Press & Reviews

Read reviews about our gripping crime fiction, thrillers and mysteries, detective books, crime stories and page-turning books.

Gianrico Carofiglio - The Cold Summer

The Cold Summer reviews

Publishers Weekly: "This standalone is sure to win Carofiglio, a former prosecutor who specialized in organized crime, a wider U.S. audience."

Kirkus: " Carofiglio’s engaging main character Fenoglio is a sensitive, polished figure who has managed to keep his idealism intact in a career meant to break it; he is as comfortable philosophizing as he is citing the public safety code."

 

REVIEWS First Prehistoric Serial Killer and other stories

REVIEWS First Prehistoric Serial Killer and other stories

IAN RANKIN TWEET: This hugely imaginative collection of (mostly crime) (mostly Barcelona-based) short stories comes out in August. The ‘Connections’ sequence in particular is terrific.

Very highly recommended – for those with a taste for murder, the surreal, and possibly – the stories of Saki. Euro Crime 

This subtly inventive story collection from Spanish author Solana (The Sound of One Hand Killing) floats effortlessly from whimsy to horror, from exploring the inner life of ghosts to witnessing a murderous gang fight. Publishers Weekly

 

Pol Koutsakis - Baby Blue

Reviews Baby Blue

The streets of Athens prove as mean as those of Raymond Chandler’s L.A. in Koutsakis’s brilliant second noir featuring Stratos Gazis...While the plotting matches James Ellroy’s best work, Koutsakis does a better job of making the twists flow organically from the characters. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Like Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter Morgan and Andrew Vachss’ Burke, Athenian “problem solver” Stratos Gazis kills only those he feels deserve execution. An absorbing entry in this must-read hard-boiled series, which offers thoughtful characterization and a noir take on Athens’ postcrisis underbelly. BOOKLIST

Harri Nykanen - Holy Ceremony

Holy Ceremony Reviews

The solution to the subsequent murders that Kafka eventually learns of is particularly clever, and Nykänen is careful to plant the clues to whodunit and why fairly. Readers will look forward to Kafka’s next outing. Publishers Weekly

...intricate in its layers upon layers of corruption, murder, suspect cops and public officials, and seriously dirty secrets. Kirkus

Nicolas Verdan - The Greek Wall

Reviews The Greek Wall

A political debate familiar to American and European readers undergirds Swiss author Verdan’s stellar U.S. debutPublishers Weekly

A tight mystery that doubles as an informative political thriller. Terrific atmosphere. The Times

Evangelos's dilemmas and the strength and weaknesses of his character are vividly brought to life.  But it is the sheer poetic beauty of the writing (despite the sleaziness and brutality of the storyline), and the haunting descriptions of the landscape, that remain solidly in the mind. Shotsmag

 

 

Robin Ravilious - James Ravilious: A Life

Reviews James Ravilious: A Life

The Recent Past displays beautifully reproduced photographs by Ravilious, while his widow's biography James Ravilious: A Life is a moving tribute which details the technical as well as aesthetic side of his work. The Spectator
Robin Ravilious - James Ravilious: A Life

Reviews The Recent Past

The Recent Past displays beautifully reproduced photographs by Ravilious, while his widow's biography is a moving tribute which details the technical as well as aesthetic side of his work. The Spectator

Elegiac, surrealistically clear and revelatory of a colossal and unsuspected talent. The Telegraph

Ravilious succeeded triumphantly...he was able to record life there as it was, unposed and unselfconscious, capturing its sense of community, its humour, its hardships and eccentricities. Country Life

 tender, intimate portrait of a rapidly vanishing existence. The Times

James Wolff - Beside the Syrian Sea

Reviews Beside the Syrian Sea

TIMES: Book of the MonthThat James Wolff is a pseudonym should come as no surprise to the reader of Beside the Syrian Sea, his superb debut. The writer has obviously been somewhere or something in the spy business. This emerges not so much in the main storyline, but in the fascinating surrounding details.

“A dazzling thriller for our time...gritty and diamond-sharp.” JAMES NAUGHTIE

“This important book...brought home to me the complex and shifting situation in the Middle East and the danger of looking for simple responses or explanations. I loved the character of Jonas - the quiet man pushed by his own guilt into becoming a hero.” ANN CLEEVES

 

 

Quentin Mouron - Three Drops of Blood and a Cloud of Cocaine

Reviews Three Drops of Blood and a Cloud of Cocaine

Mouron makes his English-language debut with a knife-edged noir set in Watertown, Mass., which combines spare prose with a compelling murder mystery plot.
Leonardo Padura - Heretics

Heretics Reviews

The intensive, richly detailed narrative is at once a portrait of Daniel’s Cuban upbringing, a meditation on anti-Semitism, and an intriguing account of the painting. Highly recommended.   Library Journal

This is a major novel and a testament to Padura’s stature as a writer. Booklist

 

Ben Pastor - The Road to Ithaca

Road to Ithaca Reviews

...Philip Kerr fans will still find this depiction of an honest German cop working under adverse wartime circumstances intriguing... 

 

Pol Koutsakis - Athenian Blues

Athenian Blues Reviews

This is a tasty gulp-down thriller where there are more plot-twists than courses in a hot and spicy Greek meze...