The Dante Club

Not since Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose has a literary novel of such scholarly density enjoyed international success on quite such a massive scale... The momentum of his plot is irresistible...a most inventive page-turner

Stephanie Merritt, Observer

A brilliant literary novel which manages to be academic without being dull, combining as it does scholarly density with page-turning suspense

The Sunday Tribune

There are some great twists in the plot and the chase is genuinely thrilling...an unusually arresting piece of crime fiction

Toby Clements, Daily Telegraph

Brilliant and erudite thriller... Pearl is a young Dante expert...this is his first book and he knows how to sustain a narrative. Perfect for reading before the flickering fire

Word Magazine

Matthew Pearl is the new shining star of literary fiction - a heady, inventive, and immensely gifted author. With intricate plots, classical themes, and erudite characters...what's not to love?

Dan Brown

Working on a vast canvas, Mr. Pearl keeps this mystery sparkling with erudition...with this captivating brain teaser as his debut novel, seems also to have put his life's work on the line in melding scholarship with mystery. He does justice to both

Janet Maslin, New York Times

Audacious and captivating.

Adrienne Miller, Esquire

Pearl's scholarly background is evident in the erudite detail he weaves into his fictional narrative, adding texture and complexity

Times Literary Supplement

Ingenious... Sparkling with erudition

New York Times

A fascinating, erudite and highly entertaining account of a remarkable moment in American literary history

Iain Pears

Ingenious

New Yorker

Audacious and captivating...truly admirable

Esquire

Startlingly inventive

Washington Post

With intricate plots, classical themes, and erudite characters...what's not to love?

Dan Brown, author of Inferno and The Da Vinci Code

There are some great twists in the plot and the chase is genuinely thrilling...an unusually arresting piece of crime fiction

Toby Clements, Daily Telegraph

The momentum of his plot is irresistible...a most inventive page-turner

Stephanie Merritt, Observer