An impressive [read], thanks to Tate's almost frightening powers of description. It has been a long time since I read a novel that so viscerally evoked a feeling of place... it's the America of Nabokov's Lolita on acid... With its plot twists, grotesque horror and cartoonish villains, Brutes is a novel that refuses to be reasonable. That's part of its unsettling charm... An astonishing debut that will burrow under your skin. Sunday Times