5,628 book reviews and counting...

"an American master of the short story..."

"a powerfully moving mediation on the nature of love..."

"Unfurling at the unhurried pace of a fern, it’s also an evocatively lyrical paean to the countryside..."

"Flanery has clearly had enormous fun ..."

"This important novel comes from a tradition: from the green fuse of Dylan Thomas and Caradoc Evans, the unstable religiosity of RS Thomas..."

"(a) skilful exploration of myth and fable, and histories both forgotten and elaborated..."

"this fine novel is yet to be captured in English..."

"An evocative depiction of the backpacking life..."

"this magical satire is preaching to the converted..."

"Baldacci’s move into historical crime..."

"a bloody and brilliant first novel..."

"a work resplendent in ambition, humour and humanity..."

"[Knox's] exuberant novels are among the best in the current field..."

"the whole thing feels effortful, dutiful and, I’m afraid, dull..."

"An engaging all-action satire on 1960s Tokyo consumerism ..."

"this well-written debut has the pulse of a slow-burning thriller..."

"His words address the reward centre in the brain, the neural pathways that are enlivened by nicotine, alcohol or opioids..."

"This lyrical debut novel by the Nigerian poet centres on an activist released from prison and an orphaned young woman..."

"it had me gripped..."

"Sharp, Sally Rooney-style insights into female friendship..."

" a worthy and singular novel..."

"In a series of 18 linked stories, Berry describes everyday life in Port William, and the gradual erosion of its farming community..."

"a one-sitting read..."

"Small decisions drive this bestselling story of suburban families..."

"measured and confident..."

"Told at a ferocious pace in staccato prose, this thriller truly gets the blood racing..."

" Daly is.. a weaver of intensely compelling contemporary tales..."

"a rivetingly high-concept tale..."

"Readers who liked Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson will enjoy The Perfect Wife..."

"McDermid’s storytelling is as classy and compelling as ever..."

"spooky, tense thriller..."

"It’s all horribly credible, and Jackson’s dialogue and scene-painting are impeccable..."

"a thriller for people who skip the crime bits and goes to almost comical lengths to avoid exposing them to nastiness..."

"[Knox's] exuberant novels are among the best in the current field..."

"delivered with a master’s touch...."

"cutting-edge..."

"Baldacci’s move into historical crime..."

"a delicious cocktail of dating and detonations..."

"[an] enjoyable “locked castle” mystery..."

"almost unreadable if you’re unfamiliar with Chang’s life..."

"a harrowing and a bewitching adventure..."

"Mina’s storytelling is always vivid and exciting, and Anna is a complex, well-rounded figure..."

"a convincing account of the tension between the artistic process and the deadly perils of pretension..."

"This is a rare creature, a murder mystery that manages to be both comic and an existential thriller...."

"The atmosphere is as close and taut as a thriller, but this is, in fact, both a highly original examination of grief and an extraordinarily vivid evocation of motherhood..."

"Harry Hole is back battling his demons — and a serial rapist..."

"Thriller writing at its best...."

"Philby pulls it off, and shows herself a writer of promise...."

"Something smelled off from the start..."

"Tim MacGabhann’s debut is billed as a literary crime novel but lacks killer writing..."

"This is genuinely unputdownable..."

"Told at a ferocious pace in staccato prose, this thriller truly gets the blood racing..."

" Daly is.. a weaver of intensely compelling contemporary tales..."

"a rivetingly high-concept tale..."

"Readers who liked Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson will enjoy The Perfect Wife..."

"McDermid’s storytelling is as classy and compelling as ever..."

"spooky, tense thriller..."

"anything but a hard-boiled private eye novel..."

"delivered with a master’s touch...."

"cutting-edge..."

"Baldacci’s move into historical crime..."

"it had me gripped..."

"excellent..."

"a delicious cocktail of dating and detonations..."

"bleak but compelling..."

"Kent's growing fanbase won't be disappointed..."

"a convincing account of the tension between the artistic process and the deadly perils of pretension..."

"This is a rare creature, a murder mystery that manages to be both comic and an existential thriller...."

"Mina’s storytelling is always vivid and exciting, and Anna is a complex, well-rounded figure..."

"Harry Hole is back battling his demons — and a serial rapist..."

"Something smelled off from the start..."

"Tim MacGabhann’s debut is billed as a literary crime novel but lacks killer writing..."

"Has human nature changed since classical times?..."

"An eccentric boarding school teacher becomes a media hate figure in a novel that sidesteps conventional thrills..."

"readers who enjoy something haunting, atmospheric and genuinely mysterious have a treat in store..."

"a true skin-crawler..."

"(a) skilful exploration of myth and fable, and histories both forgotten and elaborated..."

"a richly picaresque adventure..."

"In a series of 18 linked stories, Berry describes everyday life in Port William, and the gradual erosion of its farming community..."

"The writer brings scientific heft to bear on a tale of ecology and rationalism..."

"smooth, clear and occasionally properly memorable prose..."

