So we have a fant-sci-historico-romp on our hands. And we'll need both of them because this is one juggling act of a novel....some will cover their ears but some will want to leap up to dance

Rambunctious, rollicking, yet lightly spun... Interestingly different... Younger writes with great vigour and playfulness. His characters are rich and vividly drawn... Energetic and undisciplined, full of dirty, chaotic life - and death

A deeply English dystopia...Each of Lingus's perceptions is lovingly worked, and so is each minor character's speaking voice. The novel succeeds because of the breadth of language it uses

Full of splendid disjointed moments, in which tropes from the picturesque squalor of the historical thriller are relocated into a satiric future

Darkly comic

Since The Usual Suspects, novels and movies have become obsessed with the trick ending but .Insolently resisting this trend Harris has brought off a known-ending story

A sophisticated thriller that takes in its stride the conventions of the historical novel, Pompeii deserves the place it will undoubtedly have at the top of the bestseller list.

Blazingly exciting... Harris, as Vesuvius explodes, gives full vent to his genius for thrilling narrative... pulse-rate-speeding masterpieces of suffocating suspense and searing action

Robert Harris's Pompeii is his best yet: as explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history - Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Books of the Year'

Breakneck pace, constant jeopardy and subtle twists of plot... a blazing blockbuster

Harris has done a tremendous job in evoking life in ancient Italy... I am lost in admiration at his energy and skill

The long drawn-out death agony of the two cities is brilliantly done. Explosive stuff indeed

Gripping, topical and dauntingly intelligent

A stunning novel... The subtlety and power of its construction holds our attention to the end

A whole community, buried in volcanic ash 2000 years ago, has been brought to life... Stirring and absorbing

A supremely good piece of storytelling, most impressively researched

Britain’s leading thriller writer … Explosive stuff, indeed – and yes, it goes with a bang

The depth of the research in the book is staggering … Pompeii is indeed a blazing blockbuster

The final 100 pages are terrific, as good as anything Harris has done ... Stirring and absorbing

Pompeii by Robert Harris was another triumph … put together with the skill of a craftsman

Robert Harris's Pompeii is his best yet: as explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history

McCarthy's descriptions of nature and of the everyday details of the era are vivid, surprising and true. And while the writing is often beautiful and ornate, the story has a bracing, Beckett-like severity