Not only a brilliantly fluent storyteller but also an ironic commentator on the world scene * Harpers & Queen *
Shute was a brilliant storyteller and a terrific example for any writer -- Gerald Seymour * Daily Express *
As a novelist, Nevil Shute goes from strength to strength, experimenting, drawing out life as he sees it, and setting it before us in ordered pattern...The Chequer Board is a notable novel * Punch *
Blessed with an unaffected poplar touch, Shute has come close to the sentiment of his readers not only through a very genuine quality of sympathy but also through a singular ease and liveliness of topical invention...he is a storyteller of an uncommonly veracious stamp, whose performance is more remarkable that his quiet and refreshing modest airs might suggest * Times Literary Supplement *
A happy knack endows this story with a character who is slightly greater than life-size. It proves once again how the ordinary, the average, the season-ticket holder sitting next to you, can still, in the hands of an expert, furnish the very stuff of literature -- John Pudney * Daily Express *
