If a relaxing diversion is of the essence for a good holiday, a Gladys Mitchell novel is a must

The Great Gladys

Miss Mitchell is certainly the most perfect and pellucid prose-writer in crime fiction

She is one of the Big Three women detective writers

It’s hard to believe that this is a first novel. Confidence verging on swagger leaks out of every page. It is a big fat all-American epic that has earned its place on airport bookshelves for many months to come…Think Cold Mountain but with more action…The conclusion has all the surprise of a great detective story. Henderson has created an instant classic.

There is a lot to praise here: striking descriptions of the mountain landscape, imaginative imagery and, above all, the irresistible energy of so much American fiction.

Fourth of July Creek knocked me flat. This gorgeous, full-bodied novel seems to contain all of America at what was, in retrospect, a pivotal moment in its history. In the story of Pete Snow’s struggle to save families, children, lives – his own and others' – Smith Henderson has delivered nothing less than a masterpiece of a novel.

Smith Henderson's Fourth of July Creek is an astonishing read. The writing is energetic and precise. The story is enthralling. Henderson has a mastery of scale that allows this particular place and these particular people to illuminate who we are as Americans, and the consequences of the complex project that has become our nation. I could not recommend this book more highly.

Fourth of July Creek cannot possibly be Smith Henderson's first book. Its scope is audacious, its range virtuosic, its gaze steady and true. A riveting story written in an seductive and relentlessly authentic rural American vernacular, this is the kind of novel I wish I'd written.

Engrossing … A piercing glance at the US’s social margins where the American dream and the horrors of government abandonment walk hand in hand.

At the heart of this ambitious debut novel set in rural early 1980s are vulnerable members of American society…Henderson has a skill for evoking the physical and psychological state of his characters at the same time as making general comments on his country in a probing “state-of-the-nation” novel…Powerful…The novel sensitively yet unflinchingly depicts deeply disturbing incidents of domestic violence. The tension between the individual and community ripples through a philosophical, thought-provoking novel, where Henderson contrasts civilisation and the wilderness and raises profound questions: what does it mean to be civilised? What is the best way to live and how should we best help each other?

Smith Henderson's prose is an utter joy to read. An intricate novel with an echo of Céline. A great accomplishment. An extraordinary debut.

A terrific debut novel, packed full of bracing scenes and sentences that stick in the mind long after the last page. It barely seems credible that this is Smith Henderson's first book.

Zings with an immediacy that makes you feel like you’re right there … Henderson, a former social worker and prison guard, hails from Montana, so it’s no surprise he can do it justice.

Listen out for echoes of Richards Russo and Ford as Henderson powers his way to an abruptly devastating ending.

Striking early scenes show why Henderson has his illustrious admirers.

A worthy contender for the title of a great American novel. With its magisterial scope and emotionally rich storytelling, this literary tour-de-force captivated and, at few points, grounded me to dust with its sheer brilliance. It is one of the books that will always keep bouncing around my head and one around which many readers will redefine their life. I can't recommend it enough.

A triumphant thriller worthy of Bond’s creator Ian Fleming.

I found myself wondering if Boyd had outdone Fleming.

[Boyd is] an ideal writer of James Bond novels, and this one, his first, is very good

Perfectly judged homage

A brand new James Bond adventure combining all the glamour and excitement of Fleming’s original novels with the masterful storytelling of William Boyd

A very good piece of literary ventriloquism, with a great baddie

Fleming’s James Bond lives again in this perfectly judged homage