David Vann - Dirt

Financial Times“A twisted family saga...” The last pages of Dirt are lit by a berserk energy. It’s as if Vann has pulled off the trick of putting us inside a Hitchcock maniac. When you finally put this book down, break the spell and walk away, you’re left with a deeper resonance...

Publishers Weekly“There’s a kind of sadistic integrity...” Vann’s evocation in readers of great annoyance followed by dawning horror at his main character is smartly disorienting, allowing him to plumb sickening depths by believable degrees...

SFGate“Something unexpected, and unexpectedly stunning, as well...” There's a farcical quality to some of this familial aggression, but it's an uneasy farce - structured, always, by an exquisite precision of malice that is often painful to read as it unfolds...

Economist“A novel of violence, destruction and ruin...” There is no salvation. And yet Mr Vann’s soaring writing carries it forward - a reminder of the beauty that can grace even the beastliest things...

Guardian“A queasy but compelling mix...” Vann's gift – his quest, almost – is a willingness to explore the unimaginable, the unthinkable, on the page. He is the real thing – a mature, risk-taking and fantastically adept fiction writer who dares go to the darkest places...