Joseph O'Connor's The Thrill of it All uses layered narrative textures with both serious skill and engaging lightness so that the core drama emerges with clarity and wit.

Occasionally, you read a sentence that you know couldn't be bettered: Joseph O'Connor's new novel is jam-packed with such sentences – paragraph after paragraph of brilliance

O'Connor at his playful and narrative best… shot through with electricity, packed with sentences that send you spinning, full of joy and sadness and swerve. This was a book to make my tired heart soar. Of all the Irish writers working today, Joe O'Connor speaks better than anyone of what is genuine, what is necessary, and what is ennobling. A thrill indeed.

[O’Connor] is warm without being sentimental, and he cuts effortlessly between comedy and tragedy. Music nerds will love the most satisfyingly voluminous playlists since High Fidelity

A novel about music, family and friendship...O'Connor brilliantly evokes the 1980s... This novel is shot through with humour, patois and all the human contradictions that make the characters truly memorable.

Intoxicating...a love letter to rock 'n' roll...incredibly moving

O'Connor writes with such passion, such precision, such beautiful sentences, with such an ear for language and with such knowledge and hilarity, that this book could only come from an extremely gifted Rock'n'Roll obsessive... A brilliant and vital document

Hugely entertaining. A vivid joy. He's a master...Deftly and tenderly drawn...for friends and family, and always and forever, for music...That feeling has rarely been captured as exhilaratingly, and as vividly, as in The Thrill of it All

[A] brilliantly conceived and touching novel... You don’t have to be a music fan to love it

This is a book for anyone who has ever dreamt of being a rock star

Exuberantly funny

It's so crafted that you end up wishing they were real, and proves that fictional musicians can be written well. As it fast-forwards to the present day, showing how time changes things, it's easy for the reader to be drawn into tales of teenage dreams, friendship and a real love of music

In a beguiling mix of memory, interviews, lyrics and diary entries, O'Connor constructs his personal, distinctly loving, laughing pseudo-memoir that rewinds us romantically to the music and mindset of the way we were then and fast forwards to the rueful way we are now. Pure pleasure

An evocative and vibrant, poignant and witty tale… [A] brilliant, moving novel

A touching and beautifully drawn portrait of a group of people who essentially become a new sort of family

O’Connor’s story is characteristically well-crafted and his playfully inventive use of language is evident throughout… A nostalgic story about friendship and the enduring importance of music in people’s lives.

Rewinds and fast-forwards through an evocative soundtrack of struggle and laughter

He’s done it again… Has everything a holiday read should have – life, love and rock and roll

How do you explain what a fictional band sounds like? O’Connor does it exquisitely by letting us listen to the music of Robbie’s insecurities, his inability to see his own importance, and his all-consuming love for Fran… A novel to be savoured, with its beautiful, laugh-out-loud bickering between [the characters], its melancholic sweetness and the sky wisdom that penetrates its pages, and the feeling it gives that, despite not hearing a sound, you have just come out of an amazing concert of all your favourite songs

A vibrant and enjoyable read

Has an eye, and ear, for music culture that few of even the best rock journalists can match

I’ve seen some reviews bill The Thrill of it All as being a book for anyone who’s dreamt of being a rock star, but I’d say it’s appeal is far wider than that: it’s for anyone who loves music — blues, ska, New Wave, punk and rock especially

Humour and poignancy are woven into the fabric of this warm, well-crafted novel, all the way to its cathartic conclusion

a warm-hearted, funny and moving novel for anyone that’s ever loved a song

Some of the funniest, most tender moments are the exchanges between Robbie, the rebellious son, and his staid but loving father, Jim...less a tale of pop dissolution than of family

An extremely cool and quirky science fiction adventure, stacked full of hilarious and fitting pop culture references. Cline has created a fast paced and engaging story using a perfect blend of humour, futuristic tech and video-game like action sequences.

Ernest Cline is a genius in every sense of the word…This was truly wonderful, everything I had hoped it would be, and then heaps and heaps more.

Release your inner nerd and rejoice!

Armada is a gamer’s fantasy come true.

thriller-like plotting…immensely readable

It’s a hoot, from beginning to end

Literally everything I could ask for

A highly rewarding journey…thoroughly enjoyable fiction.

Armada is a journey towards emotional intelligence and understanding, a journey towards some questions answered, others posed – huge questions they are too. Armada’s a good ‘un.

A surprising thriller, a coming of age, space-fighting adventure which will thrill sci-fi fans and gamers alike.

It is often said that the best novels are those that don’t waste any time – the ones that grip the reader from the very first line. Armada does this better than perhaps any other book I’ve read.This book is a love-letter to the science fiction genre. It’s a concentrated shot of sci-fi nerdery that’s definitely worth experiencing.

Armada is fun, so go enjoy it for the first time… or the second.