The Blue Room

A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness

Independent

One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories

Guardian

A double crime, a dark provincial scandal, and a dreadful sort of triumph . . . presented with shattering power

San Francisco Chronicle

A wondrous achievement, brief, inexorable, pared to, and agonisingly close to, the bone, and utterly compelling; in short, a true and luminous work of art.

Irish Times, John Banville