- Published: 16 July 2019
- ISBN: 9781784706371
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 256
- RRP: $27.99
Only to Sleep
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- Published: 16 July 2019
- ISBN: 9781784706371
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 256
- RRP: $27.99
It's a joy to see Philip Marlowe lured back for one last job by the gleefully unsentimental Lawrence Osborne... If you like noir, pour yourself something cool and enjoy one final dark night of the soul
Joseph Knox, author of Sirens
Osborne has mastered Chandler’s gift for metaphor…and deepens Marlowe’s psyche as he responds to "a sad summons from the depths of his own wasted past"
Publishers Weekly
A brilliant Raymond Chandler continuation novel with an ageing Philip Marlowe. Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match
William Boyd, Guardian
An exhilarating talent...one of our finest writers
Francesca Angelini, Sunday Times
Lawrence Osborne, an accomplished writer of fiction and nonfiction, has been asked to imagine a new case for Philip Marlow and -- have a smell from the barrel, all you gunsels and able grables -- it crackles...brisk and disarming
Laura Lipman, New York Times Book Review
Osborne succeeds brilliantly... captures the dreamlike quality of the original Marlowe novels
Bruce deSilva, Daily Mail
Superb... Osborne's dialogue and description echo Chandler's wit and world-weariness with uncanny skill
Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard
The decayed grandeur of the setting, the mystery of an alluring femme fatale, an old man's tussle with his conscience and his ageing body, and a healthy number of spectacular set-pieces work a subtle magic... both a convincing Marlowe and a seedily satisfying thriller
Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times
Obviously a lover of Chandler’s work, Osborne has written a novel of excellence, with a good, slightly chaotic plot (as, often, were Chandler’s) and some wonderful atmosphere
Marcel Berlins, The Times
The tone here is elegiac, the pace relaxed. If you’ve missed Marlowe, you’ll find this a worthy addition to the canon
Barry Forshaw, Guardian
The most enjoyable book I’ve read in a long time… I enjoyed it more than the original… it’s Lawrence Osborne being just brilliant
Katie Law, Monocle Culture Show
I’m lost in admiration for what Lawrence Osborne has done here… he’s created a brilliant standalone novel… it’s a wonderful book
John Mitchinson, Monocle Culture Show
A gripping, elegantly written crime story about age and decline… with its blend of mystery and humanity it’s exactly the sort of novel [Raymond Chandler] would have been pleased to inspire
Tom Williams, Spectator
Osborne’s continuation of Raymond Chandler feels like the real thing
i
[Only to Sleep] is compelling and Osborne often captures Marlowe’s voice
Paul Connolly, Metro
A new Philip Marlowe story based on Raymond Chandler's creation. Marlowe is the man I want to be, both the book character and as played by Humphrey Bogart on film. Here is Marlowe at 72... which just happens to be my age
Terry Deary, Daily Mail
Osborne gets Chandler and his version of the enduring detective, Philip Marlowe, is the best I've read... This mystery is well plotted and plays out with a twist to satisfy the readers who figure things out for themselves but still like to be surprised… if Osborne were to write another Marlowe thriller… I will be there to read it
Nudge
A valedictory investigation, complete with sinister bad guys and a memorable femme fatale
John Williams, Mail on Sunday
Osborne's brilliant innovation is to show us Philip Marlowe as an old man in the late eighties, retired to Mexico. Marlowe's got one last job: looking for a man called Zinn
Mail on Sunday
Philip Marlowe is back in a seedily satisfying thriller on the US-Mexican border
Sunday Times
This is the best Marlowe novel I have read apart from the master's own works... it's the only one I can imagine Chandler liking
Jake Kerridge, Daily Telegraph, **Books of the Year**
Osborne does a fine job in giving Marlowe a fresh assignment in this evocative, melancholy homage… Only to Sleep is more than a detective story. It is also a meditation on ageing and how, even in the autumn of a man’s life, he still is driven to pit his skills and courage against dangerous adversaries
Adam LeBor, Financial Times
A highly distinctive writer who quickly becomes addictive… I loved it
John Gray, New Statesman, **Books of the Year**
Splendid
Mail on Sunday