SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016
WINNER OF THE SALTIRE FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016
WINNER VRIJ NEDERLAND THRILLER OF THE YEAR 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE LA TIMES MYSTERY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE EUROPEAN CRIME FICTION PRIZE 2017
“An astonishing piece of writing…a voice that sounds startlingly authentic.” – The Telegraph
“Brilliantly fabricated . . .This is also a novel on which Robert Louis Stevenson might have bestowed envy.” – Robert McCrum, The Observer
“This is a fiendishly readable tale that richly deserves the wider attention the Booker has brought it.” – The Guardian
“A spellbinding piece of serious new fiction … Riveting, dark and ingeniously constructed.” – Sunday Times
This film was created by filmmaker Jonathan Ley of Useful Content in association with the Scottish Book Trust:
“Burnet is a writer of great skill and authority.”– Financial Times
“The Man Booker judges got it right: this really is one of the most convincing and engrossing novels of the year.” – The Scotsman
“Macrae Burnet makes such masterly use of the narrative form that the horrifying tale he tells . . . seems plucked straight out of Scotland’s sanguinary historical archives.” – New York Times
“Dream-like, blatant, brutal and very funny . . . The story is good; even more impressive are the bravura characterisation, vibrant use of language and the offbeat, tetchy exchanges.” – The Irish Times
“Utterly compelling from the first page.” – Jon Day, Man Booker Prize judge
“A truly ingenious thriller as confusingly multi-layered as an Escher staircase” – Daily Express
“A masterful psychological thriller” – Ian Stephen, author of A Book of Death and Fish
“A gripping crime story, a deeply imagined historical novel, and gloriously written – all in one tour-de-force of a book. Stevensonian – that’s the highest praise I can give.” – Sunday Herald, Books of the Year
“Psychologically astute and convincingly grounded in its environment, this study of petty persecution and murder is a fine achievement from an ambitious and accomplished writer.” – The National
“Masterful, clever and playful . . . one of the most experimental and assured authors currently writing in Scotland” – A Novel Bookblog
“One of the most enjoyable and involving novels you’ll read this year”- Scots Wha Hae
Graeme Macrae Burnet 
I really enjoyed this novel. I kept thinking of Kilmory Oib, the abandoned hamlet in Argyll, which I visited in 2007. I imagined Culduie as set up somewhat like Kilmory Oib. A very small village with stone houses in a row. Or perhaps, black houses. One thing I really appreciated was the authenticity of detail and language. So often historical novels use modern language that just doesn’t ring true. Not this one.