WINNER of the 2010 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel!
WINNER of the 2011 Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer!
Chosen as #2 Release of 2010 by the Speculative Scotsman
Emotionally Fourteen’s Horror Release of the Year
One of Zone SF Reviewer David Hebblethwaite’s top books of 2010
One of Booksquawk’s best books of 2010
Honorable mention of 2010 at Rose Fox’s Genreville
Praise for Mr. Shivers
‘We’re barely three months into 2010 and already I think I’ve found my candidate for book of the year. Mr Shivers, Robert Jackson Bennett’s debut novel is both a dark, brutal journey through America during the Great Depression and an examination of what drives men to commit terrible deeds. Thought provoking and powerful, Mr Shivers is one of those books which stand head and shoulders above the standard horror / fantasy fare.’
Set during the Great Depression and reading like a collaboration between Stephen King and John Steinbeck, this remarkably assured first novel relates a good man’s desperate travels through the ruins of the American heartland on the trail of his child’s murderer… Bennett makes dark fantasy feel like gritty realism, achieving a rare laconic eloquence that will captivate horror readers hungry for new voices.
Publishers Weekly
‘Mr Shivers is a startling debut, a deft amalgam of thriller, cerebral horror and American gothic, written with a stark and artful simplicity that complements the examination of struggling humanity pushed to its limits.’
‘Bennett’s novel is as riveting in its slow-burning accumulation of tension as it is atmospheric in its period evocation … The economical, persuasive characterisation and the sudden shocking outbursts of horror owe something to [Stephen] King, the master of contemporary horror, but the brilliantly realised picture of dustbowl America is firmly in the [John] Steinbeck tradition. It’s not stretching a point to say that, at times, Bennett’s stinging but hauntingly poetic prose aspires to the quality of that author’s best work … This terrifying odyssey through a blighted period in American history will stick in readers’ minds for a long time.’
‘A ravishing debut … Supremely chilling, it never loses its grip in its journey to the edge of the apocalypse.’
‘Bennett is clearly a writer to watch’
‘From start to bloody conclusion, the tension slowly crescendos to a climax of high violence. This bloody, uncomfortable read will be relished by any fan of early Stephen King or Peter Straub.’
Waterstone’s Books Quarterly
‘Bennett is a clear name to watch in the field’
‘Bennett’s prose grips like a chokehold… This is an impressive, menacing debut that marks Bennett as a new talent to expect great things from.’
‘[Robert Jackson Bennett] has a gift for the macabre’
SFX
‘Bennett’s tale is a powerful and singular one… with a great evocation of the John Steinbeck era… a powerful story…’
‘Wow. I loved this book… in fact, in casting about for something I didn’t like; I’m rather lost for words. I loved the writing, which is stylish and understated… the dialogue is absolutely wonderful with a great deal said in admirably few words… I think Orbit have a hit on their hands.’
‘With a book this good, I don’t mind stumbling blindly into the world of clichéd endorsements: if you only read one book this month, make it Mr Shivers… A powerful, haunting, Gothic western that is the best new thing published for a long time. Unmissable. 10/10’
