PaniNews (UK)\"...a curious mix of high school coming-of-age drama, autofiction, thriller and horror story ... This small, gilded world is a cliché perhaps, but it is one Ellis largely invented in his better books, such as Less Than Zero and The Informers. In those novels, his style was pared-back, whereas in The Shards his prose is dense and overly detailed. The story moves slowly, building an atmosphere of dread, and Ellis packs the novel with too many period references to songs, fashion, cars ... There is a worthwhile 80s time capsule and coming-of-age tale buried in The Shards. At just under 600 pages, however, it is the over-long story of a confused teenager written by a middle-aged author who doesn’t appear to be entirely confident about what kind of novel he is writing.\
