“A wild ride from the very first page. An astonishing telling of a young man’s search for belonging, caught between a life of crime with his London gang and hopes for his academic future.” - Douglas Stuart

“It is exceptional.” - Candice Carty-Williams, author of QUEENIE

“Magnificent in its relentless intensity and searing honesty, this is a new voice arriving fully formed and raring to go.” - Booker Prize Judges, 2020

“Profound, gripping, and beautiful—Who They Was is a breathtaking and breathless feat of literary graffiti. We cannot look away.” - Daniel Magariel, author of One of the Boys

“Reveals a London that is rarely seen . . . Rich in detail and motivation and consequence . . . Striking.” - New York Times

“Gripping . . . the shock value is high, but so is the level of pathos imbued in Krauze’s writing.” - Time

“Sure and sharp . . . a beautiful, searing voice.” - New York Times

“Who They Was is a powerful, challenging, and fearless debut from an author with a story to tell and the talent to tell it. And if you let yourself get swept away by this narrator, you may just find yourself reconceptualizing your reading process.” - Chicago Review of Books

“Explosive . . . Gripping . . . Mesmerizing.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune

“I couldn’t put the book down . . . Who They Was evokes the era and mood of a world that’s crackling with possibility and danger.” - Vice

“Who They Was will make you question your assumptions about the underworld and serves a trenchant warning not to judge, and a beautiful reminder that people can change, and that a person is more than their best or worst moments. Gritty, hardboiled, and as noir as they come, but infused with a glimmer of hope.” - Crime Reads, " The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2021: Summer Reading Edition"

“Extraordinary. With its distinctive argot and moments of ultraviolence, Who They Wasis akin to A Clockwork Orange – except that instead of a well-heeled author’s fantastical brainchild, it is a hyperrealistic tale from a writer who has lived the lifestyle it describes... Who They Was is a subtle, unflinching novel that deserves to win wide acclaim for bringing this hinterland into focus.” - The Guardian

“Who They Was is by turns visceral, funny, moving and appalling… a powerful evocation of gang life… A bit like reading Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, once the reader masters the argot, they are granted access to an elusive subculture.” - The Times (London)

“Who They Was is a remarkable debut novel . . . highly recommended.” - Deadly Pleasures

“To the growing genre of drug-riddled fiction--Irvine Welsh, Denis Johnson, Joel Mowdy, Nico Walker--Krauze adds a flourish, a kind of harsh music, with his use of gang argot. Imagine Riddley Walker combined with A Clockwork Orange: . . . Possessed of a raw and honest eloquence.” - Kirkus, starred review

“The prose sizzles. . . This tour through a hard-knock life is compulsively readable.” - Publishers Weekly

“Krauze has penned a requiem for his younger self, and for young people everywhere caught between worlds of differing morality and beliefs.” - Booklist