Harris’ superlative skill at depicting power politics makes this an irresistibly gripping papal page-turner.

Thriller of the year . . . with a plot so serpentine and sinuous that I could not bear to put it down.

‘I have been waiting for most of my life for Robert Harris to write a novel that is not gripping, insightful and entertaining. I am waiting still. His latest, Conclave, is superb.

A real page-turner, with a great twist in the final pages.

Finishing this splendid and intelligent story, as with all great fiction, brings an acute sense of loss.

Robert Harris is incapable of writing a substandard novel.

Each Robert Harris thriller is different but of exemplary consistency.

Robert Harris is the master storyteller of our time . . . Beautifully constructed . . . it’s dramatically compelling, politically intelligent, beautifully paced and with a lovely twist in the tail . . . narrative doesn’t come better than this.

I am about to use a word I have never knowingly used in any review of any book ever. During my 25-odd years of writing about books I have done my best to avoid cliches, slipshod summaries, oracular pronouncements and indeed anything else that might appear emblazoned on a book jacket. Nonetheless, there is only one possible word to describe Robert Harris’s new novel, and it is this: unputdownable

A master of producing thrillers of ever-tightening suspense, full of insider analysis of political power and the treatment of momentous events . . . gripping . . . more than a crime novel, it is also a psychological and political thriller . . . Conclave is a triumphant addition to Harris’ acclaimed output

Gripping . . . like an ecclesiastical version of House of Cards

Well-researched, intelligently observed and highly credible . . . Fast-moving and suspenseful, it’s elegantly written entertainment from a first-rate storyteller.

Grips like a vice and manages to convey all the drama of an election without resorting to melodrama

An electric read, like a shot of adrenalin to the heart . . . rollicking and literate . . . an insightful and witty thriller

Page-turning heaven

Slick and fast-paced

As terrifying as a great horror novel, as unpredictable as the best type of crime novel and above all beautifully written...a writer who is an absolute master of his craft

This is absorbing, headlong reading, a play on classic horror with an inventiveness of its own

Hugely atmospheric and deliciously creepy