The Thief - Tapa dura

A masterpiece in miniature . . . wonderfully deft . . . The Thief seems destined to become a landmark thriller. (Daily Mail)

An intelligent, compelling and surprisingly moving tale, and highly recommended. (Laura Wilson The Guardian)

Nakamura's achievement is to dovetail the various elements in the most adroit of fashions, producing a mesmeric piece of crime fiction and a cold-eyed meditation on modern society in which predatory human nature is accepted as the norm. And the author's fatalistic tone is rounded off with a devastatingly surprising end. (The Independent)

Nakamura is a name to watch. (Daily Mirror)

An excellent tale...Every word is unfolding towards a cleverly-crafted conclusion. (Yorkshire Evening Post)

Japanese fiction is the new Scandicrime - and if The Thief is anything to go by, it is apparently just as dark and plentiful. A detective story told from the other side of the fence, brilliantly spun in the narrative voice of a skilled pickpocket. (The Pulse)

A meditation on what it is like to be alone and on the nature of fate and free will, and featuring a lead character who would look at home in a 19th century Russian novel.' (Big Issue)

A psychological thriller that will grip your imagination from the very first page. (Crime Ficton Lover)

The Thief is a swift piece of crime noir, surprisingly light on grit but weighted by existential dread. It's simple and utterly compelling - great beach reading for the deeply cynical. If you crossed Michael Connelly and Camus and translated it from Japanese. (Grantland)

Japanese hard-boiled detective writing... The Thief does for Japanese fiction what John Woo did for Chinese film making: bringing the darker side to a [western] audience. (Daily Beast)