The best mystery writer anywhere in the English-speaking world

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

Ruth Rendell's books are not only whodunits but whydunits, uncovering the motive roots of murder

Rendell’s psychological insights are so absorbing, it’s easy to forget what a superb plotter she is

One of the greatest novelists presently at work in our language... A writer whose work should be read by anyone who either enjoys a brilliant mystery – or distinguished literature

One of Britain's finest thriller writers

A compelling storyteller of our time

Child spins a great yarn, his descriptive powers are austere yet glorious... He could take out Bond, Dirty Harry, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt with both hands tied behind his back. And then sleep with their girlfriends two at a time before getting the last bus out of town. All without untying his hands. The Reacher novels are literary beat-'em-ups for the pre-console generation. They are, like the hero, simply irresistible

As always with Child, the hook is smart, the plot possibilities are given a thorough workout, and the tension bites as hard as the South Dakota windchill

A storyteller who knows a lot about style... Watching the clock underscores the tension that Child builds so well. You do and you don't want it all to end

Lee Child certainly knows by now how to screw up the tension with excruciating precision, but here excels himself with a beautifully paced tale that leaves the reader breathless with suspense as the final hours tick away

Craftiest and most highly evolved of Lee Child's electrifying Jack Reacher books... That legend of a tough, cerebral drifter, a latter-day 6-foot-5-inch cowboy... has now taken on a life of its own... The truth about Reacher gets better and better

A Hitchockian escalation of tension... brings to mind another iconic Jack (Bauer, from the TV series 24)... works disturbingly well

The writing's superb, and the plot's gripping and completely believable. A real page-turner

A powerhouse of tension and nail-biting suspense... an excellent and masterful work of fiction

It would be foolish to call 61 Hours the best Reacher adventure yet, since they're all excellent... just that bit more thrilling than some of the others... another gripping, cunningly constructed, compellingly written thriller

A contender for top thriller of 2010

A turbo-charged page-flipper: you're on page 300 before you take a breath...Child is a master of distances, spaces and the physics of opposing forces