The Great Swindle

A big, swirling tale that itself reads like a 19th-century novel ... thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world (Sarah Lyall New York Times)

The vast sweep of the novel and its array of extraordinary secondary characters have attracted comparisons with the works of Balzac. Moving, angry, intelligent - and compulsive (Marcel Berlins The Times)

This book is thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world ... an irresistible story (Patricia Wall New York Times)

Exceptionally powerful examination of the aftermath of war and of the people whose lives were washed away in its wake (Nick Rennison Sunday Times)

Lemaitre's novel is a rare synthesis of the tragic and the comic - a masterclass in nail-biting suspense ... Frank Wynne is a superb translator who captures the rude exuberance of the original French (Edward Wilson Independent)

Lemaitre's deadpan ironic tone is beautifully caught by his regular translator Frank Wynne. A kind of Ealing comedy with a bruised but still beating heart, this is the most purely enjoyable book I've read this year (Jake Kerridge Sunday Express)

A fast-paced tale, filled with twists and turns, following a mischievous, disillusioned view of post-war France (Astrid de Larminat Figaro)

A masterly epic of post-war France, where impostures triumph and capitalists grow rich from the ruins (Macha Séry Le Monde)

You feel the author's indignation ... Who really profits from war? Crooks, the vengeful and frauds: The Great Swindle is political as much as it is picaresque (Christine Ferniot Télérama)

A dark, burning requiem delivered in glorious prose that is as tough and effective as a punch in the face ... Read this riotous novel: it will leave you stunned (François Busnel Express)