The Intuitionist

"Elevator inspection hardly seems the stuff of thriller fiction, but this debut brings an edge of racial tension to service-shaft skulduggery. The heroine, Lila Mae Watson, is New York's first black female elevator inspector and finds herself thrust centre-stage as the Department's rivalries take sinister turns. Whitehead knows his noir: this is slick, subtle and very stylish." --Esquire

"The story of a love affair with the steel and stone, machinery and architecture of the city. It's not a pretty love, but a working-class passion for the stench of humanity that its heroine, Lila Mae Watson, has made her own. But as always with love there is betrayal. This extraordinary novel is the first voice in a powerful chorus to come." --Walter Mosley

"Colson Whitehead's unique fiction blends the politics of race with the poetry of the city, and the result is a compelling mix." --The Times

"Highly original, brilliantly comic." --Everting Standard

"Colson Whitehead has produced a great, grown-up novel with careful prose and a proper plot. Clever man." --The Face