Lee Child’s verdict...

Easily the best yet in a really terrific series.

David Morrell says...

It’s impossible not to be swept up in the memorable, compelling world that is David Hewson’s specialty.

Nic Costa and team step outside Italy for the first time…

In the gorgeous grounds of Rome’s Villa Borghese park the glitterati of the movie world are gathered for a world premiere. A legendary Italian movie director has come out of retirement to create a blockbuster based on Dante’s Inferno. But, as Nic Costa and his colleagues attempt to guard the precious collection of historic artefacts attached to the event, the premiere is disrupted by tragedy and a horrific murder.

Is a disgruntled admirer of Dante taking his revenge on the cast of the movie? Or are more mundane motives, the dubious financing of the film through criminal connections, to blame? Before Costa and crew have the chance to find out they are removed from the inquiry and find themselves sidelined by the Carabinieri.

But when the movie premiere shifts to California and the iconic surroundings of the Marina in San Francisco his inspector, Leo Falcone, manages to bring them along to work on the investigation from the sidelines. And as life begins to resemble art, Costa and his friends come to realise that the inspiration behind these crimes may be more recent than the Carabinieri suspect. Resonating between Dante’s famous classic and Hitchcock’s masterpiece movie Vertigo, Dante’s Numbers (The Dante Killings in the US) is an elegant, original thriller destined to break new ground — and has already won the praise of some of the most famous authors in the world.

What some other authors think of Dante’s Numbers

Jeffery Deaver

The return of Nic Costa is a true cause for celebration! Dante’s Numbers is a literate, page-turning tale that finds our hero—one of the most appealing in crime fiction — zipping between two of the most iconic cities in the world: Rome and San Francisco. Hewson is a daunting talent — a writer who is a master stylist, who respects the audience’s intelligence and who effortlessly keeps the thrills coming a mile a minute.

Linwood Barclay, author of No Time for Goodbye

This is a tour de force from one of the most original thriller writers around. With Dante-inspired villainy, Hitchcock obsessives, and an abundance of imaginative twists and turns David Hewson pulls out all the stops. Unmissable.

Douglas Preston, author of The Monster of Florence and Blasphemy

One of my all-time favorite fictional detectives is David Hewson’s Nic Costa, and Dante’s Numbers brings Nic for the first time to American shores. From the opening scene of murder and mayhem at a movie premiere to the final, mind-blowing surprise, Dante’s Numbers is an elegant, clever, and terrifying tale of intrigue and murder involving Dante’s first circle of Hell and Hitchcock’s classic film Vertigo. An outstanding novel.

Steve Berry, best-selling author of The Venetian Betrayal

David Hewson is one of the finest thriller writers working today. A born stylist. Dante’s Numbers is politically wise, multi-dimensional, and psychologically intuitive. Action braids suspense on nearly every page, creating a reader’s delight from beginning to end. A superb effort by a master storyteller.

David Morrell, author of First Blood and Creepers

Dante’s Numbers is action-packed suspense at its smartest and most gripping. Transplanting Nic Costa and his fellow Italian detectives to the dizzying world of Hitchcock’s Vertigo is a master stroke from a brilliant author. It’s impossible not to be swept up in the memorable, compelling world that is David Hewson’s specialty.

David Corbett, Edgar-nominated author of Blood of Paradise

David Hewson is a marvel, writing riveting suspense with a wistful grace. Dante’s Numbers might very well be his best, a white-knuckle joy that’s smart, poignant, and acidly fun as Hollywood meets Dante via Italy’s notoriously over-the-top slasher films, known as the gialli. I got caught up in the story instantly, learning much, laughing too, all the way to the heart-pounding, heart-wrenching, heartbreaking end. If only all page-turners were this intelligent, witty and human.