book pulls off a difficult trick. It is an engaging, amusing tale, powered by Jai’s ebullient personality; at the same time it is an insightful portrait of the underside of 21st-century India… As Dickens did, Ms Anappara understands the power of fiction to bring alive the plights of people readers might otherwise overlook

What really sets Djinn Patrol apart…is the authenticity of Jai’s voice. Narrating in the first person, Anappara immerses us not only in Jai’s world of deep social inequities, but also in his internal world… Anappara creates an endearing and highly engaging narrator to navigate us through the dark underbelly of modern India