A highly distinctive writer who quickly becomes addictive... I loved it -- John Gray * New Statesman, **Books of the Year** *
Splendid * Mail on Sunday *
A brilliant Raymond Chandler continuation novel with an ageing Philip Marlowe. Osborne and Chandler are a perfect match -- William Boyd * Guardian *
It's a joy to see Philip Marlowe lured back for one last job by the gleefully unsentimental Lawrence Osborne... If you like noir, pour yourself something cool and enjoy one final dark night of the soul -- Joseph Knox, author of Sirens
The decayed grandeur of the setting, the mystery of an alluring femme fatale, an old man's tussle with his conscience and his ageing body, and a healthy number of spectacular set-pieces work a subtle magic... both a convincing Marlowe and a seedily satisfying thriller -- Andrew Holgate * Sunday Times *
This is the best Marlowe novel I have read apart from the master's own works... it's the only one I can imagine Chandler liking -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph, **Books of the Year** *
Osborne succeeds brilliantly... captures the dreamlike quality of the original Marlowe novels -- Bruce deSilva * Daily Mail *
Superb... Osborne's dialogue and description echo Chandler's wit and world-weariness with uncanny skill -- Mark Sanderson * Evening Standard *
An exhilarating talent...one of our finest writers -- Francesca Angelini * Sunday Times *
Lawrence Osborne, an accomplished writer of fiction and nonfiction, has been asked to imagine a new case for Philip Marlow and -- have a smell from the barrel, all you gunsels and able grables -- it crackles...brisk and disarming -- Laura Lipman * New York Times Book Review *
The tone here is elegiac, the pace relaxed. If you've missed Marlowe, you'll find this a worthy addition to the canon -- Barry Forshaw * Guardian *
Philip Marlowe is back in a seedily satisfying thriller on the US-Mexican border * Sunday Times *
Osborne does a fine job in giving Marlowe a fresh assignment in this evocative, melancholy homage... Only to Sleep is more than a detective story. It is also a meditation on ageing and how, even in the autumn of a man's life, he still is driven to pit his skills and courage against dangerous adversaries -- Adam LeBor * Financial Times *
Osborne's brilliant innovation is to show us Philip Marlowe as an old man in the late eighties, retired to Mexico. Marlowe's got one last job: looking for a man called Zinn * Mail on Sunday *
A gripping, elegantly written crime story about age and decline... with its blend of mystery and humanity it's exactly the sort of novel [Raymond Chandler] would have been pleased to inspire -- Tom Williams * Spectator *
Obviously a lover of Chandler's work, Osborne has written a novel of excellence, with a good, slightly chaotic plot (as, often, were Chandler's) and some wonderful atmosphere -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *
The most enjoyable book I've read in a long time... I enjoyed it more than the original... it's Lawrence Osborne being just brilliant -- Katie Law * Monocle Culture Show *
I'm lost in admiration for what Lawrence Osborne has done here... he's created a brilliant standalone novel... it's a wonderful book -- John Mitchinson * Monocle Culture Show *
A new Philip Marlowe story based on Raymond Chandler's creation. Marlowe is the man I want to be, both the book character and as played by Humphrey Bogart on film. Here is Marlowe at 72... which just happens to be my age -- Terry Deary * Daily Mail *
A valedictory investigation, complete with sinister bad guys and a memorable femme fatale -- John Williams * Mail on Sunday *
