A really entertaining thriller . . . like Michael Crichton (who might have written something very like this), Patterson and Barker keep ratcheting up the suspense and the sense of impending doom, until, by the end, we wish we could read faster just so we can find out what happens next.

Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried... there's no stopping his imagination.

No one gets this big without natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades.

Patterson boils a scene down to a single, telling detail, the element that defines a character or moves a plot along. It's what fires off the movie projector in the reader's mind.

James Patterson is the boss. End of.

James Patterson is the gold standard by which all others are judged.

Patterson is in a class by himself.

Reads like a cinematic true crime documentary. Brilliant, compelling and original.

An absolute triumph. It sucked me in, chewed me up, spat me out and left me blinking like the moment the lights go on at a fuzzy basement nightclub. Phenomenal, current, bleakly devastating. An iron gauntlet in the guts. Loved it.

Highly original and mischievous novel - a complete triumph

Absolutely brilliant. I think it's a game-changer

Pure genius - all the things you want to a crime novel to be, also hilarious. I love it

True Crime Story is phenomenal. One of the most original thrillers I've read in years, perhaps ever. A gritty, twisted murder mystery told in the unique style of a true crime account. I've rarely raced through a book so fast. I'm just gutted that it's probably ruined me for thrillers for a good long while! Absolutely remarkable.

WOW ! this is a work of outstanding and staggering genius! You always get beautiful prose and a crackling plot from Mr Knox. But this has extra madness. It's the most original book I've read in ages

The most exciting and original crime book you'll read this year

Dark, seedy, and not to be trusted, and that's just the character Joseph Knox, as written by Joseph Knox!This is a very clever book indeed. Fiction so convincingly written as true crime that I ended up Googling the victim just to check I hadn't got the wrong end of the stick.

Totally gripping, original, and white- hot suspenseful

An audacious idea, ingeniously executed

One of the most unafraid contemporary crime writers ... a genre defying complex construct of smoke and mirrors, this book is very, very clever.

A story that'll leave your head spinning and questioning just who gets to shape the narrative when a woman goes missing...

Ingenious...brilliantly original

Hugely ambitious

Inventive, playful and hugely enjoyable.

Supple and urgent - another slab of Knox brilliance

Knox has produced something extraordinary ... post-modern playfulness [embedded] in a rich and compelling plot that twists and turns until the final pages

Astonishing! So clever, so original! Highly recommended

This clever novel reads like a true crime story (at times you have to remind yourself it's fiction), which makes it all the more compelling

An ingenious thriller

A very stylish novel revealing not only the unreliability of witnesses, but also the voyeurism in much crime reporting, crime investigation, and yes, in those of us who enjoy crime fiction

Book of the year
True Crime Story by Joseph Knox, a provocative mix of real and fictional crime in which the author himself investigates the disappearance of a student named Zoe. But is she a real or fictional character? With a fragmentary narrative style, this is something new in the overcrowded crime genre

Joseph Knox cements his reputation as one of the best of the new guard of British crime writers with True Crime Story, in which one Joseph Knox - a deliciously unflattering self-portrait - becomes entangled in the investigation into the disappearance of a student. It's a meta-fictional trick that helps to create a genuine (and genuinely pleasurable) sense of unease.

A thrilling mystery with a strong emotional heart

Ingeniously constructed, with real flesh-and-blood characters and cliff-hanging suspense