Praise for The Calling
“Neil Cross has created such a compelling character”
Idris Elba, star of Luther and The Wire
“Luther is to crime fiction what his historical counterpart was to religion. The mystery he is trying to solve is the murder of his soul in an imperfect world. Fallen from grace but struggling for salvation, Luther’s most formidable foe is himself. Gripping, taut fiction by a new master in the genre…”
Guillermo del Toro
“Cross has always dealt in darkness and been so adept at conjuring bogeymen from the catacombs of mythology that you start to see them everywhere”
Guardian (see full review)
“Cross is an amazing writer, capable of lyricism and pathos as well as some of the most traumatising scenes you’re ever likely to experience in a mainstream crime novel”
Eurocrime (see full review)
“This goes beyond the vicarious pleasure of standard crime, and into the territory inhabited by horror writers; we read because we wish to see the killer brought to justice, but more so because we cannot look away”
Book Geeks (see full review)
“Quite literally bloody brilliant”
Metro (see full review)
Podcast interview with Neil about The Calling
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Excerpt from The Calling
John Luther, a big man with a big walk, crosses the hospital car park, glistening with night rain. He strides through sliding doors into Accident and Emergency, approaches the desk and badges the Filipino triage nurse.
“I’m looking for Ian Reed?’
“That’s the police officer?” She glances at her monitor. “He’s in cubicle eighteen. Over on the far side.”
Luther marches through the waiting area, weaves through nurses in rubber clogs. He ignores the moans of the binge drinkers, the beaten women, the self-mutilators, the overdosers.
He sweeps aside the heavy curtain to cubicle 18 and there’s Ian Reed, sitting tieless on the edge of the bed.
