This novel's deep theme is a peculiar kind of heroism – that of claiming, in a world stripped to necessity, a human remainder of grace: the choice to bear witness to ideals that are more precious than survival and that exist only in our affirmation of them. Out in the Open is a harrowing, humane, and very beautiful book

The writing is austere with flourishes of great beauty from an exceptional translator

Its rural lexicon enriches a tale told with savage precision, and filled with memorable passages

Undeniably impressive and compelling because everything is everywhere so thoroughly and keenly imagined and realised

[A] searing, beautifully observed debut

Carrasco provides a tense story of conflict, the tough but gratifying outcome of which remains unclear until the end. The harsh landscape, described in rich, slow prose, has moulded the characters and is the constant backdrop to human action

Fans of Cormac McCarthy and other novelists of the bleak but beautiful are going to love this book

An intense, gripping, and emotional piece of work

What a novel! My goodness – I haven’t read anything this powerful for years and years… It will grab you and leave you trembling for a long time

Told in sparse, taut prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy... Passages of lovely writing coupled with the jaw-clenching tension and moments of hope make this a welcome introduction to a new voice

The much-travelled Osborne delivers on a load of levels, not least his characters, who can ooze silky menace, or be totally soulless, desperate or lost. All are convincing in the setting of the exotic, once-deadly country. And with his easy and vivid descriptions, this masterpiece will give you prickly heat rash

Dramatic and involving, an exhilarating adventure crafted in crisp, sharp prose. Osborne gives us rich swathes of local colour … Most of all, it is Robert and his precarious fate that keep us rapt. On the first page he is described as having ; "the aura of poverty about him"; roughly two hundred pages later his beloved Sophal tells him he is spooking people: "They say you have an aura of disaster about you." He does and it’s powerful; once the novel’s momentum kicks in, we’re with him all the way until the bitter end

Mesmerising

The man making writing dangerous again

Very fine...an excellent addition to the literature of personal displacement. Grappling with manifold questions about identity and the tragic futility of material aspirations in a ruthless, brittle world, this novel draws you into a sun-struck realm where the survival of the fittest is more predicated by chance and where violence is a sudden, opportunistic enterprise

The best writer you’ve never heard of, Osborne is hitting mean form as a writer of exotic literary thrillers. … Sensual, dream-like and gripping

This is an elegantly told story that will keep you intrigued until you hit the back cover

An atmospheric read

It’s with expert control of the narrative here that [Osborne] captures a life adrift

Dark, teasing, elegantly written book

Darkly sinister, threatening and compelling, this is one you’ll come back to again and again

Alive with malice and grace, this is a taut tale reminiscent of the nightmares of Patricia Highsmith

Prey and predators circle in lush southeast Asian settings that gleam with Osborne’s dazzling skill as a travel-writer

It shines with intrigue, with investigations into the nature of the non-rational, and evil, wrapped up in taught plotting

One of Britain’s most accomplished novelists.

An ingenious and atmospheric novel.

Lawrence Osborne is an experienced, competent author with an impressive knowledge of Asia… Comparisons with Graham Greene seem to be generously offered by other reviewers and I’ve already alluded to Conrad and a Patricia Highsmith yet my impression is that Mr. Osborne has a style all of his own.

McCarthy has put his finger on something, and he’s nailed it very precisely. It’s how we live now. All the information we process every day. What it’s doing to us.