Donna And The Fatman - Reviews
Dennis Cooper, Will Self, Bret Easton Ellis, Tarantino: all inhabit a twilight world of vulgar motivation and degraded aspiration. But Zahavi, pursuing a strange literary destiny in the crowded streets of London, is one of the few women willing to wade into these murky waters. She is an original, a literary outlaw - Jason Cowley, The Times
She writes like Harold Pinter with attitude: slyly mannered, darkly ironic, gleefully menacing - The Bookseller
It's as if Quentin Tarantino was on a writing sabbatical in North London. Stacked with smart dialogue and a vivid sense of location, it is a virtually ready-made offering to that tiny corpus of Cockney gangster movies that can hold their own against the Hollywood model - Gerald Jacobs, Independent on Sunday
When the Fatman demands sexual favours, and Donna runs off with his money instead, you just know he'll send his boys round - Mail on Sunday
Zahavi writes brilliantly. The Fatman is a terrifying, seedy gangster, and when rootless, amoral Donna wanders into his life, it's obvioius that a terrible fate is in store for her - Options
Shock queen Helen Zahavi is back with attitude. Her first book, Dirty Weekend, upset critics with its narrative of violent revenge against misogynistic males, but it appealed to a wide audience. Zahavi fans will be delighted that the new book, Donna and the Fatman, is as fast-moving and packed with gruesome descriptions as the one which made her notorious - The Big Issue
Although Zahavi knows how to spin a knuckle-tightening story, it is her surprising manipulation of language that makes this a truly rewarding read. Her real skill is in writing tense, deadpan dialogue that reveals the values, desires and emotional strategies of her characters...Donna and the Fatman is as memorable as Graham Greene's 1938 classic, Brighton Rock - Deborah Levy, author 'The Unloved'
If Muriel Spark had just started her writing career, she might well have written Donna and the Fatman. Zahavi has done a wonderful job with this story about a sadistic gang leader finding his nemesis - Peter Longcake, Dillons
Lurid atmosphere, cracking dialogue and dark humour. Slick, unsettling and wholly original - Lottie Moggach, author 'Kiss Me First'