A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE MONTH: [Exposes] the dark underbelly of social media giants' societal control via the manipulation of data. Elsberg is nothing if not prescient.

A topical thriller set in the world of online activists pitted against corrupt IT companies who collect and analyse personal data.

A highly topical nightmarish scenario, which Elsberg says became a reality long ago.

A gripping thriller and a visionary story on the subject of 'Big Data'

With this thriller Elsberg qualifies as the spokesman for perhaps the most important debate in society today.

As with BLACKOUT Elsberg combines a realistic future scenario with a cleverly constructed plot - a thriller that confronts our fears.

Marc Elsberg has a sixth sense for burning issues. So sinister and realistic, it will make you download encryption software immediately after reading.

This may be fiction but it is unnervingly realistic.

Zero is a tense tech thriller that reads worryingly real.

A captivating read and a very well-researched techno-thriller

[Elsberg] takes us on a breathless pursuit of Freemee across the globe.

A thriller that explores how information can be controlled, repurposed and used to exploit people... Zero is thoroughly entertaining.

[Elsberg] throws everything at you, and it kept me hooked throughout.

Filled with smart characters, plenty of action... A wake-up call for all of the people who are glued to their gadgets.

Elsberg's writing is intriguing, fierce and smart.

I read this book in one tension filled evening. I was absolutely gripped by the sympathetic, well-drawn characters and couldn't go to bed until I knew how it ended

A compulsive page-turner. Fuller creates an atmosphere of simmering menace with all the assurance of a latter-day Daphne du Maurier

A rich, dark pressure cooker of a novel that simmers with slow heat and suppressed tension

Dark, beautifully written. It reminds me very much of Ian McEwan's Atonement, with similar slow-build tension and claustrophobic atmosphere

An exquisite and skilfully written novel, which worms its way under your skin while Frances's loneliness seeps off every page

Fuller is a master at summoning the atmosphere of a heady, hot summer that thrums with tension

Multi-layered, lush, twisty and brilliantly clever

A smart creation from a skilled writer: a heady psychological novel that builds its layers carefully to allow gradual revelations and stomach-churning surprises

Full of complex characters and narrative richness

Loneliness, guilt and atonement are at the heart of the atmospheric Bitter Orange

Naturally engaging and elegantly written. Fuller is an amply gifted storyteller

With shades of Brideshead and Manderley, Claire Fuller's atmospheric third novel plays a satisfyingly unpredictable game with reader expectations. Prepare to be meticulously unsettled and horribly enthralled

Full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller

Cannily releasing clues on the way to an explosive finale . . . The lush setting and remarkable characters make for an immersive mystery

Elegant, atmospheric, vivid

Beautifully written, with echoes of Barbara Vine and Daphne du Maurier

Sumptuous and sinister with gothic hints, this is a compelling tale of blurred friendships

One of the best suspense thrillers i've read. A very easy 5 big fat stars and 100% recommended

Is The Chalk Man one of THE books of 2018? YES, YES YES IT REALLY IS . . . an absolute corker, a spine tingling read

A fantastic debut novel to keep you up late at night

A nail biting thriller

It's a corker that'll give you the willies. Chalk one up to C J Tudor.

Genuinely creepy books don't come along very often, but this one can hold its missing head up high

There are shades of Stephen King in this very creepy timeslip, as well as an evocative portrait of small-town life in 1980s Britain

My favourite crime book of 2018 would have to be The Chalk Man. It initially brought to mind twisted tales of suburban Americana such as Stand by Me and Carrie. However, by weaving in authentic and evocative period detail C. J. Tudor manages to create a story that tells of the darkness at the heart of small-town life that is, like the rotten pastoral in a M. R. James ghost story, uniquely English. Unsettling, taut and skillfully plotted, The Chalk Man grabbed me by the throat from the very first sentence and didn't let go until the final, heart-stopping page

[I] haven't had a sleepless night due to a book for a long time. The Chalk Man changed that. Many congrats C. J. Tudor

What a great book. A twisty thriller and downright creepy ending. 5 stars.

Tense, skillful storytelling

Absolutely brilliant. I was expecting a creepy horror story that I'd have to read with all the lights on but this book is so much more than that - it's witty, insightful, clever, thoughtful, mysterious, gripping, nostalgic and utterly compelling. Publishers often talk about "an exciting new voice in fiction" and I genuinely think C. J. Tudor is going to be huge. This book has bestseller written all over it and if it doesn't go to number one I will eat my crime writing hat

What an amazing debut! Such an ingenious, original idea. I was engrossed from the very first page. I loved how the 1986 and present day storylines weaved so skilfully together to create that unforgettable and unexpected ending. Compelling, taut and so very, very chilling. This book will haunt you!

It's been a while since I've read such an impressive debut. The pace was perfectly judged, the characters superbly drawn and there's a creeping sense of unease that starts with the prologue and grows throughout the book. And then that ending! It feels so fresh and deserves to be a huge success

Utterly Hypnotic. The Chalk Man is a dream novel, a book of nightmares: haunted and haunting, shot through with shadow and light - a story to quicken the pulse and freeze the blood. A dark star is born

Impossible to put down, cleverly constructed and executed

Kept me up until five in the morning. Wonderfully written. I loved it!

I absolutely loved The Chalk Man . . . It's a dark, mesmerising thriller with an ending that left me with goosebumps!

One of the best books I've read since I first read Stephen King's IT when I was 14. Go get it!

I've just finished The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor. WOW! I could not put it down. If you like Stephen King, you'll LOVE this!

At the heart of this accomplished debut lies a shocking crime stumbled upon by a group of teenage friends. It is a discovery that shatters their innocence and haunts the whole community. Now, twenty years later, someone is sending anonymous letters - chalk drawings of a stick figure with a noose around its neck - someone who hasn't forgotten what happened in the woods all those years ago. The past is very much alive in this book where memory is unreliable and old secrets fester, threatening to turn as odorous as a rotting corpse. Tudor's sharp eye for detail and ear for dialogue lend the childhood scenes an immediacy and authenticity that completely convince. With its driving plot and sensitive evocation of friendship and loneliness, The Chalk Man is an utterly gripping read, with an ending that will make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle

Just finished The Chalk Man. Dark and addictive. This page-turner is more twisty than a rollercoaster. And one hell of a ride.

The Chalk Man is a stunning debut, a riveting thriller about the powerful grip of the past and the unbreakable bonds of childhood friendship. The ending of this smasher will completely throw you for a loop

The Chalk Man is an intricate and surprising book that will reward the reader who approaches it with the attention it deserves

Absolutely loved it! Creepy, brilliant and tense, I could not put it down!

Blasted through this beauty in one intense and thrilling sitting

The Chalk Man stole my weekend! Wow. Just wow. The tension just builds and builds. And what a final page . . .

Finished reading The Chalk Man by C.J Tudor last night. What a book! Enjoyed every minute of it. A total banger!

C.J. Tudor brilliantly weaves past and present into a haunting, vividly imagined tale. Much more than a murder mystery, it is a sharp, terrifying exploration of the bonds and limitations of childhood friendships and of secrets that refuse to remain buried. I fell in love with the guiding voice of this novel, the thoughtful and solitary Eddie. Prepare to be surprised again and again, even until the final page

The Chalk Man is an unpredictable and engaging thriller: sinister, tragic, and with a beautifully rendered sense of time and place. That final page still haunts me

The grip the past has on the present reveals itself in ever more sinister and macabre ways in this utterly original and relentlessly compelling psychological thriller. The Chalk Man kept me guessing all the way to the end

As well as being unputdownable, it was emotionally intelligent, touching and credible

Easy, gripping and enjoyable