The bone-crunching, joint-popping action is as technically precise and primevally satisfying as ever. The extra-lean prose is as ruthlessly linear as the plot…[However,]Lee Child proves he can write about emotions other than lust and anger and reveals his hero to be more than just a man of steel. Eighteen novels in, his franchise shows no sign of running out of steam.

Lee Child’s bodacious action hero, Jack Reacher, has already tramped through 17 novels and three ebook singles. But his latest, “Never Go Back,” may be the best desert island reading in the series. It’s exceptionally well plotted. And full of wild surprises. And wise about Reacher’s peculiar nature.
/Mr. Child’s Jack Reacher series is as brainy as it is brawny...Starting with an opening sequence that throws three huge surprises at Reacher, there are more neat tricks and clever set pieces in this one volume than Mr. Child has ever strung together before...Read it. You’ll see why.

Is Reacher getting soft? Not a chance. The righteous violence when it comes is still pretty astonishing. This is one of Reacher's best outings. A must for all fans.

Jack Reacher is a man's man, a loner, a renegade crusader for justic...The harder-than-nails hero is on the top of his form...You'd better read it.

This may well be the best of the bunch...some of the best, wiliest writing Child has ever done.

As always, Reacher's laidback style of narration belies a propulsive pace,although Never Go Back finds Reacher emotionally vulnerable for once, and a warmer, more satisfyingly empathic character for the experience.

Fast-paced, taut and punchy, fans will love this.

Engagement reminds us too of the power of fiction, both within the story and outside it. Liese feels threatened by the stories she herself has told, and we in turn flip the pages breathlessly, suspending disbelief.

In terms of myth, it is rather like Bluebeard’s castle...in film terms, it recalls Psycho.

A gothic tale, filled with brilliantly creepy details.

If Fifty Shades is your thing, you might just love The Engagement.

Hooper serves up a chilling story of obsession, delusion, and the slippery nature of sexual identity.

There’s more than a shade of Fifty Shades in this erotic, psychological thriller...the unreliability of the narrator will have you guessing till the end of this dark and thought provoking tale.

This is a tense, elegant, psychological thriller about an emotional tug-of-war... This tale of self-willing entrapment keeps us guessing to the end... Compelling and memorable.

Hooper has constructed a modern fairy tale of a kind, complete with Bluebeard and his castle, and using some of the fictional paraphernalia of Gothic horror and melodrama she delivers a compelling, at times disturbing, but always humorous and readable cautionary tale.

The difficulty with a thriller - even if it is literary - is not to fall into cliche and predictability. At the points where it seems as this may happen, Hooper wrong foots the reader without losing any credibility, leading to a very clever ending.

This beautifully crafted psychological thriller really got under my skin.

Hooper is a very clever writer. Her prose is uncluttered, but every phrase is packed with meaning.

A chilling, compulsive read.

New, dark literary thriller...read it for its seductive plot.

A dark unsettling read which will appeal to fans of the gothic as well as those who enjoy tales of twisted relationships such as Gone Girl.

Literary thriller The Engagement by Chloe Hooper takes a Fifty-shades style plot about erotic games between estate agent Liesel and business man Alexander to a darker place.

Part gothic novel, part thriller, this will keep you guessing until the end.

Hooper has crafted a terrific tale full of dark corners and dead-ends that leave the reader wondering what to believe. The result is a collision between a psychological thriller and a very dark romance that has something for fans of either genre.

The Engagement has all the ingredients of a top psychological thriller with the bonus of literary style. I think it could be a huge hit. I hope so. I really want to see the film…

Beautifully crafted and sleek psychological thriller… The Engagement, by one of Australia’s newest and brightest writers, explores mind control, power games and emotional abuse, so do not expect it to be a romance novel as it is, most definitely, not!

An unsettling thriller... A book which deftly explores the power of money and property, romance and sex

A dark, erotic and tense tale

Plain and lucid, with beautifully accurate word-choice, and plenty of grace-notes that one pauses to appreciate... A highly intelligent, unpredictable, very grown-up, and crazily readable novel

A sleek and sly two-hander, a thriller almost, that sets everything out clearly for the reader and yet remains filled with uncertainty

An intense psychological thriller, strewn with enough red herrings to satisfy the most demanding reader

Hooper's writing is singularly challenging and confrontational... For those who prefer their erotic literature less Fifty Shades of Grey, more Jane Eyre

A fine, literary thriller; cold, at times almost nauseatingly disturbing

A fascinating, subtle, really original modern Gothic thriller