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

A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness

The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales

Beukes's energetic noir phantasmagoria ... crackles with original ideas ... Beukes skilfully employs all the twists of first-rate noir ... powerful indeed

Beukes delivers a thrill ride that gleefully merges narrative styles and tropes, almost single-handedly pulling the "urban fantasy" subgenre back towards its groundbreaking roots

Energetic and imaginative ... Packed with colour, dark humour and thought-provoking ideas, Zoo City is an absolute must for anyone with a taste for the wilder edges of the genre

Original and unputdownable

An unpredictable and helluva awesome read

Lauren Beukes is Jeff Noon crossed with Raymond Chandler. I loved it, it's going to be huge

I couldn't put this down. It's weird, thrilling, funny... filled with sleazy characters and lots of bad attitude

An unfamiliar land full of familiars, a broken Johannesburg peopled with damaged wonders... If our words are bullets, Lauren Beukes is a marksman in a world of drunken machine-gunners

Zoo City is pure originality ... a book that had me reading it revelling in Beukes' magical way with words

At times the witty and lyrical prose is sheer magic, the story captivating and the characters exotic, cruel and beautiful while the backdrop of Johannesburg seethes with hidden, lurking dangers around every corner, Zoo City is quite simply captivating

A taut, high-octane thriller. Sveistrup snares his reader with his house-of-horrors opening and keeps us gripped. . . suffice to say that he leads and wrongfoots us through numerous twists, turns, cliff-hangers and red herrings to an outcome which is as bold as it is explosive. He makes every page count - it's a joy to be so immersed on the edge of a seat

The action surges along in swinging the spotlight of suspicion around without ever letting the reader feel confident they have the right culprit, and the denouement is intense and very gory

Best books to read this Spring

Søren Sveistrup's page-turning thriller is a tale of crime and passion

If you are one of the millions who enjoyed the Scandinavian crime series The Killing, you'll want to read the first novel by its creator. . . this will undoubtedly make for a compelling television adaptation

The books everyone's devouring right now - and you should add to your spring reading list

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A tension-charged debut, sharing elements of his signature TV writing with incendiary twists

Søren Sveistrup, is clearly a master craftsman

Crime lovers, rejoice. This is a thrilling, fast-paced page-turner that promises to hook readers from the first page

A superb debut novel from the writer behind hit TV series The Killing. This book grips you from the out and boils and boils to an almost sickening conclusion. It just does not let up

Chilling psychological drama

This one will have your heart in your mouth

Sveistrup keeps the reader gripped until the very end

I was completely blown away by this debut novel

Sveistrup sets new standards in crime

Nerve-racking, you're sitting on the edge of your seat, and by the time you've finished the book you've got no nails left

Simply an unparalleled page-turner

Absolutely fantastic crime novel. The plot keeps you gripped, and you always end up wanting to read just one more page. Nerve-racking. Nail-biting. Thrilling. Hair-raising

Not all good scriptwriters can produce a detective story designed to be read rather than watched on TV. But Søren Sveistrup, the man responsible for The Killing, proves . . . that it can be done . . . The characters, the plot with its deep, eerie undercurrent of the unknown, and the intense, compelling manipulation of suspense are qualities reminiscent of The Killing

This nerve-racking debut novel has a brilliant plot . . .

A powerful portrait of two intriguing detectives who are here to stay . . .

Simply so well written, well constructed and suspenseful. I've read a lot of fantastic crime novels, but this is far and away the best I've read in a long time. . . . insanely suspenseful and gripping

Crime fiction of the highest quality - fascinating characters, great storytelling, and unbearable suspense. I absolutely loved it

Sveistrup is a skilled weaver of plot, able to surprise the reader and maintain a well-developed sense of pacing, tension and action. He keeps the reader hooked until the final page

The ingredients in this stew are familiar to everyone who reads crime novels. Sveistrup's great skill becomes apparent in the solid, complex plot, as well as in the pacing and impact that drives the reader onward page after page. The Chestnut Man is a demonstration of how a novel of this type should be sewn together. The result is incredibly thrilling!

While other writers come across as formulaic, Sveistrup's plot develops naturally, and he finds space amid the child abuse and harassment for enough injections of humanity that The Chestnut Man never turns into violence porn, a stumbling block for several of his Danish colleagues. The key is Thulin and Hess, the most promising pair of investigators in Nordic crime since Saga and Martin first met over a corpse on a bridge in 2011

Individual scenes in the narrative stand out knife-sharp in all their calculated evil. Their encounter with brutal reality nearly overwhelms those involved, and the reader is profoundly challenged by the novel's material. But you survive because you retain a clear sense that there must be a deep well of sorrow behind the crimes, and because the author depicts his cast of characters in such a nuanced way that you sympathise with the hard-pressed investigative team, the victims, and the person behind the terrible murders. Sveistrup keeps the reader gripped until the very end. This is professional writing in the very best sense, and I'm looking forward to more.

The Chestnut Man is an intensely gripping first novel that feels anything but debut-like. Seasoned crime fans with feel as though they're in very safe hands ... [Sveistrup] throws his hat into the ring with extreme professionalism and a talent for deploying his special tricks in precisely calibrated doses.

Praise for The Killing

Excellent . . . A shrewd mix of police procedural, political thriller and domestic drama

TV of the absolute finest quality . . . the writing shines