Strange Sally Diamond

Critics Review

• Magnificent . . .. Liz Nugent is a treasure

  Shari Lapena

• I loved every damn second of it

  Lisa Jewell

• Surprising, moving and shockingly original

  Harlan Coben

• Strikingly well-observed and consistently surprising

  The Times

• I devoured [it] . . . It’s incredible!

  Sara Cox

• Liz Nugent has outdone herself. Twisted and twisty, dark and gripping, no one is going to forget Sally Diamond in a hurry!

  Graham Norton

• In Sally Diamond, Nugent has given us an astounding creation with a singular voice . . . an absorbing, twisty, compulsive psychological thriller with surprising humour and pathos

  Sunday Independent

• Strange indeed . . . and smart, too! Shocking, disturbing and utterly original, Strange Sally Diamond will grip you from first page to last

  Paula Hawkins

• If Liz Nugent was a clockmaker she’d be Galileo . . . She is as excellent a writer as anyone living I can think of

  Sebastian Barry

• Liz Nugent dares to go where many won’t. What a compelling storyteller she is. Always challenging. I laughed out loud only to recoil from my laughter as the story unfolded. For this is wickedly dark territory.
  And yet amidst the darkness, she allows a light to glimmer – that of a diamond’

  Sarah Winman

• Irresistibly compelling, this dark story is shocking yet endearing. A brilliant read that will suck you in

  Crime Monthly

• Twisted, shocking, and very, very, dark, Liz Nugent has created a character for the ages in Strange Sally Diamond

  Louise O'Neill

• It creeped me out (in a good way). Think Room and The Collector but add a dazzling/unique main character and encroaching dread. Terrific

  Ian Rankin

• So, so good! Sally gets under your skin and worms her way into your heart. I didn’t want it to end

  Jane Fallon

• Such a terrific read . . . [Sally is] an amazing character

  Anthony Horowitz

• Be prepared for a roller coaster ride – Sally Diamond is going to get under your skin

  Vanda Symon

• Genius . . . held me from beginning to end in one weekend

  Joe Duffy

• I absolutely devoured this book. Sally Diamond is the most fantastic character. Liz Nugent has created a dark, twisted, gripping, intriguing, heart-stopping tale full of characters who, despite the horrors they inflict, are victims in their own right

  Sinéad Moriarty

• Achingly beautiful with a cast of characters that’ll remain with you long after the final page is turned. Already one of the must-read books of 2023

  John Marrs

• An extraordinary book. Compulsive reading, with one of the most complex, intriguing and moving characters I’ve ever encountered in fiction

  Clare Mackintosh

• Vivid, pacy, taut but so very moving . . . This novel feels *different* . . . it defies categorisation

  Marian Keyes

• It’s compassionate and challenging, letting us imagine the lives that are forgotten when the news cycle moves on . . . a very special book

  Val McDermid

• Dark and mesmerising . . . one of the most compelling character-led novels I’ve ever read. [It] blew me away

  Fiona Cummins

• Totally and utterly gripped by Liz Nugent’s latest. If this isn’t made into a major Netflix series, I’ll eat my own knicker elastic. An absolute wow of a read

  Claudia Carroll

• I did not want this book to end! What a brilliant character and a wonderfully woven story. So very dark and clever and it completely broke my heart

  Susi Holliday

• I’m struggling to find words to describe how wonderful this book is. All at once it’s dark, funny, compelling, shocking and heart-breaking with perfect characters and unrelenting tension. The best book I’ve read in years. Just incredible

  Neil Lancaster

• Strange Sally Diamond peels your heart with a paring knife in one continuous paper-thin coil. Dark, disturbing, utterly compelling

  Tammy Cohen

• A brilliant, brilliant book. I don’t have the skill to give this novel the kind of praise it deserves. It’s devastating. It’s beautiful. It’s mesmerising. Clever. Surprising. Completely immersive. In total awe

  Imran Mahmood

• I LOVED IT! Strange Sally strides onto the page, fully formed and funny as hell (this is Liz, we’re talking dark funny). I was hooked from the first paragraph and then Liz toyed with me, I held my breath, gasped, laughed and cried. This is twisty, original and pitch-black. I’ll go anywhere with Liz but only in daylight

  Nikki May

• A masterpiece

  Fiona Cummins

• One of the most original, and spine-tingling books I’ve read in ages, Draws you in to the close, claustrophobic world of rural Ireland and the life of an emotionally withdrawn woman whose dark, hidden past is coming back to haunt her. Crackling with tension, this book with have you turning the pages late into the night. An absolute triumph.

