Dennis Lehane's speciality is the fast-paced gangster thriller that's also a deeply felt novel. His latest, about a Boston criminal, doesn't disappoint on either count... I guarantee that all you'll be able to do is keep on turning the pages. The prose crackles with Chandleresque jokes, the narrative never flags and there's even a genuinely heart-stopping love story. In addition to all that, the book beautifully evokes the entire era of early Thirties Prohibition America Reader's Digest This is a book that should put [Lehane's] name right up there where it belongs, right up there alongside Doctorow and Dreiser Scotland on Sunday This is noir with added value: Lehane is terrific on family ties and at conveying the buzz of a city powered by immigrant labour of often dubious legality Guardian History is merely a backdrop in a story that seeks just to be exciting, sexy and atmospheric. The author's trademark combination of dark deeds, graceful pose and sassy dialogue ensures it succeeds Sunday Times Lehane's tough, muscular prose captures the era well; and his dialogue brings to life the inhabitants of its underworld Spectator This is not just brilliant period crime writing but brilliant writing full stop Independent The crime writer's crime writer; with a spare, stark edge to his work that lifts it into the truly great class... The gangster world is superbly evoked and the story is as tight and powerful as the trigger on a Thompson sub-machine Daily Mail Sophisticated, literary and barbed enough... it makes this book a sentence-by-sentence pleasure. You are in the hands of an expert. And you'll know it Scotsman Amasterpiece by the crime writer's crime writer, this is the finest novel of the year with a spare, stark edge that cuts into your very soul ... No one captures menace quite as elegantly as Lehane, nor understands the mob better ... Boardwalk Empire on speed Daily Mail
