An ingenious thriller

Masterly story-telling

A mixture of a classic heist and literary history lesson; the whole Victorian world of letters is cleverly and wittily reimagined

A historical jigsaw puzzle of literary larceny, deception, and derring-do…richly imagined

[Pearl’s] clever final twist will surprise the general reader, and please Stevenson scholars

An enthralling, unusual story, filled with adventure and deceit, that has something interesting to say about the perpetually tangled relationship between literature and commerce

It all plays out as an evocative Polynesian travelogue with all the audacious thievery of a fun heist film

Highly provocative

Exciting and highly inventive, this fast-paced epic tale of literary skullduggery, criminal artistry, colonial conflict and reclusive writers is delightfully immersive

an erudite, thought provoking read, set within a lively, action filled atmosphere

Ingenious thriller… Pearl shows an admirable capacity for constructing an intriguing narrative around a nugget of historical information.

A mighty book

A fast-paced, sexually charged whodunit that suggests a far more complex reality... Flanagan's writing is a brilliant reflection of a world full of steamy sex, drugs and violence, with a touch of high-status voyeurism... The Unknown Terrorist mocks the thriller genre even as it fulfils its expectations

Well observed... Never less than a ballsy, enjoyable read... Like Showgirls written by Don DeLillo instead of Joe Eszterhas

A little corker

A marvel of enlightened entertainment.

Bizarre but very readable; this novel is recommended.

Barker’s writing is completely original and insightful.

It worked beautifully for me.

Impertinent, irreverent and very funny.

Absorbing… Serious without being solemn, sweet without being sickly, it’s an elegant tale about the unexpected places where kindness and sympathy can flourish and deepen.

Kennedy’s comedy is ruthlessly observed – an anti-romance that warms into something moving and profound. It’s also a brilliant portrait of city living.

Two lonely people go about their day in London in this typically Kennedian and utterly wonderful novel… but they find their way towards each other in an agonising love story that’s all about morality and decency in a careless world… Kennedy is a stand-up comedian, and observational comedy runs through this novel in interior monologues that are heartbreakingly familiar and laugh-out-loud sad. Her sentences are some of the best in modern fiction (there’s a springer spaniel called Hector with “black, bewildered ears… [that] made him look as if he’d recently heard dreadful news and still hadn’t adjusted.”) and reading her prose is like eating those fizzy sweets that are both sweet and sour make you wince at the back of your mouth – then go back for more… It’s gorgeous.

Consistently raw and powerful… emotionally exhausting… But there’s a lot to be said for a novel which sets so much store by “affection and tenderness”, and in which the emotional peaks and the possibilities of redemption and renewal are marked by the simple holding of hands.

I love, love, love the Rushdie – I think it’s my favourite of his… The fantasy elements are just magical and, of course, it’s gorgeously written.

An apocalyptic battle between reason and unreason, good and evil, light and darkness, with all the bells and whistles of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Not only a beautifully written satire-as-fairytale but the subject matter is bang on trend… That Rushdie should still be writing so potently and still be continuing to push back the frontiers, when he could easily pull up a deck chair and languish on the frontiers he already owns is wonderful, inspirational and profoundly (but only in the best way) terrifying… 10/10, Master.

Ambitious, smart and dark fable that is full of rich and profound notions about human nature.

I like to think how many readers are going to admire the courage of this book, revel in its fierce colours, its boisterousness, humour and tremendous pizzazz, and take delight in its generosity of spirit.