"A beguiling debut about lives lived in the orbit of an artistic temperament..."

"The novel in this new, uncensored version does constantly what the best journalism does..."

"an absorbing, multilayered novel..."

"[an] enjoyable “locked castle” mystery..."

"almost unreadable if you’re unfamiliar with Chang’s life..."

"a harrowing and a bewitching adventure..."

"Re-creating a monster..."

"Earthly longing is refracted into spiritual fervour in this clever fact-based debut about a genteel English cult..."

"A delightful story of a life well misspent in 1940s New York..."

"Original and beautifully written..."

"Jing-Jing Lee charts the ‘lost years’ of a Japanese military brothel survivor..."

"It keeps you reading, it makes you think, and, by the end, it generates that sense of wonder that is the very lifeblood of science fiction and fantasy..."

"The collection’s two finest stories both achieve this expert balance of the emotional and the cerebral...."

"a fictional mathematical discovery is placed in the past and its ripple effects are carried forward..."

"A dystopian thriller that wears its smartness on its sleeve..."

"Two environmentally dystopian visions of a flooded earth..."

"detailed depiction of scientists diligently going about their work..."

" a remarkably clever and engrossing first novel..."

"awesome, awe-inspiring space opera..."

"a coruscating, propulsive tale of colonisation...."

"The novel gathers momentum as it goes, and few readers will stop until they reach its final page..."

"enjoyably nightmarish...compulsive reading..."

"an exuberant mash-up of an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery and time-travelling, body-swap science fiction..."

"Love and humour are found at the end of the road for a pair of elderly protagonists..."

"Satire, social mores and sex ... put this in your summer beach bag..."

"a harrowing and a bewitching adventure..."

"the pleasure of this novel is in the quirky characters, the effervescent writing and the comedy in just about every line..."

"enthralling..."

"The demands of Western love and Eastern tradition..."

"playful and inventive novel..."

"a must-read if you're addicted to 'Missed Connections' columns..."

"a sweet romance that explores autism..."

"One to get lost in..."

"secrets from the past..."

"Love is never like this except in middle-aged female fantasies..."

"(a) skilful exploration of myth and fable, and histories both forgotten and elaborated..."

"the punch and intensity of the writing and the voice of Jessie are rather remarkable..."

"eerie, vulnerable, brave and captivating..."

"Jing-Jing Lee charts the ‘lost years’ of a Japanese military brothel survivor..."

"A former soldier captures the brute ugliness of conflict, but the English translation feels overcooked..."

"both beautifully written, a crisp, ice-cold immersion in the glory of the wilderness..."

"Brutality, terrorism and division infuse a powerful saga..."

"detailed depiction of scientists diligently going about their work..."

" a remarkably clever and engrossing first novel..."

"Sidebottom conjures up this landscape and its people brilliantly..."

"awesome, awe-inspiring space opera..."

"It’s something more than well crafted; it’s phenomenal...."

"This exuberant debut is a swirling, multi-generational tale that shifts from the historical to the futuristic..."

"a devastating debut..."

"Clare Clark’s sixth work of historical fiction, (is) as compelling as it is expansive..."

"if you enjoyed JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, you’ll like this...."

"Katalin Street’s effect on me was so extraordinary that at first I couldn’t decide what was most extraordinary about it..."

"every sentence is a joy..."

"vivid, illuminating and unbearably tense..."

"brimful of its author’s trademark invention, charm and humanity..."

"a richly picaresque adventure..."

"[a] striking account of growing up gay in Syria..."

"Fabulous elements are mixed with everyday life and references to Brexit in an intriguing mother-daughter story about origins..."

"reassert[ing] that black readers are as capable of having broad, varied, multifaceted interests as anyone else...."

"the narrative builds like a tidal wave ..."

"reading it can often be a bit of a slog, to be frank..."

"if you enjoyed JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, you’ll like this...."

"This diary to an unborn child shows a world where the treachery of our genes has distorted society..."

"an intensely satisfying fairytale retelling..."

"but builds into a scorching, ultra-violent portrait of war’s horrors..."

"captures wonderfully how hard love can be in an unlovely world..."

"Horror, feminism and folklore collide in an unnerving story of a non-human father and daughter who work as healers..."

"playful and inventive novel..."

"original and engrossing... brilliant..."

"Zombies hunt for living flesh in an Ireland destroyed by ‘the Emergency’ … but does this debut bring anything new to the dystopian genre?..."

"this book is an artefact in itself – a tactile, mysterious and seductive one..."

"Kristen Roupenian’s sharp, powerful and uncomfortable debut collection of stories..."

"her command of her material is scintillating..."

"There is no sign of second-album syndrome: the mix of grotty provincial realism and amateur cold-case sleuthing works just as well here...."

"a masterpiece..."

" There is...real daring here, as well as empathy and imagination..."

"this flawless performance is captivating..."

"it certainly is a wild ride..."

"devilishly good..."

"a sweet romance that explores autism..."

"One admires Slimani's bravery in creating a deeply unsympathetic character ..."