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Critical Praise

R.J. Ellory's A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS starts out like a moody Chopin piano etude and quickly takes on the size and force of a symphony by Grieg --- at times poignant and somber, at others plunging recklessly into the deep to consider many of the darkest and most dangerous caverns of the human heart, only to break through to the surface again and surge toward a shattering --- and perfectly realized --- crescendo. Ellory's style is original and complex, the story quite harrowing, and the book will stay with you long after you've quietly closed the end-pages and stared for a while into the complicated darkness beyond your own bedroom window.

—David Stone

Roger Jon Ellory has a way of concealing the shocks in his text so that you stumble upon them, as if by accident, with some of the horror that you might feel if you too discovered the dismembered body of an eight-year-old girl. Each jolt strikes painfully, and the reader will seek, utterly riveted, this masochistic beating right to the end of the book.... This is compelling, unputdownable thriller writing of the very highest orde

The Guardian

Ellory is a powerful talent, (A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS) seems set to launch him into the stratosphere of crime writers

Independent on Sunday

This isn't your standard shock and bore serial killer novel. It's an impassioned story of a man's life told in Ellory's distinctive voice, and it confirms his place in the top flight of crime writing.

Sunday Telegraph

There aren’t nearly enough beautifully written novels, that are also great mysteries. Like THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and SMILLA’S SENSE OF SNOW, A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS is one of them.

—James Patterson

A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS is a beautiful and haunting book. This is a tour de force from R.J. Ellory.

—Michael Connelly

R.J. Ellory is a uniquely gifted, passionate, and powerful writer, and the quality of his prose ---every word, every sentence --- lifts A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS far above genre.

—Alan Furst

A mesmerizing tale whose intrigue will pull you from one page to the next without pause, casting you into the gloom of dread and the shadow of grief until you reach the climatic end. R.J. Ellory's remarkable talent for probing the unknown establishes him as the master of the genre. The perfect author to read late into the night.

—Clive Cussler

What a discovery! I read A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS breathlessly as this is one of those rare authors who is able to combine a poetic literary style with a stunning mystery story. R.J. Ellory will quickly rank with the best crime writers working today.

—Otto Penzler

Roger Ellory is a class act. If you like James Lee Burke or James Sallis, he's a writer who speaks your language.

—Val McDermid

A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS is a riveting mystery, as compelling as it is moving. Joseph is destined to become one of those seminal characters of literature. Here is a book that restores not only a quiet belief in the redemptive power of literature, but is a novel that you will read over and over again.

—Ken Bruen