A convincing Victorian world of eerie moors and fearless detectives, impenetrable ciphers and strange hooded assassins. A pacey, enjoyable yarn, with a surprising twist that ranks with the best of the Doyle Canon

Truly frightening

A satisfying Borgesian mix of library riddle, fact and conjecture

Reading "Martin Sloane" made me feel melancholic, hopeful, amused, energized, enlightened, unnerved, touched, and finally grateful that occasionally a writer comes along who gets real life just right.

Redhill [has] a gift for studied lyricism, a complex kind of emotional intelligence and, most of all, a poet's understanding of the workings of time... a powerful meditation on the implications of memory and the vacancies opened up by the loss of love... Redhill paces this sad and oblique detective story with great heart and delicacy.

Redhill's mild prose is dense with powerful emotional insights. Like Martin's art, it inspires a feeling of stillness and calm, of looking down on things from above; while underneath rest layer upon layer of meaning, prompting reflection on the novel's images and understandings long after the last page is reached.

Hauntingly good.

A first novel with a rich centre... not a word to spare or an image too many.

Often intriguing... Jolene's youthful crassness and belated recognit ion or everything she lost are sharply and movingly evoked.

Its combination of Grand Guignol and place setting does command attention

Original, moving and entertaining for adults as well as for older children

A deservedly acclaimed read.