"Intricately plotted, beautifully written ... a page-turner told in prose so beautiful you'll want to read some passages repeatedly."

- The Boston Globe

"Swirling, elegant noir ... crossover fiction of a very high order ... rolls forward with haunting, sultry exoticism ... toward the best kind of denouement under these circumstances: a half inconclusive one."

- The New York Times

"Christine Falls offers a subtler, deeper satisfaction than just finding out whodunit ... What's most disconcerting of all about Christine Falls is the atmosphere of moral claustrophobia enveloping it."

- The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Measured, taut and transfixing ... Black's plotting is methodical, detailed and always gripping. You can smell the smoke in Quirke's favorite pub and touch the cool walls in a Boston convent he later visits."

- USA Today

"Though the pages do fly by, this is one thriller to read and savor more for its evocative whole than for any blockbuster payoff."

- The Washington Post

"A dark, ambitious crime novel full of cliffhanger chapter endings, barroom brawls, even long-night trucker hauls ... The story is an explosive one ... Swift, perceptive and unguiltily satisfying."

- Newsday

"A fascinating book, strong on mood and description."

- The Oregonian

"The prose is terrific ... strong and lyrical ... readers who enjoy a meaty, textured tale from a skillful novelist will be well satisfied."

- The Seattle Times

"Banville's first foray into crime fiction is a happy one: the genre rules keep the plot whirring along smoothly, and Banville's trademark prose helps illuminate his noir world."

- The Christian Science Monitor

"A stubborn chill pervades the air, hangovers are a national pastime and chimneys seem always to be 'dribbling smoke' ... Masterful atmospherics."

- The Los Angeles Times

"Succeeds sensationally ... An absorbing plot, beguiling characters and evocative settings. [Banville] may well be the first author to add to his Man Booker a Golden Dagger."

- The Times (London)

"Crime fiction rarely lives up to the term 'literary,' but [Christine Falls] is the happy exception."

- Entertainment Weekly

"The heavy, dark settings ... feel authentic down to the grain of the furniture."

- Bloomberg News

"A triumph of classical fiction - finely, carefully made, not a single false move or wrong word. Why oh why don't they write books like this anymore?"

- Alan Furst

"The characters are finely drawn, fully fleshed out, and, as characters are wont to do, behave in ways that are shocking."

- New York Sun

"[The plot is] as thick and dark as a bottomless pint of Guinness ... a plot as tautly constructed as any by Raymond Chandler [or] James Ellroy."

- Fort Worth Star Telegram

"[Black] presents his story with the narrative patience and the gorgeously rendered detail of an especially well done middlebrow domestic drama."

- South Florida Sun Sentinel

"A good story, and gorgeous writing."

- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"An accessible, classic detective story, its confident manner and psychological portrait of a conflicted, broken narrator set it apart from mass-market fare ... A solid, dark tale."

- Library Journal

"[An] expertly paced debut ... keeps divulging surprises to the last page so that the reader is simultaneously shocked and satisfied."

- Publishers Weekly

"Deeply atmospheric ... Nearly all the characters are painstakingly detailed and developed."

- Booklist

"A brilliant suspense novel, one that fairly shouts for a sequel."

- Bookpage