Distance

This is a cracking read...Character and situation are evoked with masterful economy of language, and the taut, crisp sentences impart a hypnotic quality, as though it were a dream swiftly noted down on waking, before it fades

Independent

The novel's structure makes arresting use of a Metaphysical-like conceit linking the macrocosm and the microcosm - eternity and mortality, black holes and blank memories, dying stars and dead mothers - while the prose itself is admirably short on pretension and subtle in its emotional layering. Thubron's skill as a travel writer comes to the fore in the evocation of the earth's exotic places, dangerous heights and dark depths, the latter echoing the murky terrain of Edward's mind

Sunday Times

The writing is spare and unfussy, and in the book's closing stages the basic thriller mechanism - what horrible secret lurks in memory's locked attic? - is screwed tighter with each page

Observer