An armchair time bomb

This is a novel to mirror the disintegration of our times, the unstated irony of which is that a politics so provincial can breed a writer and an art so universal

A gripping read which you will find impossible to put down

Very much the thinking person's thriller - utterly tense and riveting, but also posing an acute moral dilemma for an ordinary person caught up in the troubled politics of Northern Ireland

It insists on being read at a sitting, for it is imperative to know what happens next

As good as one has come to expect from Brian Moore: the pace never flags; the writing is crisp and taut; the moral crises... are intensely complex and gripping

I romped through it: as ever, the plotting is clever and complex, it’s full of the dry wit Atkinson is so good at and it’s an absorbing mystery.

There's a lot going on here, all of it rendered with Atkinson's vastly enjoyable nonchalance...Atkinson tells a great story, toys with expectations, deceives by omission, blows smoke and also writes like she's your favourite friend. Thank goodness the long Jackson Brodie hiatus is over.

Atkinson throws in many entertaining diversions, and a fair few juicy red herrings… an exuberant, entertaining read…Atkinson’s work is always playful, and there’s a brisk, jaunty tone to Big Sky and much dry observational comedy.

The brilliance of Big Sky lies in its broad range of memorable characters, each with their own intriguing backstory.....sharp humour,sparkling prose and acute psychological insight.

A stunning comeback... Told in Atkinson’s typically wry prose, it is Dickensian in sweep, utterly riveting and has a wonderful ending, quite magnificent.

I can't get enough of Jackson Brodie...he may well be the great fictional detective of our age...her bunch of seemingly ordinary but deeply fascinating characters... seem so real that you come to care about them like your oldest friends.

As usual, it's ingeniously structured and told with humour and compassion.

Her peerless ability to plot with audacity and with a sinuous beauty...it's the most marvellous book, so delightful you'll want to eke it out for as long as possible.

Jackson Brodie gets his fifth outing in the new novel by the reliably brilliant Atkinson.

You can't go wrong with the majestic new Kate Atkinson book...wise, funny and sad.

Jackson Brodie is back and how we’ve missed him….you’re in for a treat.

How can anyone fail to love Kate Atkinson?...A gripping beach read for lovers of detective fiction.

Atkinson’s nimble and endearing skill across all her fiction…is to take the determinedly domestic, find the wry, sometimes waspish humour in it, and yet reveal something profoundly humane....And deft misdirection, cheeky literary references and Brodie's flailing attempts to offer sympathy by quoting country-and-western lyrics are constantly entertaining. You finish Big Sky feeling battered - but thoroughly cheered up.

With a many-tentacled storyline distilling some of the more disturbing headlines of recent years, this dark material proves supremely compulsive...Brodie brings out the best in Atkinson, partly because he’s a handy peg for what tends to come across as her regretful sense of bemusement about modern Britain.

Atkinson has long been the standard bearer for literary crime fiction, and Big Sky sports her customary elegance…Once again, a vividly drawn cast of characters adorns a complex plot.

This clever page-turner tackles some sobering subjects, but the real draw is the return of Jackson Brodie, the dour but big-hearted private investigator

Brimming with the wit and let-justice-triumph tenacity that led the series to print bestsellerdom and a popular BBC-TV series... With Atkinson it's Raymond Chandler meets Jane Austen, and amazingly she makes it all work.

As is often the case in Atkinson's genre-defying fiction, assignments to track lost cats and unfaithful husbands are never quite what they seem.

He [Jackson] is one of the few characters in modern crime fiction so fully realised that one can imagine him living a life outside the books...By some alchemy Atkinson makes her sad stories supremely funny, even uplifting.

Ms Atkinson has been on the trail of lost children (particularly girls) since her very first novel...as in all [her] fiction, she supplies gruesome discoveries and a strong helping of violence, all nevertheless relayed with a deft and witty touch...Big Sky has all the sizzle of a British fry-up; Ms Atkinson's evocation of the beauty and desolation of faded seaside resorts is unerring. Several stories are woven into a seamless plot, with the help of credible-seeming twists of fate. And there is just enough unfinished business to leave readers impatient for [Brodie's] next outing.

Beautifully written, with the unfolding narrative revealed from many different points of view.

Every person here is written from the inside out, without any signs of prejudice. Atkinson saves judgement for when it matters: to bring wrongdoers to justice. Sad bastards, low-life heroes, pervy types: the streets of the seaside town are well-populated. A fantastic mosaic of a book.

A riveting page turner! Dark and unsettling, this one creeps under your skin

One of the best crime novels I've read in ages. Alex North has crafted a book that manages to be thrilling, terrifying and genuinely moving.

There's a soft voice outside your window and it demands your attention. The Whisper Man is coming. In fact, he's already here. Get ready to be unnerved. This novel is thrilling

The Whisper Man is a tour de force, utterly absorbing and brilliantly realised

The Whisper Man is a chilling, gripping read but also deeply moving. It's a novel that succeeds on all kinds of levels and deserves all the success that is no doubt coming it's way

No one does Dark with a Heart like Alex North and The Whisper Man delivers a sucker punch that stays with you. Beautifully crafted, chilling & emotional, this's going to be topping Books of the Year lists as soon as it's out

I read The Whisper Man in one go, barely remembering to breathe. North writes brilliantly about the cruelties of life, great and small, and the terrors that afflict young children (not to mention their parents). Tender, terrifying and utterly compelling, The Whisper Man will haunt you to the final page and beyond.

A creepy, serial killer-inflected thriller

More than just superbly creepy, this beautifully written thriller might just break your heart a little, too

With a tender theme about the complexity of father son relationships at its heart, this thriller is immaculately plotted, superbly written, and so good it deserves to be shouted about

A psychological thriller that's both terrifying and heartbreaking - you won't want to miss this one

[A] superb thriller... Readers will have a tough time putting down this truly unnerving tale, with its seemingly unexplainable elements and glimpses of broken and dangerous minds

Extraordinarily well-written, deeply moving . . . The stories are deftly marshalled and interwoven by North with a mastery that would be astonishing were he a debut novelist

ALEX NORTH'S tightly plotted crime thriller presses all the right buttons for the genre

Summer Books of 2019

This exceptionally creepy thriller is also a touching portrait of a bereaved father and son learning to depend on each other

A debut that will disturb and intrigue in equal measure

A debut novel set to disturb and intrigue. Truly chilling

As much an exploration of grief and of the father-son bond as it is a nerve-shredder, this is a good choice for Stephen King fans

Hollywood has snapped up this psychological thriller - and no wonder

Standout thriller

Deliciously dark and twisty, this is a page-turner from start to finish

If you like a touch of Stephen King mixed with British crime, then this is for you . . . this is a spooky read, but also holds its own as a police procedural novel

This flawless thriller will touch your heart and live long in your memory

This flawless thriller lives long in the memory