"Astounding vivid snapshots that somehow mimic the fractured intensity of real firefight: the delicately crafted but deceptively powerful images of each staccato chapter linger and resonate. Reading this book is like remembering war...an expertly crafted work of dark beauty and intensity." -- Patrick Hennessey * The Times *
"Wonderful - subtle and atmospheric. Foulds's prose frequently verges on poetry - with its intensity and neat turn of phrase ... impressive." -- Frances Perraudin * Observer *
"Adam Foulds writes like an angel about devilish things... The supple, sensuous beauty of his prose is bewitching... The pace and tension of a political thriller... Superb novel." -- Rebecca Abrams * Financial Times *
"Powerful and persuasive... As admirable as it is disturbing." -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *
"Adam Foulds is a young British novelist of striking talent and eclecticism. His style is first-rate, combining precision with a rich poetic imagination. He is able to do more with language, and at greater depth, than most other British novelists of his generation." -- Andrew Holgate * Sunday Times *
"The pellucid elegance of Foulds's fictional voice is entirely his own. He conjures with exhilarating assurance the sense of a postwar collapse of order so complete as to be almost voluptuous." -- Jane Shilling * Prospect *
"Ambitious and diffuse... Foulds is a master of concision and clarity, and his prose is "poetic" in the best sense: never florid or rambling, each short sentence weighed and parcelled out." -- Tom Gatti * New Statesman *
"The bleakness of Foulds's message...is not reflected in the richness of the prose or characterisation of this deep, dark, demanding tale." -- Lesley McDowell * Independent on Sunday *
"[Foulds] matches his flair for rhythm with a skilful ownership of both his prose and a complex narrative. All delivered with a minimalist restraint." -- Will Dean * Independent *
"There's much to admire in this novel. Foulds has a searching eye for detail and an apparently helpless compulsion to wring imagery from his subject." -- Tim Martin * Daily Telegraph *
"Foulds's writing invites...returning to consider each layer of the composition...there is a prismatic quality to the language which allows various levels of interpretation to be separated out and refined." -- Thea Lenarduzzi * Times Literary Supplement *
"Wonderfully enticing." -- Lucian Robinson * Literary Review *
"Individual scenes are often gripping, shocking or moving." -- John Harding * Daily Mail *
"The bloody horrors of conflict are captured with visceral aplomb in this fine, minimalist novel." * i *
"Some of the most vividly evoked battle scenes I've read - he doesn't shy away from taking risks ... chilling and touching all at the same time." -- John Preston * Evening Standard *
"Foulds has the literary intelligence to turn the commonplace on its head." -- Alberto Manguel * Guardian *
"A high-class thriller ... Foulds has a literary novelist's feel for [Sicily's] harsh beauty." * Mail on Sunday *
"Foulds' prose is superb... It reads like Catch-22 written by Evelyn Waugh." * Good Book Guide *
