"A dark tour de force, perfectly fashioned." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"A well-oiled machine.... Ruthless and amusing." --The New York Times Book Review

"Beautifully spare prose, wicked observation, and dark comic brio." --The Boston Globe

"At once far-reaching and tightly self-contained, a fin de siécle phantasmagoria." --New York

"Ian McEwan has proven himself to be one of Britain's most distinct voices and one of its most versatile talents.... Chilling and darkly comic." --Chicago Tribune

"By far his best work to date ... an energizing tightrope between feeling and lack of feeling, between humanity's capacity to support and save and its equally ubiquitous penchant for detachment and cruelty." --The San Diego Union-Tribune

"You won't find a more enjoyable novel ... masterfully wrought, sure to delight a reader with even half a sense of humor." --The Atlant Journal-Constitution

"McEwan writes the sort of witty repartee and scathing retort we wished we thought of in the heat of battle. On a broader scale, McEwan's portrayal of the mutually parasitic relationship between politicians and journalists is as damning as it is comic." --The Christian Science Monitor