  Abir Mukherjee

• Another bloody scorcher from Liz Nugent that kept me up to the wee hours to finish. Liz is one of the most intelligent, original, twisty crime writers working in the genre today

  Adrian McKinty

• Just like Sally herself, this book is absolutely unique. Dark, gripping, unsettling – it pulls off that rarest of feats, combining characters you truly care for with gasp-inducing twists and turns. Loved it!

  Ellery Lloyd

• I marvel at the imagination . . . labyrinthine . . . fiendish . . . a great piece of work

  Bill Whelan

• Dark, compelling and deeply moving

  Ruth Ware

• One of the best crime novels I’ve read in years. Sally is a character who will initially shock you, perplex you and then win your heart. Dark, intriguing, heartbreaking and surprising, if I wasn’t biting my nails, I was smiling to myself. It’s absolutely brilliant

  C L Taylor

• It has been six weeks since I read Strange Sally Diamond and still about twice a day a scene will flash before me and make my insides curdle

  Eithne Shortall

• Heartbreaking and utterly gripping on every page, clear your schedule for what might be Liz Nugent’s best – and darkest – book yet

  Catherine Ryan Howard

• The queen of Irish suspense strikes again! A book that had me compelled, wanting to read on ferociously whilst at the same time being deeply unsettled as the prospect of what might befall some of the characters next. Her best yet!

  Damien O'Meara

• Utterly compelling. Brilliant writing and memorable characters. Genuinely unputdownable

  Dervla McTiernan

• A wonderfully twisted blend of light and dark; a book I couldn’t put down, a character I won’t forget. Clever, creepy, compelling, but poignant too, Strange Sally Diamond is going to be huge, and deservedly so

  Andrea Mara

• Dark, disturbing and compelling yet so touching, too. An amazing read

  Gilly Macmillan

• No one gets into damaged people’s heads like Liz Nugent – I’d have known this was her writing even if her name had been deleted from the cover. Moving, thrilling, enraging and impossible to put down

  Erin Kelly

• I’ve loved all of Liz Nugent’s novels and this was no exception. Strange Sally Diamond is clever, compelling, chilling, disturbing and soooooo dark!

  Diane Jeffrey

• There’s something very special about all of Liz Nugent’s novels. Character-driven stories that are real and wild at the same time. This one blew me away. Unflinching, unpredictable and unputdownable. A dark masterpiece

  Will Dean

• Utterly addictive with a truly unforgettable heroine

  Sinéad Crowley

• I absolutely loved this book. Liz Nugent does not put a foot wrong. It’s tense, it’s creepy, it’s foreboding and unflinching . . . Deeply unsettling and deeply brilliant!

  Edel Coffey

• Dark, heartbreaking, funny, brilliant – Strange Sally Diamond will stay with you for well beyond the final page

  Paul Cleave

• Blown away by Strange Sally Diamond . . . Utterly chilling and impossible to put down. Her best yet!

  Andrea Carter

• What a brave, funny, disquieting, riveting book. By the end, I felt I knew Sally Diamond’s mind better than I did my own

  Louise Candlish

• As twisted as this tale is, it’s unputdownable

  Irish Country Magazine

• A compelling if harrowing read, this tragic twisted tale veers from humour to horror to heartbreak, but never fails to hold your attention until the bitter end

  The Afterword

• Dark and disturbing, you will root for Sally as she bravely steps out of her comfort zone to discover a post she can’t remember

  Heat

• It’s a cracker, you will absolutely love this and you’ll want to get it today. This book is dark as hell with lovely touches of comedy . . . so engaging

  Ryan Tubridy

• Really really fantastically new . . . a brilliant book, it’s just so good

  Ireland AM

• Occasionally a book comes along that defies classification. Strange Sally Diamond is a page-turning cross between two recent mega-hits: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Girl A. With a wonderfully drawn central protagonist and a plot that moves between the darkest shades of human malevolence and a life affirming sense of how friendship and community can bring light into the shadows, this book has all the ingredients of a long-to-be-remembered dark classic

  Vaseem Khan

• Her best yet

  Guardian

• Captivating . . . Hypnotic and terrifying, her story seeps into the imagination and leaves behind a haunting memory

  Daily Mail

• An outstanding achievement which transforms the dark psychological thriller map with both bravura and delicacy. One for the ages

  Maxim Jakubowski

• Strange Sally Diamond is a story both touching and terrifying …

  RTÉ Guide