Elusive, strange and complex . . . an emotionally and philosophically rich existential private eye novel . . . Slowly, with great subtlety and skill, Cowan . . . explores the private battles that rage silently in every home * William Sutcliffe, Guardian *
Gripping. We are mesmerised by its smoothness of plot and prose, perfectly designed to make the odd and the irregular stand out with intensity . . . Cowan has succeeded in making the ordinary incredibly engrossing - something that many try to do but few do well. * Scotland on Sunday *
Its willed restraint and implicit solitude are wonderfully sustained . . . a masterclass in intimate understatement which proves that the brain is indeed our most erotic organ and the imagination its muse. * Scotsman *
An acutely observed, subtle exploration of how much (or little) people really know about those they should know best . . . supremely well crafted: the descriptions are strikingly visual, the milieu wickedly credible . . . quietly moving, keenly insightful, a story with a provincial English backdrop that is also an understated meditation on the authenticity of existence. * Sunday Business Post *
[Cowan] paints a patient, exact and quietly powerful portrait of lives slowly being stripped of their secrets and delusions. * Sunday Times *