The Spoiler

Richly comic and entertaining

Tatler

Tightly written and pacy. The central characters are believable, the setting exact, and one would defy the reader not to feel contained, held, by the professionalism and dexterity of the author

Hilary Fannin, Irish Times

Masterful... a strikingly entertaining and accomplished novel

Sarah Sands, Evening Standard

A wily, insightful and engaging book about human nature... McAfee has an excellent eye for detail and a wry comic touch... The Spoiler has a cracking plot, alive with twists and turns and meaning

Sarah Vine, The Times

A wonderfully entertaining comedy of manners about the dying days of Fleet Street and the cult of celebrity... The Spoiler is a clever, literary romp with flashes of Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding... A darkly, deliciously witty read

Independent on Sunday

Extremely funny and sharply observed... Seizes the noble tradition of the Journalism Novel and rings some delightful changes on it

Independent

Spritely satire

Sunday Times

A clever satire, set in 1997, about the last days of Fleet Street... Darkly entertaining

Red

[A] satirical debut about the newspaper business

Stand Point

A wide-ranging, energetic satire on what used to be called Fleet Street

Times Literary Supplement

When high meets lowbrow, comedy ensues, but McAfee's novel is not without serious intent. She deftly peels away her characters' pretensions, forcing readers to examine their own prejudices.

Scotsman

Brilliant ... It grips from the first with verbal polish and razor-sharp satire

Mail on Sunday

Sparky tragicomedy

Daily Mail

Highly entertaining

Guardian

Darkly funny but also a very timely read

Stylist

The Spoiler - set in the halcyon days before phone hacking - was one of the funniest and sharpest fleet street novels in years.

David Robson, Sunday Telegraph Seven

Marvellous satire...the novel is cunningly plotted and satisfyingly nuanced

Independent on Sunday

If the peek into the world of newspaper journalism afforded by the Leveson inquiry has you gasping for more, then this timely paperback release is perfect...a fiendishly funny (and frighteningly plausible) world of fiddled expenses and suspect tactics

Shortlist

McAfee - herself a former journalist - evokes two distinct eras and styles of journalism, that of fearless frontline reportage and that of its successor: style-oriented, celebrity-obsessed features coverage... This is a pacy read that leaves little doubt in the reader's mind that one school of journalism deserves more mourning than the other

Alex Clark, Guardian

A cutting, hilarious portrait of British print journalism... An entirely human story that brilliantly recreates and analyses the recent past

The Times

McAfee is a superlative writer and plotter...McAfee has produced a locus classicus of Fleet Street

Rachel Johnson, The Lady

Those gripped by the escalating News International scandal might enjoy the latest newspaper novel Annalena McAfee's The Spoiler

Glasgow Herald

authentic, entertaining and draws on her own experience as an arts journalist

Daily Express

Thoroughly enjoyable behind-the-scenes expose of an ambitious celebrity journalist's attempt to nail the scoop of her life

Metro

This is the paperback edition. The hardback appeared before the News Corporation bosses were dragged into the Commons. McAfee was either very prescient or close to the action, holding her fictional hacks to account for printing false stories gleaned from disreputable sources

Julia Fernandez, Time Out