The ultimate horror vision -- but one not without humor

Ape and Essence leaves us in mingled respect of the author's intelligence and disgust for the world he had created

Clever, brutal, thoughtful, original...a nauseating vision of a still-possible future

Powerfully moving

Painfully and majestically vivid; it is a great piece of work

A blood and thunder tale for those grieving the passing of Penny Dreadful. This novel is like immersing yourself in a Hammer horror film, and I mean that, of course, as great praise.

A compelling, deep, dark drama about Dracula’s origin. Even I had to keep the lights on when reading this book!

A terrifying and compelling prequel that reveals how a young Bram Stoker confronted evil to craft a masterpiece.

Whatever fiendish bargain Stoker and Barker struck to resurrect the voice of Bram Stoker with such authenticity and aplomb, it was worth it, at least to their mere mortal readers. Dracul is a genius and fevered nightmare of Gothic madness, each page seeping with ominous dread and escalating horror. It is a prequel more than just worthy of the original novel—it is sure to be an undying classic of its own, haunting, terrifying and entertaining generations to come.

Very scary . . . a big book that will no doubt be a hit among monster-movie and horror lit fans—and for good reason.

J.D. Barker is a one-of-a-kind writer and that’s a rare and special thing. Stephen King comes to mind and Lee Child, John Sanford. All one-of-a-kinds. Don’t miss anything J.D. writes.

A . . . dread-infused atmosphere not at all that far from Poe.

Dracul is utterly compelling, not to mention terrifying . . . it truly is the best possible reading material for October 31st.

This Dracula is the vicious, bloodthirsty, malevolent 'strigori' we know and love to hate.

Dracul is a fat, entertaining novel which mixes fact and fiction with lusty relish . . . Written, like its illustrious antecedent, in epistolary form it also mimics the darkness of the original.

An intriguing tale of bloodlust, horror and resurrection . . . [Dracul] builds to an exciting and suspenseful climax.

In weaving emotion into literary gold, truth has never been this painfully told, or this beautiful.

The best poetry out since Warsan Shire.

A fast-paces, dense, poetic, original and bewitching story by an important new writer. That Reminds Me will long be remembered by readers.

Deserves the same recognition that greeted Max Porter's similarly constructed fictionalised memoir Grief is the Thing With Feathers... uses its broken-up style to explore experiences that defy easy comprehension. There is nothing indulgent about this quietly observed account of a black man Owusu gives the name of K... There is a physicality to his writing, the impression of incoherent feelings being wrestled into shape, that lends his book heft. K's future is, in the end, ambiguous, but Owusu's surely gleams bright.

A bold prose poem written in novella form, That Reminds Me is one of the most powerful pieces of writing to be published in 2019.

The latest release from Stormzy's increasingly impressive #Merky imprint, this is a stylistically ambitious memoir of a precarious Tottenham upbringing. Owusu writes with a poet's gift for seemingly incidental observation in a potent story that's left deliberately, troublingly fragmented.

A virtuosic debut by a raw new talent. An honest and timely evaluation of a black man's struggle to belong and later come to terms with failing mental health. Utterly convincing and deeply sad, Owusu's storytelling will bring readers to tears.

Derek Owusu is not just a brilliant writer, he’s a deep thinker. Anything he does is relevant, and meaningful. It would be easy to say that he is mainly concerned with the condition of young black men, but in truth he speaks truth to all of us.

A magnificent achievement.

Written with candour and verve, and full of moments of heart-stopping anguish and beauty.