"It is the sort of novel that transcends ordinary limitations, and that may be read as a primary discourse in political philosophy. But this observation should frighten no one from the book, for it is written with such dramatic power, with such warmth of feeling, and with such persuasive simplicity that it is as absorbing as melodrama. It is a far cry from the bleak topical commentaries that sometimes pass as novels." "Koestler's object was to expose the reality which lay behind the facade of the great Russian state trials of the 1930s, and he did it so effectively that to thousands, even millions, of people, Communism and the Communist Party...have never looked the same again." "A remarkable book, a grimly fascinating interpretation of the logic of the Russian Revolution, indeed of all revolutionary dictatorships, and at the same time a tense and subtly intellectualized drama..." "Brilliant as this book is as a novel, and a piece of literature, it is probably most valuable as an interpretation of the Moscow 'confessions' by someone with an inner knowledge of totalitarian methods." "A tour de force, both terrifying and claustrophobic, an intellectual thriller." "Communism ditched me by turning into Stalinism."