THE PROPHET: Cross pushes the boundaries in this sinisterly clever showdown between one shadowy vigilante justice group and three twisted serial killers. The surprises are fast and furious and will leave you breathless to read more.

Ethan Cross's THE PROPHET is a terrifying trip into scathing depravity and moral decadence destined to breathe new life into a tired sub-genre. This is the best book of its kind since Thomas Harris retired Hannibal Lecter, a cat-mouse-game extraordinaire that will leave your knuckles white and your stomach churning. Evil has a new name and this is it, but you don't have to be a prophet to see a bestselling future for Ethan Cross.

THE PROPHET: Memorable storytelling that moves rapid-fire through a complex and gripping plot. Ethan Cross is one of the sharpest emerging writers on the thriller fiction scene today.

THE SHEPHERD: A fast paced, all too real thriller with a villain right out of James Patterson and Criminal Minds.

THE SHEPHERD: Silence of the Lambs meets The Bourne Identity.

A magnificent storyteller

The storytelling is poised and beautiful

The stories von Schirach tells here are compelling in their own right but he elevates them to something greater with his calm, precise narration. These are like 20 or more mini episodes of The Killing (acutally, they would make for an amazing television series). They are masterpieces in miniature. I cannot recommend them highly enough

Schirach is a defence lawyer in his native Germany, and these tales of individual crimes read almost like a real-life case-by-case study

My book of the year: a dazzling double-bill exploring unusual criminal cases… hypnotic, heartbreaking prose

Crime is a curiously beguiling collection of short stories