The Man In The Queue is as fresh and original as ever, 85 years on. Never one to tie herself to genre conventions, Tey builds on character and circumstances to create an enthralling cat-and-mouse hunt.

Inspector Alan Grant, my favourite detective of all time, painstakingly, fascinatingly identifies the body then chases suspects up to the Highlands of Scotland and all around the town.

Simon Kernick uses every trick in the book to keep the action breakneck

Kernick generates a potent cocktail of thrills that makes contemporary London feel like Dodge City

A sublime piece of crime writing... Sympathy for Devil is a breathtaking debut. It is perfectly plotted, often eerie, always evocative, and utterly thrilling throughout

Pacey and exhilarating

Complex thriller

I really enjoyed it and loved the central character of Detective Catrin Price and closed the book wanting to read more of her in future books.

The narrative has a convincing air when dealing with Cardiff, the forensic background, rock music and, above all, pharmacological details.

An author of consistently engaging and clever bestsellers, Kennedy has ranged from Stateside dramas to noirish thrillers. The Moment pulls together both strains in his fiction, marrying romantic tragedy with Le Carre-style espionage. The novel's set pieces are robustly staged and Kennedy turns the plot on its axis several times. The sadness at the heart of the novel is what makes it more than just an evocative recreation of an interesting time and place.

5 stars