Haunting and compelling

McEwan, that master of the taciturn macabre, so organises his narrative that, without insisting anything, every turn and glimpse is another tightening of the noose

As always, McEwan manages his own idiom with remarkable grace and inventiveness; his characters are at home in their dreams and so is he

Has you in its stranglehold from the first page to the last. McEwan has honed his prose style (always admirably spare) to tell his tale, and with all the skill of an accomplished torturer, he throws the occasional crumbs of comfort, as the tension becomes unbearable, only to snatch them away within moments

The Maestro

As one reads it one cannot forget it was compiled by a uniquely gifted writer in the face of death, urgently pinning down experiences important to him. All that might suggest a scrapbook, but as a legendary traveller and observer of people Chatwin had more to put into his than most

Trollope...remains painfully skilled in tracing the faultlines in human relationships.

a hugely readable novel…Trollope writes with unflagging skill. She is brilliant at exploring the often unearned sense of entitlement within families

A glorious family saga.

Consistently intriguing

Superb... [Ackroyd] makes the familiar deliciously mysterious

In a slender novel, London's great fictional mapper Peter Ackroyd has woven together a rich spread of tales of the city

Ackroyd writes about the capital, from Camden to Chelsea, like no-one else and he captures the sense of the sixties perfectly, with high-society and low-life London so dangerously close to each other. Full of twists and turns, this is Ackroyd's most exciting novel to date

A classic Ackroyd tale that will not fail to please

Exciting and fast moving as the story is, it also tugs at your heartstrings and reminds the reader that there are many young people for whom this way of life is reality. Unmissable!

This is a powerful and gripping story that takes us into some painful places, but makes us believe that transformation is possible - that the vulnerable and weak can sometimes triumph against a whole system. I would very highly recommend it

Often funny, more often very moving

While readers will delight in the excitement and adventure of this story, they will also learn about the poverty and difficulties faced by many children throughout the world and about the consequences of corruption in government

The chase leads them throughout the city, exposing the great disparity between the "haves" and the "have nots," and the huge injustice this represents. They face moral dilemmas throughout and, ultimately, make good decisions. Their intelligence and characters make the condition in which they live seem even more unfair

An exciting read full of suspense. This will appeal to boys and to girls, and could act as a stimulus to classroom discussion of poverty, child workers, recycling in third world countries and the misuse of economic and political power

The thrilling pace of the narrative does not let up from start to finish. Lustrum is an utterly engrossing, suspense-filled read

Dripping in detail it brings ancient Rome to vivid life, yet the political intrigue has echoes in today's ruling classes. And while the pace gallops along, the action is reined in just enough to crank the tension up. *****

Conspiracy, betrayal and political upheaval are the keys that turn this brilliantly researched page-turner

For a page turner...I would go for Lustrum (Hutchinson, £18.99) the second volume of Robert Harris's semi-fictional trilogy on the life of the Roman politician Cicero. The oldest stories really are often the best!

Harris is one of the consummate storytellers of the age, a master of narrative who - whatever genre he tackles - delivers books that are definitions of the word compulsive. In Lustrum, we have the mechanics of the thriller applied to ancient Rome, with immensely powerful results

A fine achievement: a hefty, politically serious thriller that effortlessly reanimates the dusty quarrels of Roman government while casting ironic and instructive sidelight on those of our own

Supreme story-telling

Deeply satisfying, impeccably researched and spectacularly topical ... a thriller to die for ... Harris brilliantly evokes Rome on the edge of political chaos through the eyes of Cicero's slave Tiro, who acts as his mater's secretary ... The pace never falters, and the politics are sharply relevant for today

Harris communicates such a strong sense of Imperial Rome - the book is awesomely well-informed about the minutiae of everyday life

Lustrum... was a fascinating world, a world of subtle political machinations and fine oratory and nuanced debate, and complex legislation, and intrigue, and an extremely absorbing one

It is a tribute to Harris's deftness of touch that this book feels so fresh ... he has a lovely dry, debunking style ... Harris writes about the life of politics with an insight rare among historical novelists ... It is as a pure thriller ... wry, clever, thoughtful, with a terrific sense of timing and eye for character

Lustrum offers a great insight into the psychology of political calculation. The story of Cicero's fall from power to the point where even sworn allies close their doors on him offers little consolation over the next few months for our own leader

What a storm it is. The five year period covered by the novel, the 'lustrum' of its title, has some claim to be the most thrilling in the entire span of classical history ... Remorseless it may be; but it is also, as one would expect of Harris, thrillingly paced and narrated. The excitements of a classic thriller, however, are almost the least of the novel's virtues: virtues which derive in large part, from Cicero himself. What grips most about Lustrum is the seriousness with which the political issues at stake are taken, and the vividness of the characterisation: both of which, in large part, reflect the closeness of Harris's reading of his hero's speeches and correspondence

Robert Harris brings the cut-throat republic to life... He understands politics and how to dramatise them.

Offers great insight into the psychology of political calculation

[Lustrum] stands on its own merits as a thoroughly engaging historical novel. Republican Rome, with all its grandeur and corruption, has rarely been made as vivid as it appears in Harris's book. The allure of power and the perils that attend it have seldom been so brilliantly anatomised in a thriller.

Harris never makes his comparisons between Rome and modern Britain explicit, but they are certainly there. And that's the principal charm of his ancient thrillers - their up-to-dateness.

Intrigue and excitement all the way, brilliantly read by Oliver Ford Davies.