The Betrayers

A work of high moral seriousness dispatched with a gripping elegance . . . Bezmozgis's story of fallen saints and redeemed outcasts is, to put it plainly, the work of a great writer

Joshua Ferris, author of 'To Rise Again at a Decent Hour'

Just when we think we've arrived at the heart of the story's moral complexity, Bezmozgis cuts again and lays bare yet another layer . . . one of the foremost writers of his generation

Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk

A compelling tale of reckoning. Bezmozgis is a smart, taut writer . . . His sentences make interesting turns; his dialogue bites; and he brings alive pre-revolutionary Crimea, with its glum post-Soviet citizens and purple Yalta onions for sale by the roadside

Financial Times

A moral thriller . . . Bezmozgis is a magician

Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Lazarus Project

Taut, fierce, forensically insightful . . . explores the frictions between goodness and kindness, public and private virtue, forgiveness and forgetting. Compulsive and profound

A D Miller, author of Snowdrops

Brilliant, deft depictions of love, of memory, of compassion - and, ultimately, despite its title, of loyalty

Edith Pearlman, author of Binocular Vision

A taut, slim book with a stately tone that makes it feel much larger . . . For [a] lively topical discussion of what it means to live a moral life, The Betrayers is just what the doctor ordered

Prospect

An impressive novel . . . Bezmozgis explores the dynamics of mercy, guilt and repentence

Sunday Times

A vivid novel . . . raising questions of integrity, compromise, identity and forgiveness

Guardian