Without doubt an accomplished, compelling and complex tale, with page-turning power aplenty

Slaughter's plotting is relentless, piling on surprises and twists ... A good read that should come with a psychological health warning

Criminally spectacular

It's beautifully paced, appropriately grisly, and terrifyingly plausible. Who says there's anything peaceful and quiet about small-town America

Brilliantly chilling

Confirms her at the summit of the school of writers specialising in forensic medicine and terror

A great read ... crime fiction at its finest

A superior, deeply satisfying thriller

A fast-paced and unsettling story ... A compelling and fluid read

The writing is lean and mean, and the climax will blow you away

Compelling

a taut, mystical thriller and a thoughtful meditation on humanity

Burnside's story uses suggestion and ambiguity rather than explicit statement, but has the power that comes from leaving plenty of space in which the reader's imagination can go to work

remarkable, genre-defying...Glister is a remarkable book...a fusion of styles and genres, and it succeeds magnificently on those terms...powerfully imagines and beautifully written...A haunting tale, not as depressing as you might expect, and highly recommended

Writing 'this dreamy melange of gritty urbanism with poetic crime puzzler, will appeal to the right reader very highly

A dark fable

Burnside's writing conveys an almost palpable thrill of discovery, a delight in the play of his imagination over this bleak terrain, an irrepressible joy in cultivating metaphor after metaphor and seeing them all, improbably, bloom...The emotion this brilliant and disturbing novel leaves you with is like the spooked feeling Leonard experiences...It takes your breath away, but you don't know if that comes from awe or terror. The Glister" is that kind of story. It's terrifying, and it feels like a gift.

I'm a year late (quite punctual, for me) in recommending John Burnside's austerely poetic novel