"Mind-bending. . . . Part horror, part science fiction." –
The New York Times Book Review
"A book that should carry a health warning: read alone at your own risk." –
Monocle "Riveting." –
Entertainment Weekly "Clever, exquisitely terrifying. . . . [Kehlmann] makes entertainment out of metaphysics." –
Harper's Magazine "A masterclass in economical storytelling, meticulously attentive prose and imaginative agility. Kehlmann creates narrative complexity with the deftest of strokes." –
The Literary Review "[A] master novelist. . . . [Kehlmann] has a rare ability to make complex ideas the stuff of warm, light fiction." –
The Times Literary Supplement "A beautifully crafted exercise in terror. . . . [Kehlmann] creates a sense of existential dread that transcends the typical ghost story. . . . A book to keep you up at night." –
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[Kehlmann] is in total control. . . . He and his translator Ross Benjamin squeeze an enormous amount of readerly anxiety out of very few carefully placed words. . . . This is a story about a marriage in trouble, and about a seemingly impossible desire to protect a young child from threatening reality, but also about something else, something unavoidable and powerful but terrifyingly vague. . . . This little book . . . has a funny way with dimensions–its effects are amplified, and they linger." –
The Spectator "A masterful experiment about the limits of literary realism." –
The Brooklyn Rail "Wry, eerie and increasingly terrifying. . . . Kehlmann is a formidable observer with a flair for articulating dysfunctional behaviour. . . . An entertaining Everyman's postmodernist Gothic guaranteed to unsettle." –
The Irish Times "A quick, fun, breathless read. It's inventive and scary–and a delightful take on the writing life." –
The Huffington Post "Chilling. . . . Kehlmann makes deft use of horror staples and offers commentary on the distinction between art and life." –
Publishers Weekly "A taut and scary novella." –
The Sunday Times (London)
