RaveThe Independent (UK)Blood Kin doesn\'t aspire to the intense psychological anxieties mustered by similar explorations of collusion and oppression, such as Thomas Kenneally\'s Saddam cipher, The Tyrant\'s Novel. The trauma of physical violence is kept off stage whilst Dovey strategically deploys snapshots of family heritage. The effect is tense and dramatic, as though the claustrophobic pressures of a country house murder mystery, in which all are implicated by motive or connection, had been transplanted on to the political instability of Garcia Màrquez\'s revolutionary landscapes. Dovey draws strong, vivid characters and her keen eye for signposting detail (\'a faint pattern of salt on his cheeks\' revealing night tears) gives a sensual counterpoint to the ruthless logic of her subtly heralded dénouement.
Gary Shteyngart
PositiveThe IndependentOn the surface, Shteyngart\'s plausible technology shares the slick, familiar usage of William Gibson\'s cyberpunk future ... But while Shteyngart might share Gibson\'s enthusiasm for sifting streams of data as a plot-driver, his cultural context is altogether darker ... Some of this provocative novel\'s strongest scenes sustain this snatched intimacy in defiance of the debased, wired world around.
