Customer Reviews
simply wonderful - By: S. Firth, 06 Aug 2008 
Well i just finished this book this evening, & i cant stop thinking about it! And had it not been for my beloved Richard & Judy i probably wouldnt of ever heard of R.J Ellory or this amazing book so big thanks to them!
Ok, so my usual books are chick-lit but i have more serious books on my shelf for when i feel like been serious! i've had this book a while & always chose my chick-lit over it. but then i decided i needed something heavier. so i picked this out from my shelf not really expecting much, even though i'd seen the good reviews. As soon as i started reading i instantly thought it was a mistake to have bought this book, the first chapter wasnt brilliant & i thought it would be one of those pretentious, awful books where you get the feeling the author doesnt care whether you understand it or not. But i stayed with it, & by the second chapter things improved greatly, & it just got better & better from there.
Throught the book i grew so fond of Joseph & felt great sympathy for him. He is such a great central character. And i even felt like i knew the town & the peoplein it such was the great descriptive writing from R.J Ellory. And i was so excited to get to the end & find out who the killer was, & even though i was sure i knew who it was, i got it wrong & had the shock of my life. such a great twist. Infact, there were many great, unexpected things that happenedin this book. The book ended very neatly too, & although i would of liked the killer to have been tortured a bit more,in hindsight, it was ok because the answers to all the questions i hadin my head throught the book were answered for me.
I think of the first chapter, & how i wanted to put the book down forever, & i wonder how many people actually did do that, well if you did then go back & pick it up & keep reading!! i promise it will be worth it. A truly great book, i also have "city of lies" by the author, i'm hoping that's just as good too!
OUTSTANDING! - By: Jo, 06 Aug 2008 Anyone who likes To Kill A Mockingbird, READ THIS BOOK. I read it whilstin Italy & quickly became absorbed with the life of protagonist Joseph Vaughan, much like that of Dillin To Kill a Mockingbird. It's so refreshing to read a book that discusses the consequences of a killers actions on society rather than the killer themselves. I would even go as far as to suggest that the identity of the killer is not the fundamental aspect of the book. Either way, this book is undoubtedly the best book I have read this year.
beautifully bleak - By: Chapter One, 03 Aug 2008 Finished this magnificent book today & the word that comes to mind is 'wow'.
It is certainly not an 'easy' or 'light' read & during the first few pages I almost gave up. Something made me carry on though, & by about page 20 I knew it was probably going to be something special.
To me, is it a smorgasboard of many other great novels. I was interested to read that another reviewer compared it to 'The Secret History - a comparison I would definetly agree within terms of quality & style of writing (SH is a benchmark for me against which all novels are measured).
It is, at times, very depressing BUT don't let that put you off. No pain, no gain.
I had kind of guessed the twist about 3/4 through the book.
Brilliant
Excellent novel - guaranteed lost hours and late nights! - By: R. Clarke, 01 Aug 2008 If I could, I'd give this novel six stars. It has everything you could want: beautiful but accessible prose, great characterisation, taut plotting & a satisfying denouement.
Fantastic! - By: DS, 30 Jul 2008 I am obviously not the only one to think this book is great! Thanks to Richard & Judy I would normally not pick up a book like this. I am so glad that I did. The charactersin this novel are complex & are the foundations of this novel. Ellory has some of the styles of Capote & Kingin the language & delivery of a desolate landscape & evil actions that propel the main protagonist Vaughn. In saying that Ellory is unique & the suspense kept me enthralled. I can really see this becoming a movie but till then I would seriously consider reading this book!
