Fierce, bleak and compellingly written . . . with pitiless landscapes of hopeless longing, random cruelty and galloping fate warmed only by the twilit lyricism of doomed desire. These are novels of eye-opening, spine-tingling control and intensity.

One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories

Compelling . . . Simenon shows how close the deranged mind is to the ordinary mind'

Marrison's tense debut expertly evokes a sense of place . . . the highly unusual denouement will catch most readers by surprise

A gripping thriller . . . a readable, complex tale, astutely paced . . . If the mark of a good whodunnit is that you can't actually guess whodunnit, then The Drowning Ground does its job well. Despite following the plot closely, I was still taken aback by the denouement

Move over Morse

With an intricate plot with numerous twists and an intriguing cop with a complex history, Marrison rivets the reader straight through to the novel's chilling conclusion. An author to watch, he scores high with this impressive debut

An assured début which promises much for the future

So many characters with so many secrets and deviant behaviours make this début mystery by James Marrison a real winner. The author's complex plotting, haunted characters, and gorgeous descriptions of winter are an absolute joy to read even as the action takes one suspenseful turn, then another and then another to an unexpected denouement. When it seems as though all the clues have been resolved, Marrison saves one last shocking revelation for the final chapter.. . . Expertly setting us up for the next chapter in the series ( I can't wait!), Marrison writes lovingly of his new hero, Guillermo Downes, a detective plagued by demons both internal and external yet determined to expose murder most foul whenever and wherever he can

A masterful novel . . . The protagonists are wonderfully portrayed. Downes is a bit of a mystery, a man born in Buenos Aires of a Argentinian mother and an English father. What led him to leave his homeland and make a life for himself in this small English town? Perhaps the answer will be revealed in the next novel in the series, something I'm eagerly anticipating

Gripping . . . like an ecclesiastical version of House of Cards

Well-researched, intelligently observed and highly credible . . . Fast-moving and suspenseful, it’s elegantly written entertainment from a first-rate storyteller.

Grips like a vice and manages to convey all the drama of an election without resorting to melodrama

An electric read, like a shot of adrenalin to the heart . . . rollicking and literate . . . an insightful and witty thriller

Page-turning heaven

Slick and fast-paced

this year's most highly anticipated psychological thriller

addictive

If you like your books twisty and your narrators unreliable and flawed, this is for you

Wow, now I know why it has caused such a stir. Taut, tight, utterly compulsive. Once you embark you won't want to get off until the very last stop

Artfully crafted and utterly riveting. The Girl on the Train's clever structure and expert pacing will keep you perched on the edge of your seat, but it's Hawkins' deft, empathetic characterization that will leave you pondering this harrowing, thought-provoking story about the power of memory and the danger of envy.

Damn you #girlonthetrain . . . you unputdownable, you. So twisty, compassionate and gritty. Loved it. Deserves to be massive

Going to be THE book of 2015. Sexy, smart & v intricately plotted

Brilliant, fast-moving, very clever. Add to your January wish-list now!

Be ready to be spell-bound . . . It's the kind of book you'll want to press into the hands of everyone you know, after you've turned the last page, just so they can share your obsession and you can relive it

Compulsively readable…. It actually hurt to put it down

I'm calling it now: The Girl on the Train is the next Gone Girl. Paula Hawkins' highly anticipated debut novel is a dark, gripping thriller with the shock ending you crave in a noir-ish mystery

A gripping, down-the-rabbit-hole thriller

Gone Girl fans will devour this psychological thriller . . . Hawkins' debut ends with a twist that no one - least of all its victims - have seen coming

[Paula Hawkins] pulls off a thriller's toughest trick: carefully assembling everything we think we know, until it reveals the one thing we didn't see coming

distinctive, intelligent and unpredictable

perfectly paced, from its arresting beginning to its twist ending; it's not an easy book to put down . . . what really makes The Girl on the Train such a gripping novel is Hawkins' remarkable understanding of the limits of human knowledge, and the degree to whcih memory and imagination can become confused

A complex and increasingly chilling tale courtesy of a number of first-person narratives that will wrong-foot even the most experienced of crime fiction readers

The Girl on the Train marries movie noir with novelistic trickery . . . hang on tight. You'll be surprised by what horrors lurk around the bend

achieves a sinister poetry . . . Hawkins keeps the nastiest twist for last

[L]ike Gone Girl, Hawkins' book is a highly addictive novel about a lonely divorcee who gets caught up in the disappearance of a woman whom she had been surreptitiously watching. And beyond the Gone Girl comaparisons, this book has legs of its own

Hawkins' masterful deployment of unwittingly unreliable narration to evoke the aftershocks of abuse and trauma is a powerful way of exploring women's marginalization

Springs new surprises on us . . .Pulses will be quickened

The Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl

Halfway through and I can't stop reading it. My kinda thriller!

it's BLIDDY FABLISS, isn't it! A long long time since a book gripped me like this

The Girl on the Train is one of those delicious thrillers that can be devoured in four sittings, that's two return journeys on a typical train trip! There's a whiff of Agatha Christie and a dollop of Gone Girl with plenty of blind alleys that we happily wander up and get lost in. Pick it up, solve the crime and pass it on . . .

Agatha Christie meets Rear Window...a taut psychological thriller that's chockful of chilling twists.

Clever, exciting and full of twists, this is undoubtedly the cream of this year's crop

Unputdownable . . . the new literary sensation . . . nothing short of sensational

...this unusual clammy-palmed thriller.

Hawkins juggles perspectives and timescales with great skill, and considerable suspense builds up along with empathy for an unusual central character.