"Throwing together a radical feminist version of Charles Manson, late '60s craziness in communes in Notting Hill Gate and Scottish hills, the psychological repercussions of semi-acknowledged illegitimacy, the jaded and confused visions of the inveterate movie-goer and bisexual assassin, Emma Tennant has created a novel of quite extraordinary power ... one which anyone interested in the possibilities of the novel should read."

• Time Out "Effortlessly scores by virtue of the poetic intensity with which it is written ... the black magic comes right off the page and bathes you in its menacing breath ... the humour is richly black."
• Angela Carter, The Guardian "A highly interesting novel ... the nightmarish ambiguities of the later scenes, with their vivid evocations of mingled real and unreal environments, and their acrid infusion of suspense, really grip the reader. The Bad Sister has a jagged, shifting, cinematic quality which is of its time."
• Times Literary Supplement "The creation of a genuinely powerful and original imagination. Emma Tennant is capable at one moment of needle-sharp observation of the minutiae of present-day life ... and moments later of opening out into powerful visions of alien landscapes and scenes."
• Tribune "The Bad Sister combines the excitement of a thriller with some very good writing—and it gives us cause to reflect on the nature of the 'reality' we inhabit."
• Martin Seymour Smith, Financial Times