The Calling is that rare unplug-the-phone, skip-all-meals, ignore-your-bedtime thriller. It's twisty, sharp and very, very creepy – and Det. Hazel Micallef is a perfectly original charmer

The Calling had me from the first page and never let me go. I absolutely loved Hazel Micallef

You're in the hands of a master storyteller. The Calling is a stunner - dark, surprising and utterly compelling

A wonderful, creepy, twisty novel. You'll want to devour it all in one sitting

The most enthralling, creepiest, grizzliest book I've read in years.

So impressive I couldn't put the damned thing down . . . genuine surprises, twists and turns that will keep you turning pages quickly and too late into the night.

Bracingly original mystery . . . a first-rate crime writer

The novel quickly builds to an excruciating level of suspense . . . an excellent thriller, both riveting and precise. The ending is a shocker.

Micallef, a nice twist on the traditional middle-aged alcoholic male cop, is wearily, startlingly real.

A superbly written novel with a brilliantly conceived and realized plot . . . unforgettable.

. . . perfectly gripping . . . It is a clever serial/ ritual-murderer tale set in remotest rural Canada, but the most original feature of the story is its principal detective . . . Hazel Micallef is a splendid recruit to the ranks of fictional detectives.

Terrifying, moving and complex . . . the first in a sensational series . . . truly compelling . . . a thrilling psychological tale which ratchets up the pace from the intriguing opening scene to the heart-in-the-mouth finale.

Patterson is in a class by himself.

... opens with one of the most chilling murder scenes I've read in a long time ... High-octane stuff

I was completely swept along by it. It was absolutely fantastic: I romped through it. It is wonderfully-well and scarily described. There is a James Bond quality. It was inspired. Cross Country has an amazing sense of speed, there's a really brilliant tension in the plot. You really believe in Alex Cross.
You're just completely engrossed in it from start to finish. Absolutely incredible. Taking [Cross] into Africa is a masterstroke. The story is unrelentingly exciting.

Psychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell's work is outstanding

Rendell has a Dickensian empathy, informed by a prodigious love of London life. Her account, bursting with colour and vitality, is a treat to read