Rimington's plot, as one should expect from a former head of MI5, bristles with subterfuge and splices in allusions to Litvinenko's poisoning to give Illegal Action a contemporary feel . . . Gripping . . . Carlyle, in her third outing, has depth and tenacity

The thing about Ms Rimington's stories is that they have the smack of authenticity

There is every sign of inside knowledge about this spying business as our hero Liz enters the world of mega-rich and mega-eccentric Russian 'oligarchs' in London

Rimington's command of espionage and counterespionage history and techniques enables her to bring enormous believability to her well-paced narrative. Her dialogue moves as swiftly as the action, and her characters are as believable as the world in which they - and we - live. Fans of intelligent spy thrillers are in for a treat

An ideal beach read for the upcoming vacation season . . . Elements of the old-fashioned spy novel -sudden twists and characters with hidden agendas-combine with James Patterson's secret to success

Readers can expect authenticity - and that is what she delivers

Rimington makes adroit use of her expertise as former MI5 chief

A tense, terrifying read we couldn't put down

Mesmerising, elegant and compelling

Well-written, tense and with some very nasty images, this isn’t Niven’s first book…, but it is his first thriller, and…a good one.

Brilliantly written, Cold Hands is that rarest of things – a gripping thriller with real depth. An intense, exhilarating adrenaline rush, I found myself staying up all night to finish it in one sitting. Wonderful.

Gripping and disturbing

The story-telling is little short of brilliant

Perfect plotting, great characterisation, and the kind of payoff that a thriller of this calibre deserves

So many twists and surprises

I'm all for hearing different voices in fiction and I got my wish with this book. The story showed just how someone with Asperger's might view the world. Christopher finds a dead dog and sets about trying to find the dog's killer, but the book is much more than a mystery story... I loved the way Christopher tries to bring order to his world by using Maths which he finds far easier to understand than people

So genuine...It is chillingly heartbreaking and passionately positive in equal measure

So what makes these different to any other set of classics? In a moment of inspiration Random House had the bright idea of actually asking Key stage 2 children what extra ingredients they could add to make children want to read. And does it work? Well, put it this way...my 13-year-old daughter announced that she had to read a book over the summer holiday and, without any prompting, spotted The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas...and proceeded to read it! Now, if you knew my 13-year-old daughter, you would realise that this is quite remarkable. She reads texts, blogs and tags by the thousand - but this is the first book she has read since going to high school, so all hail Vintage Classics!