Proof of Life

'...This is the type of rule-breaking that separates the good from the great. Proof of Life places Campbell firmly in the latter camp. Ambitious, entirely authentic, and razor-sharp in its observations, it is a superb addition to the Scottish crime canon.'

Fearlessly plotted . . . This slow-burn thriller exploits the classics of the genre - secrets, lies and misdirection - but does it so skilfully that the mechanics are camouflaged amid the emotional entanglements of lives lived . . . Campbell, an accomplished wordsmith, excels here. You can touch and smell her Glasgow November dreichness, but always her images are unexpected, her prose tight, and her narrative unflinching . . . The denouement is head-behind-cushion nightmarish, brilliantly done.

It is the sensitive and occasionally comic depictcion of Anna - surely one of the most fully realised characters in modern crime fiction - that really makes this novel work.

'With lashings of black humour and wry observation, [Proof of Life] deftly captures the essence of Glasgow itself, the ebb and flow of the city's energy, its epic patter and inimitable swagger.'

'Fearlessly plotted... This slow-burn thriller exploits the classics of the genre - secrets, lies and misdirection - but does it so skilfully that the mechanics are camouflaged amid the emotional entanglements of lives lived... Campbell, an accomplished wordsmith, excels here. You can touch and smell her Glasgow November dreichness, but always her images are unexpected, her prose tight, and her narrative unflinching. As a former Strathclyde Police officer, she has no illusions about the pressures and compromises, the dogged determination and unlooked-for heroism, of the job. This is no police procedural - her officers are raw and real... The denouement is head-behind-cushion nightmarish, brilliantly done.'

This is the type of rule-breaking that separates the good from the great. PROOF OF LIFE places Campbell firmly in the latter camp. Ambitious, entirely authentic, and razor-sharp in its observations, it is a superb addition to the Scottish crime canon.

With lashings of black humour and wry observation, [PROOF OF LIFE] deftly captures the essence of Glasgow itself, the ebb and flow of the city's energy, its epic patter and inimitable swagger.

Karen Campbell deserves to be admitted to membership of what's becoming a very large club - Scottish crime writers of excellence.