Characteristically fast-paced adventure

Powerful and intelligent, with some unexpectedly trenchant humour, this welcome addition to the no-longer-so-speculative pandemic subgenre has plenty to say about grief, love, family ties and gender roles

Bowstring-taut, visceral, and incredibly timely: Beukes's plague-tale is a parable about the glory and terror of Americanism in times of calamity

Lauren Beukes is a writer with a startling imagination, and a masterful ability to rewrite the rules of whatever genre she turns to; and now, right on time, she has turned to dystopian plague

Five years in writing, this intelligent speculative novel about a pandemic feels alarmingly close to home

You can't imagine how quickly the world can change in six months - there probably isn't a more resonant sentence to be found in any other novel published this year. A fast-moving thriller [that] splices gut-punching action sequences and feminist gender politics with an impressively light touch. Bubbles with big ideas. This intelligent speculative novel about a pandemic feels alarmingly close to home

Afterland is that rare creature, a ripping tale that neither shies away from big questions nor interesting answers

Teases out the deep familial currents that run through its relationships, explores gender and reminds us that dystopian fiction can be seriously grown-up entertainment

Afterland could not be more timely or terrifying . . . An excellent example of the prophetic nature of speculative fiction. Lauren Beukes is one of the most innovative and provocative writers on the contemporary scene

(A) timely thriller

Perfect lockdown reading

Praise for Lauren Beukes

Unreservedly recommended

Brilliant ... engrossing ... I will be looking forward to whatever Lauren Beukes does next. She's a major, major talent

Scary as hell and hypnotic. I couldn't put it down

I'm all over it

Utterly original, beautifully written, and I must say, it creeped the holy bejasus out of me. This is something special

Masterful. Lauren Beukes is very *very* good

A new kind of thriller. A dark, relentless, time-twisting, page-turning. It shines

Dark, chilling and utterly gripping, The Island is Nordic noir at its best, and is destined to become a classic of the genre. I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read the rest of the Hulda series!

Adds several shades of darkness to Nordic noir

One of the great tragic heroines of contemporary detective fiction

I often get asked about tips on good crime novels which "are not like everything else". Well, here you have it. Read Ragnar Jónasson's trilogy from beginning to end, let the brain work, the body shake and be amazed at how the author also lets the language follow the development of the story . . . hats off

Ragnar Jónasson is a brilliant storyteller, who skillfully tells the story on multiple time levels, with different main characters and surprising twists. Frighteningly believable, and exciting to the end

Ragnar Jonasson is old school . . . He deals in vertiginous, unputdownable stories that are nevertheless still imbued with melancholy and heartbreak. This is his best yet

[Jonasson's] chilling whodunits currently have readers firmly in their icy grip

Unforgettable

Will leave you breathless

Praise for Gillian McAllister

I read it in a breathless day and a half. I loved every page

As tense as a piano string

An exceptional debut

An exceptional thriller with a thumping, emotional heart

Addictive, clever, twisty

I loved this gripping and thought-provoking read

Ingeniously constructed, with real flesh-and-blood characters and cliff-hanging suspense

Tense, compelling, with a clever grand reveal

One of the best courtroom dramas I've ever read

Kept me glued to every page

Gripping, cleverly-constructed, and heart-wrenching. Truly original

Intelligent. Compulsive. Heart-wrenching. Unforgettable

Brilliantly written

A thrilling mystery with a strong emotional heart

McAllister ratchets up the tension to excellent effect in this addictive page-turner

Exquisite and evocative - and the pace and suspense are handled expertly

One of the most enthralling novelists of the moment. This is the most beautiful book you will read this year

Eve Chase is a name to watch

Addictive and delivers atmosphere in spades

An enticing, chilling plot, captivating characters and prose beautiful enough to totally lose yourself in

A mystery of nail-biting suspense

Absorbed me completely. Fabulous

An engrossing story of fractured families, secrets, lies and misunderstandings

Magical

Expertly crafted, dark, beautiful and utterly enthralling

Beautifully written with a gripping plot, I couldn't stop reading this