The Pledge

To add to the excellence of the novel's narrative, the reader also gets Dürrenmatt's provocative thinking on the flaws of crime fiction and police behaviour * The Times *
It's a book everybody should read... Not only do you get a cracking murder mystery story... you get an immensely thought-provoking pair of bookends which really undermine and make you question your assumptions about crime writing and about writing generally -- Jonathan Coe * Radio 4's Take Four Books *
Literary in style, haunting in mood * Guardian *
A chilling study of an obsession that defies all reason * Daily Mail *
An absolute corker... One of the most ingenious and surprising detective novels you'll read * Mr Hyde *
As terse and assured in construction as the best of Simenon * Spectator *
Powerful and compelling, even as Dr H uses the story to undermine all the basic principles of crime fiction * Sunday Times Crime Club *
Dürrenmatt's most famous novel... jaw-dropping * Crime Review *
Hats off to Pushkin Press for re-publishing this gem, and for planning to delight us with more of Dürrenmatt's tense, melancholy and incredibly seductive writing * Thriller Books Journal *
Unusual and arresting... Dürrenmatt is an accomplished and dramatic storyteller, and he has tucked into his short narrative some tantalizing moral questions * Atlantic Monthly *
Spellbinding * Washington Post *
This spare yet potent book which conjures the most striking magic, entrancing with its chills, shocks, artful delights, and even surprise lyrical wonders * The National *
Now that Pushkin Vertigo have granted it a beautiful paperback release (with Dürrenmatt's three other novels on the horizon) it's the perfect time to (re)discover this probing, unforgettable mystery. There are precious few groundbreaking crime novels but this is one. And one of the very best * Hits the Fan (blog) *
Short, gripping and a compelling read * Col's Criminal Library (blog) *