A fine debut – fast-paced and bleak, with a vivid setting and gut-wrenching twists

A vivid and noirish tale of an Englishman abroad discovering that you can run from everything but yourself. James Buckler is one to watch.

The vivid setting and skilfully plotted story is compelling and hard to put down.

This is character-driven fare, but with a vivid sense of place that positively leaps off the page.

Racy and dark debut thriller.

One of the most impressive debut crime novels of the year.

[An] impressive first thriller . . . the action is fast, copious and often unexpected.

John uses three memorable primary characters to tell a remarkable story about the most opaque country on Earth: North Korea … The lives of these people collide in a harrowing thriller that exposes an amazingly corrupt regime that embraces savage brutality and nearly every kind of lucrative criminal enterprise … a superior thriller.

Star of The North reads like a cross between Child-44 and I am Pilgrim and is every bit as good as both of them. Read this book and you will not only feel that you've been to North Korea you will also never, ever want to go there. Brutally realistic, fascinatingly detailed, it's a fantastic thriller whose fantasy is all the more powerful for being based on truth.

The timeliest thriller of 2018. An intricately constructed puzzle box of spies and tradecraft that plunges the reader on a cyanide-laced sprint through North Korea.

An outstanding thriller that brings to life the seldom-seen underbelly of North Korea ….those seeking a realistic, highly readable look at North Korea will be rewarded.

Brims with marvellous characters and delivers heart-in-your-throat action.

Original, cleverly plotted and easy to read...After a brilliant set up it’s action all the way to the...nail biting and powerful conclusion.

As gripping as it is shocking, this is an adrenaline-rush of a thriller that is also a devastating portrayal of a brutal regime. I couldn’t pull myself away.

Not only brilliantly plotted, with espionage, secrecy, and obsession, it’s a story about survivors, told by three complex and fully realised characters, each battling their own personal demons. John portrays the hardships of North Korea and its people with painful accuracy while never losing sight of their humanity. This one is definitely a star.

An exhilarating, tightly-plotted page-turner - and a very moving one, too. Full of characters who will capture your heart and have you staying up far too late to find out their fate.

A fascinating, disturbing insight into this secretive country

I’ll never again find anything funny about podgy North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, after reading this ripped-from-the-front-pages thriller.

[A] multistranded espionage thriller…told with drama and flair.

Truly absorbing

John tells his story with skill

John’s achievement is to embed these revelations in a vivid, convincing thriller. Long passages of undigested research are mercifully absent and it never feels like a mere pretext for an info-dump

‘[John] tells his exciting story well and is a fine writer of action scenes. But what really makes the book unmissable is its portrayal of everyday life for ordinary people in North Korea

- [A]n exceptionally exciting and stylish thriller

[A] cast of marvellous characters and a storyline that blows your senses

It’s a good plot, greatly enriched by the portrait of the totalitarian society that John draws

A gripping novel of extraordinary insight… The fiction grips and the reality behind it bites – hard. A terrific and disturbing read

Courageous...intriguing...entertaining

A beautiful exploration of mental health and love

The sequel to Beartown is finally here, and it does not disappoint.

This is a tale of the pitfalls of group mentality as well as the loss of an
innocence we all take for granted - and it will grip you from start to finish.

Just as the cult TV hit Friday Night Lights wasn't just about high-school
football, this sequel to Beartown is about more than small-town hockey.
Us Against You is a story of hopes, dreams, loyalty, friendship, and - after
someone is left for dead - the lengths people will go to for the love of the game.

We have a rare book for you. [Us Against You] is not only about hockeyand sports. It's about everything that makes a man a man.

Backman uses an abundance of thrilling hints about upcoming events,
and it works. You simply have to continue reading. The story is
wonderful, deeply touching and very thought-provoking, and hats off
again to the author's ability to portray people and trends in society. The
novel plays on your entire register of emotions, and you live and breathe
alongside the many different characters, all of which are precisely and empathetically depicted.

A beautiful and brutal drama.

"Fredrik Backman is one of Sweden's best authors. He's mastered how
to depict a village and its citizens so that you both love and hate them.
/.../ Backman writes with emotion, and it goes straight to your heart. /.../
As always with Backman, there's still hope for humanity, because wherethere is violence and hatred, there is also forgiveness and love."

Us Against You is an excellent novel that's easy to read and skillfully
handles great themes. /.../ The world created by Backman lives andbreathes and the characters are both human and complex.

Backman keeps you hooked from the first to the last page. For allBeartown fans, Us Against You feels like coming home.

Fredrik Backman writes wonderfully about men, with a love and
understanding for the ones who would rather solve conflicts with theirfists. It's hard not to love it.

Backman knows how to construct a thrilling plot, and what he writes
engages. /.../ And when he hits his stride among the emotions, the
sentimental turns into an asset - like a hockey puck straight to the heart.

The perfect book for the beach.

The most authentic, gripping presidential thriller ever.

The perfect book for the beach: a big, fast-paced, twisty engrossing thriller packed with spectacular detail of what it is really like to be President of the United States.

Fast-paced is too inadequate a description for this dark, suspense-filled tale.

Both a first-rate thriller and fascinating insight into the goings on within the White House.

A page-turner from start to finish

Insightful and gripping

A top-notch thriller.