Macdonald's spare, controlled narration, built for action and speed, conveys the world through which the action moves and gives it meaning, [bringing] scene and character, however swiftly, before the eye without a blur. Eudora Welty, The New York Times Book Review Archer-Macdonald are working together at their peak, piecing together a most modern American tragedy, making literature out of the thriller form, gazing more clearly the ever into the future as it rolls through the smog. Newsweek Ross Macdonald must be ranked high amongst American thriller-writers. Times Literary Supplement