'As is typical of the best classics, he has fashioned a universal tale of sexual obsession, love and death out of a particular life'

'Even in its sexiest moments, it never loses its intellectual poise. Dry witticisms intersperse sweaty couplings...The Folding Star is a novel of considerable breadth.What gives it its depth is the candour, wit, sensuous immediacy and melancholy intelligence applied to it'

'Few writers' prose can throw a party as easily as retire to the library as Hollinghurst's...[He ] is on as fine a form in this novel as his first'

'Grand 19th-century fin-de-siècle lusciousness, a seamy 20th-century carnality and a generous pinch of true wit'

Harris had me imaginatively surrounded. I am lost in admiration at his energy and skill

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