Outstanding debut ... ideal for fans of Andrew Michael Hurley

There are chills galore in this enjoyable 70s-set debut about disturbed teenagers and malevolent spirits ... Anyone who remembers the 70s will thrill to Maclean's depiction of the period... The ending of the novel is particularly impressive, with Maclean bringing together both his novelistic and scriptwriting skills to full effect... Maclean brings together this strain of wild rural gothic with some slick TV plotting and a depiction of 70s British suburban life to produce a novel that amounts to considerably more than the sum of its parts, with moments of hallucinatory brilliance ... [a] very successfully scary book about twins and chaos and loss - may be the perfect novel for our phantom present.

A gripping commentary on the English obsession with class and how they deal with grief- and a nostalgic delight for those who devoured the popular paperback ghost stories of the 1970s and 80s.

A truly unsettling literary ghost story where the shadows encroach and dread lurks around every corner.

Will Maclean's The Apparition Phase is an extraordinarily powerful account of growing up in the Seventies ... Tim and Abi's enthusiasm for the weird is wonderfully infectious, and the séance scenes later in the book are truly hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck stuff. But most of all, Maclean has captured the feel of the Seventies impeccably. This book is a must for anyone touched by hauntology.

A fascinating and spooky denouement, kept me on the edge of my seat and I can't think of a better read for this Halloween than Will Maclean's suspenseful and entertaining The Apparition Phase.

This unnerving, creepy and claustrophobic literary ghost story is perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson's gothic horror The Haunting of Hill House.

A delight for both the expert and the uninitiated, this creepy tale is a carapace of cosy nostalgia wrapped round a solid thread of dread ... A page turner that keeps you in dreaded suspense of what you are about to be shown ... A claustrophobic and entertaining read that left me breathless ... Horror for the connoisseur.

It's the perfect time of year to read this book - the dark nights, cold weather and the noises that houses make as they settle down for the winter are the ideal backdrop for this genre. I do hope Maclean writes more stories like this, I am very keen to read what comes next. *Please let there be another!*

Pacing is intense, I was on the edge of my seat from the moment Tim got to that manor until the end. Maclean's writing style fits the horror genre perfectly and it was a great debut novel, not to mention it sets the bar very high for him on his next book!

The atmosphere of this novel is effective, an example of using a kind of listless 70s landscape to explore the supernatural, growing up, and trauma (70s British gothic should be a genre by now, if it isn't already). There's a good balance between actual malevolent spirits and what is realistic troubles from non-supernatural life, making it a book less focusing on jumpy scares than a lingering sense of bleakness. This probably made it an unintentionally good read for the week before Halloween at a time when there's plenty of real life horrors going on.

Set in 1970s Suffolk, it's a riot of references that will thrill the disquieted children of the era ... a twisting and chilling story ... the perfect Ghost Story for Christmas 2020.

This eerie novel is a splendid, compelling tribute to the era that inspired it

Clear your diary, switch off your phone, and get lost in this atmospheric and madly gripping ghost story. You won't sleep until you find out - and you won't sleep afterwards, either

One of Ireland's finest writers

Three famous Victorians carry this sparkling historical novel: Sir Henry Irving, the great actor-manager; Ellen Terry, his leading lady; and Bram Stoker, the young Irishman who worked for Irving as a theatre manager before writing Dracula. From their entangled lives Joseph O’Connor weaves a story of love and loyalty, rich in wit and imagination.

One of the best writers working today

In gorgeous sentences, Joseph O’Connor captures the essence of three very different artistic temperaments in all their nobility and glorious absurdity

Joseph O'Connor is the only writer I know who can make you laugh and cry in the same sentence.

Magnificent

A virtuoso act of literary ventriloquism. Shadowplay is funny, smart, tender, wise and written with inch-perfect precision

A thrilling novel, exquisitely contrived to show the characters whose loves and lives inspired Dracula. A great tribute, and a work of art. Deeply affecting.

As fascinating and memorable as anything O'Connor has done. The writing, too, as thrilling as ever. A great writer performing Olympian literary storytelling.

O’Connor is a true master of historical fiction, able to illuminate a bygone age with skill, wit and imagination

A lushly enjoyable pastiche of fin-de-siècle prose, in which Victorian euphemism is an authenticating stamp that double as a source of humour

A luminous and masterly depiction of Bram Stoker’s time at the Lyceum, this wonderful book explores the complex nature of love and creativity. Utterly captivating.

Beautifully written. O’Connor creates a vivid and vigorous world of his own

Beautifully written and gorgeously atmospheric

A beautifully written masterpiece

A vividly written and atmospheric meditation on the creative process

O’Connor is masterly at evoking the late Victorian era; its train journeys, street scenes, formality and banter… O’Connor is masterly at evoking the late Victorian era; its train journeys, street scenes, formality and banter

Rich and vivid

Joseph O'Connor has written an entertaining novel that combines narrative with transcripts of recordings, diary entries and other notes. It steeps viewers in the theatre of Irving and Terry in the late 1870s and beyond, providing much informative colour at the same time as delving deeply and frankly into a series of relationships that are generally convincing.

O’Connor tells his story in rich and stylish prose

A rousing story about a remarkable woman

Joseph O’Connor’s vivid descriptive writing evokes Stoker’s memories of the post-famine Ireland of his youth and of Irving’s company’s fraught tours of America… [his] fine writing, his wit and sympathy create a richly enjoyable backdrop for some familiar characters

Enthralling… Brings to teeming life the London of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras

Brilliant... alternately deeply moving and laugh-aloud funny

O'Connor's gift is to weave whimsical moments in between the complexity of relationships and people... a beautiful story

An ambitious celebration of friendship, theatre and the power of darkness, Shadowplay is chilling and dramatic in equal measure

A wonderfully evocative tale within a tale

A thrilling novel, exquisitely contrived to show the characters whose loves and lives inspired Dracula. A great tribute, and a work of art. Deeply affecting.

I adored According to YES. It's so different to anything I've read in forever, so charming, wise, brilliantly written. I loved it all

Witty and wise, it'll have you burning the midnight oil. A cracker

Very funny and packs an emotional clout. Brilliant!

An enlightening and feel-good read offering a fresh look at life and how to embrace it. Funny and enjoyable to the end

There is lots of fun to be had reading this book. It's impossible not to warm to Rosie, a funny and open-hearted woman who acts as a salve and comfort blanket for this unhappy, inhibited family. There's something quite joyous about the way she unashamedly romps her way through the novel, changing the lives of those around her for the better

Another hilarious novel!

French can spin a yarn . . . which sets According to YES apart. Think the vicar of Dibley, without the dog collar. YES YES YES indeed

Wise and poignant

Heart-warming