'Totally absorbing.' HOT STARS (OK MAGAZINE) - 27 March - 2 April '[Akunin's} skill is such that he has fashioned a gripping page-turner from the improbabilities and extravagances of his plot. LEVIATHAN look set to create yet more fans for this most adaptable of heroes.' WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY 'This is a book you want to gallop through, pitting your wits against the author, desperate to find out who did it. At the same time, the accomplished writing (translated by Andrew Bromfield) is well worth lingering over.' DAILY MAIL (2.4.04) 'Ingenious, diverting, sometimes brilliant take on an Agatha Christie-style whodunit...Escapist, exciting and altogether innocent. A lively, refreshing read.' -- Philip Oakes LITERARY REVIEW (April 2004) 'Erast Fandorin has been called a 19th century James Bond, and there are similarities...but Fandorin is more human than Bond, and Akunin more witty than Fleming. His writing is spare and the plot's place in time and space is achieved through dialogue, internal monologue and mores rather than lavish description.' TELEGRAPH (3.4.04) 'Completely gripping.' -- Joan Smith SUNDAY TIMES (4.4.04) 'Akunin...seems able to carry off whatever detective genre he turns to, and makes no bones about incorporating his diverse knowledge into his books' plots. The result is a barnstorming success.' -- Omer Ali TIME OUT (7-14 April) 'Akunin writes in a slightly arch style that is note quite a pastiche of 19th century prose; the translator, Andrew Bromfield, does a superb job of finding an equivalent voice in English. The style is particularly good for expressing the narrator's faintly ironic tone as he describes the mishaps that befall his naive hero...Akunin's neatly crafted novels offer intellectual entertainment with no further aim. No wonder they are selling by the tonne outside the metro.' -- Robin Buss FINANCIAL TIMES MAGAZINE (10.4.04) 'Peppered with eccentric and well-drawn characters, this is a delighful and original read.' GOOD BOOK GUIDE (1.4.04) 'Akunin is an outstanding novelist...Fandorin is a beautifully drawn character who more than lives up to comparisons with Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes...The characters are delightful and you can imagine them in a Woody Allen version of an Agatha Christie novel...Akunin's work is gloriously tongue-in-cheek but seriously edge-of-your-seat at the same time.' -- Viv Groskop EXPRESS (16.4.04) '[an] elegant pastiche...Akunin blends Murder on the Orient express with And Then There Were None and adds a dash of Study in Scarlet.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY (18.4.04) 'Such a charming language and an otherwise romantic setting ultimately highlights the shocking nature of the murders, and the switch between a comedy of manners and brutal murder makes this a thoroughly enjoyable read.' -- Rebecca Pearson INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY (18.4.04) 'a delightful and absurd tale of murder and chicanery set entirely on the world's largest steamship, sailing between Egypt and India...Akunin succeeds in both the humour and the mystery...Clever and fun.' -- Marcel Berlins TIMES (17.4.04) 'another entertaining spoof from the best-selling Russian author.' -- Susanna Yager SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (25.4.04) 'Akunin writes like a hybrid of Caleb Carr, Agatha Christie and Elizabeth Peters...The atmospheric detail gives depth to the twisting plot...' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (USA) 'splendid fun and a positive tonic, with sly nods towards Sherlock Holmes and Wilkie Collins' classic, The Moonstone.' -- Mike Ripley BIRMINGHAM POST (24.4.04) 'witty, thrilling, and wholly unputdownable.' -- TJ Binyon EVENING STANDARD (4.5.04) 'He writes with such intelligence, humour and panache.' -- Andrew Taylor INDEPENDENT (22.4.04) 'The plot affectionately mirrors many of Agatha Christie's novels and raises chuckles of recognition along the way. Every Fandorin novel pays homage to a different strand of crime and mystery writing; I can't wait for his versions of Chandler and Hammett.' -- Maxim Jakubowski GUARDIAN (8.5.04) 'hugely enjoyable.' -- Suzanne Hudson NEW BOOKS MAG (MAY/JUNE '04)
