Tom Benn, Stockport born and bred, is that rare thing. A startlingly new, ridiculously stylish, home-grown voice. Despite more than a casual nod to a rain-sodden Hulme dialect, Benn's debut is so full of energy and sharp one-liners, it will travel far and wide

I've never wanted to listen to the soundtrack to a book so much. Another element that stands out in the madly bloody but sometimes brilliant book is how the characters speak. Accents are notoriously tricky on the page, but Benn captures the south Manchester patter impressively

Tom Benn is set to be one of the distinctive crime writers of his generation. In Henry Bane he has created a sharp, sarcastic anti-hero with his own warped sense of honour and a narrative voice that is truly distinctive

A new name in the crime fiction section, is about to give us another hero of the genre

A grisly thriller catches the feel and fear of Manchester on the slide

The book is driven by dialogue which is staccato and as sharp as a stiletto. For a debut novel it is breathtaking that this writer writes such incredible dialogue that drives the plot with the force of a fist connecting with Henry Bane's face. [...]He is Manchester's answer to Irvine Welsh

The Doll Princess is a very assured and well written debut, fitting neatly into the urban noir category, with an appropriately ambiguous hero/anti-hero in Bane

The Doll Princess is a crime novel unlike any other; the voices of real people can be heard throughout its pages.

The Doll Princess carries the unmistakably pungent air...of deftly invoked squalor and menace, and is an impressive genre effort

Tom Benn's debut novel is a long overdue good thing in many senses... and there is much to recommend, not least Benn's sturdy grip on vernacular... What's more , he's a good writter of action - a scene in the top room of a nightclub on Deansgate early in the novel is particularly good

The Doll Princess is a promising, foul-mouthed debut in which gangsters and good guys fight for supremacy in a Manchester that resembles a war zone

immerse yourself in the language and the rhythm of the narrative and you're in for a fast and consuming ride through dark territory

a crime novel unlike any other; the voices of real people can be heard throughout its pages

It is bursting with classic Gothic horror motifs and Susan Hill is a master of atmospheric descriptions. She evokes so cleverly the decrepit Eel Marsh House, the mention of its name enough to make the locals pause, their faces darken in unspoken wariness… The Woman in Black gives a thrilling sense of unease and provides just the right level of things that go bump in the night for a spine-tingling good read.

This spine-tingling novel… will certainly keep your nerves jangling

An excellent ghost story...magnificently eerie...compulsive reading

She writes with great power, authentically chilling

One of the most popular British ghost stories of modern times