Into the Web

“Taut and tense … takes readers on an unexpectedly exciting ride as it races toward its climax. It’s worth noting how elegantly Cook ends this novel. No spoilers here. Just a tip that this one gets better and better the deeper it goes.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle,
Holiday Book Review Selection 2002

“An impressive performance.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“Gripping … evoking the feel of 1950s dramas like
The Asphalt Jungle
and
12 Angry Men.
It ticks along relentlessly to a surprising conclusion.”

—Wall Street Journal

“Brilliant! A melancholy, beautiful and-above all-suspenseful meditation on guilt and the nature of time.”

—Time Out New York

“Dark and enthralling … Cook’s complicated book is a keeper.”

—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Cook masterfully weaves the present with the past … until the killer’s identity is finally revealed in a surprising twist.”

—
Tampa Tribune

“Cook knows how to build a fascinating and complex plot and fill it full of compelling people.”

—Rocky Mountain News

“There are plenty of twists and turns … with suspense building throughout to a really surprise ending.”

—The Oklahoman

“All of Cook’s novels are master works. He is one of the best in the suspense genre.”

—
The Daily American

“A dark and chilling suspense tale … a complex psychological drama of the interplay between hunter and prey.”

—BookPage

“Compelling … down to the cleverly hatched, melancholy ending, Cook again takes readers down a dark, treacherous road into the heart of human fallibility and struggle.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Irresistible.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“An incredibly intense read, culminating in a true shocker of an ending.”

—
Booklist

“A noir masterwork, worthy of the great Cornell Wool-rich … well worth your time and patience. The story will hold you in its grip of despair until the last page, when the tiniest glimpse of light may be discerned.”

—Romantic Times

“Bittersweet and haunting … mesmerizing.”

—
Alfred Hitchock Mystery Magazine

“With its passionate characters, compelling family-driven narrative and surprising conclusion,
Places
presents irrefutable evidence that it sometimes pays not to be afraid of the dark.”

—
People

“A serpentine tale of long-buried secrets leading to murder and betrayal … Reminiscent of John Fowles’
The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
”

—
Orlando Sentinel

“[The story] is swept along by Cook’s artistry, his insights into broken people, his austere imagery of the barren landscapes that attract them.”

—
New York Times

“Cook writes very well; his tone is sad, even foreboding, yet almost elegiac, as he weaves …an intricate fabric of tragedy.”

—
Boston Globe

“A strong, suspenseful story … Cook accomplishes what he consistently does so superbly: He sets the tone, creates characters, [and] engages the reader.”

—
Houston Chronicle

“Skillfully blends flashbacks with current action and his deftly drawn characters invoke both empathy and pity. In sum, a splendid performance by a gifted artist.”

—San Diego Union-Tribune

“A brooding excursion into the depths of the human heart, full of surprises and dread, with a stunning ending.”

—Portsmouth Herald

“[The] tale rush[es] toward its climax with all the doomy energy of its opening image: a swift-moving current pulling a helpless child toward rapids, a waterfall, and a watery grave.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Complex, multi-layered and haunting,
Places in the Dark
is as chilling as freezing rain, a novel that will get under your skin and stay there. This is a story that will make you a fan of Cook forever.”

—
Romantic Times

“Each mystery in his puzzle box of a book becomes another mystery entirely, drawing the reader into more and more complex assessments of motive and guilt until the
unthinkable seems inescapable…. Observing his main characters as they run amuck has the dread fascination of watching a slow-motion train wreck.”

—Booklist
(starred review)

“[A] once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Cook writes powerful layered novels with original heroes who choose to walk down paths that quietly, inexorably, lead them to ever darker places in the human heart, and ultimately to breathtaking and revelatory surprises at their journeys’ ends.”

—
Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Probably no other suspense writer takes readers as deeply into the heart of darkness as Cook…. As always, Cook’s prose is precise, his storytelling slow and deliberate. This is one powerful story.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“Although it’s easy to miss the very real clues that Cook drops so artfully into the story, there’s no ignoring his savage imagery, or escaping the airless chambers of his disturbing imagination.”

—The New York Times Book Review

“An excellent psychological thriller … Fans of psychological thrillers-and especially fans of this Edgar Award-winning author-will flock to this title.”

—
Booklist

“Haunting … The denouement took me by surprise and disturbed me for days.”

—
Los Angeles Times

“An enthralling tale that cannily uses elements of the Gothic thriller.”

—
Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Hypnotic prose and fresh scenarios set [Cook’s] suspense-ful fiction apart … If you’ve not yet been haunted by a Thomas Cook novel, now is a fine time to start.”

—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A beautifully composed tale with enough plot twists to satisfy even fans who have learned to expect surprises from this talented author … [Cook] deliver[s] another indelibly haunting tale that once again demonstrates that he is among the best in the business.”

—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Cook teases readers throughout the narrative with tantalizing bits from Graves’s own past … but he also saves the best—and most shocking revelations—until practically the last page.”

—
The Orlando Sentinel

“This is not a novel for the faint of heart…. Cook is a master of subtlety as he weaves the past and present in and out of his own story.”

—
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“A seductive book.”

—
New York Times Book Review

“Cook is a master, precise and merciless, at showing the slow-motion shattering of families and relationships….
The Chatham School Affair
ranks with his best.”

—Chicago Tribune

“Intelligent … compassionate … surprising.”

—
Boston Sunday Globe

“Cook uses the genre to open a window onto the human condition…. Literate, compelling … Events accelerate
with increasing force, but few readers will be prepared for the surprise that awaits at the novel’s end.”

—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Powerful, engaging, and deeply moving … highly recommended.”

—
Booklist

“A remarkable novel of memory and buried secrets.”

—
The Armchair Detective

“Thomas Cook is an artist, a philosopher, and a magician; his story is spellbinding.”

—
The Drood Review of Mystery

“Swift, thoughtful and plausible … As in nearly all good crime fiction, the moral and practical complications … expand like ripples in a pond….
The Chatham School Affair
is the tragic, lyrically told story of a sordid scandal, the town’s revenge on the perpetrators, and one man’s long-delayed journey toward redemption.”

—
Boston Herald

“Moody, eloquent.”

—
San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle

“Cook’s portrait of a small—and ultimately small-minded—town is a skillful one. And just when you think the puzzle is complete, Cook artfully presents yet another piece—rearranging all your expectations.”

—Orlando Sentinel

“In [his] previous novels … Cook has shown himself to be a writer of poetic gifts, constantly pushing against the presumed limits of crime fiction…. In this fine, new book, he has gone to the edge, and survived triumphantly.”

—Charles Champlin,
Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Gripping southern drama, with its byzantine family trees, old wives’ tales, and overheated memories.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“The greatest mystery novel of the past ten years.”

—Otto Penzler

“Haunting, lyrical … a mesmerizing tale of love and betrayal.”

—
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

“Intense … impossible to put down.”

—
Rendezvous

“Cook has crafted a novel of stunning power, with a climax that is so unexpected the reader may think he has cheated. But there is no cheating here, only excellent storytelling.”

—
Booklist

“Cook’s writing is distinguished by finely cadenced prose, superior narrative skills, and the author’s patient love for the doomed characters who are the object of his Attention…. Highly recommended.”

—
Library Journal
(starred review)

“Cook builds a family portrait in which violence seems both impossible and inevitable. One of [Mortal
Memory’s]
greatest accomplishments is the way it defies expectations … surprising and devastating.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“Haunting … Don’t pick this up unless you’ve got time to read it through … because you will do so whether you plan to or not.”

—
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine