I ripped through it in no time at all ... the writing is wonderful and the storyline gripping. I can quite see why she won the competition!

One of those thrillers in which it is almost impossible not to flick ahead. For me, this was a genuine gallop to the denouement.

With well-judged interweaving narratives and plenty of rich description, this is an absorbing and promising debut.

Skilfully-plotted debut… the journey to the truth is one of high tension.

Provides a clever, unexpected solution, by way of some fine writing

My Name Is Anna has plenty of reveals but it’s the big emotions this book evokes that make you keep reading this debut by Lizzy Barber.

Dark, disturbing and powerful, the gripping plot is full of twists, turns and suspense. You will not want to put it down.

You won’t put it down until you finish it!

Lizzy Barber’s psychological suspense debut is fast-paced, compelling and impossible to put down.

Compelling, emotional and haunting in ways beyond your imagination, this story is everything I hoped it would be and more. I would be shocked if we don't see it on our television screens in the future. A must-read for 2019

Enthralling, and often deeply moving, it is a brilliant debut

As convincing as it was gripping, a fabulous debut thriller

This strong debut features two very different teenage girls, both trying to make sense of their lives… Barber skilfully evokes their contrasting worlds and blundering steps towards the truth.

Barber has created characters with sufficient appeal to fuel real suspense.

Convincing and gripping, this is a fabulous debut thriller.

As convincing as it was gripping, a fabulous debut thriller.

This strong debut features two very different teenage girls, both trying to make sense of their lives…
Barber skilfully evokes their contrasting worlds and blundering steps towards the truth.

A fast paced and interesting exploration of the lives of two teenagers in very different circumstances. A gripping read… thoroughly enjoyable

I thoroughly enjoyed My Name is Anna from the outset, my attention was grabbed by the intriguing prologue and beautiful prose. Lizzy Barber manages to balance a compelling narrative with excellent attention to detail and exquisite descriptions.

A chillingly compulsive read

A gripping story about loss, memory and love

Dark, disturbing and powerful, the gripping plot is full of twists, turns and suspense. You will not want to put it down.

A gripping one-sitting read… this is a deft and assured debut novel from Lizzy Barber.

My Name Is Anna is a book that instantly compels you to keep reading after the first chapter. If you like compulsive psychological dramas with emotionally complex characters, make this your next read.

I'll also be calling in sick for The Need, by Helen Phillips, whose unexpected fiction reminds us that the membrane between reality and madness is porous indeed

What presents at first as a straightforward thriller is quickly revealed — in a series of short, sharp chapters — to be a sort of narrative nesting doll, a story infused with both essential home truths and a wild, almost unhinged sense of unreality....

The Need opens with the taut terror of a suspense novel, but its destination is not the twist reveal or the explosive showdown — it’s an exquisitely tender meditation on motherhood’s joys and comorbid torments

Compelling and original… Told in terse, claustrophobic chapters, this is a creepy, poignant tale that picks at the very edges of what we understand to be reality. Or not’

The Need is most compelling when most savage

The Need is an examination of the dark side of the best-case scenario, the necessary lamination of joy with fear, adoration with resentment and boredom, all the contradictions that attend the unfolding of an identity predicated on the loss of identity

The terror of the home invasion is perfectly vivid, and so is the disturbing prospect that we’re embedded in the consciousness of a woman who is dangerously split off from reality. Phillips can conjure pure nightmare in a single sentence… Thrillingly disturbing, frighteningly insightful about motherhood and love, and spilling over with offhand invention, The Need is one of this year’s most necessary novels.

Loved this. Funny, frightening, goes out with a BANG. Believe the hype!

A brilliantly sharp and distinctive voice and super-creepy plot. Fab

Finished this creepy corker last night. Utterly compelling with a host of intriguing characters and brilliant writing. Fans of The Chalk Man will definitely not be disappointed

I loved The Chalk Man, but The Taking of Annie Thorne is even better, creepier and more addictive! I was so creeped out I had to stop reading until my husband came home one night! Brilliant stuff - well done, C. J. Tudor!

The Hot List

Following on from C J Tudor's successful debut, comes a novel about bullying, cruelty and deceit. . . Tudor keeps the novel moving at a fast pace

A Stephen King style thriller that will have you transfixed and submerged in the entanglement of the twisting plot. This book kept me intrigued all the way to the very end

Crime meets psychological suspense meets out-and-out horror. From the stomach-churning first chapter to the grand guignol ending that is as shocking as it is surprising, Tudor racks up the nastiness . . . Another hit.

Matches Stephen King for creepiness. A must-read for horror fans

Creepy beyond words. Just like Stephen King, the fact that Tudor's characters are so believable makes the events even creepier

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

A gripping psychological thriller.

This is without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year.

Featuring two entangled families and a house with the darkest of secrets, this is a compulsive new thriller from Lisa Jewell.

From the first page we were hooked. If you’ve got a lazy day planned over the Christmas break, this is the type of novel you could read in a day…It makes us shiver just sharing the plot and we guarantee you’ll be on the edge of your seats throughout.

Of the crop of great thrillers out this year, this is my pick [...] Lisa Jewell is brilliant at creating a menacing atmosphereand this is almost unbearably tense at times, with a knock-the-wind-out-of-you ending.

An enthralling tale rich in psychological suspense that mixes family saga with domestic noir.

Part family saga and part-psychological thriller, this is an exceptional read.

Breathtaking thriller

Perfect book to inhale by the fire. Had no idea how creepy and nuanced it would be but couldn’t put it down and stayed up half the night reading it. Highly recommend.