The hallmarks of Val McDermid or Ian Rankin: it's dark, violent, noirish * The Herald * Crime fiction's next big thing * The Sunday Telegraph * Literary sensation...James' overnight success has drawn comparisons with the meteoric rise of EL James and her Fifty Shades of Grey series * Daily Mail * Fifty Shades of Hay * The Times * Oswald is among the leaders in the new batch of excellent Scottish crime writers * Daily Mail * The new Ian Rankin * Daily Record * Classy, occasionally brutal, and with the odd suggestion of the supernatural, this will doubtless be another deserved hit. Oswald's writing is in a class above most in this genre and McLean - his rich, idealistic and all-too-human detective - is the perfect counterpoint to Ian Rankin's cynical Inspector Rebus * Daily Express *