"Ingenious.... a superb literary suspense novel that calls to mind an earlier such debut, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.... Like the classics that inspire it, The Latinist is an inventive wedding of the elegant and the barbaric."
― Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post

"Smart and fast-paced.... [A] sparkling debut.... A contemporary classic."
― Clea Simon, Boston Globe

"Prins’s confident, engrossing debut novel.... contains more than enough twists to keep you turning the page until the very end."
― Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair

"A devilishly clever and terrifically entertaining campus novel/philological whodunnit that also happens to be a brilliantly sly riff on Ovid’s Apollo & Daphne.... A remarkably polished and skillful first novel."
― Daniel Mendelsohn

"It would have taken me a single night to read the book except that I kept pausing to pursue tantalizing nuggets of information, ranging from choliambic verse to amputation practices of yesteryear. [A] cleverly plotted adventure about an American student who falls prey to the schemes of her malevolent adviser―a tale of passion, suspense and archaeology. (That’s what I call a ‘triple threat’!)"
― Molly Young, New York Times

"Oxford University graduate student Tessa Templeton trusts her dissertation adviser, Christopher Eccles―but should she? ... The Latinist, which twists around the Daphne and Apollo myth from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, culminates with a deeply satisfying blow to the treachery of academia."
― Jason DeRose, NPR, Best Books of 2022

"An engrossing psychological thriller.... an absorbing drama about obsession, abuse of power and intimate violence."
― Sharmila Mukherjee, Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Brilliant.... Delves deep to question the blurring line between love and obsession, between a yearning for truth and a desire of power."
― Jianan Qian, The Millions

"Propulsive.... a campus novel turned psychological thriller.... The novel invites us to see Tessa as Daphne, manipulated by but ultimately escaping Eccles’s Apollo, yet it also asks us: what happens to her humanity along the way?"
― Ayelet Haimson Lushkov, Los Angeles Review of Books

"This cerebral thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat.... Prins’ analysis of the toxic relationship between advisor and student is nuanced and thoughtful.... The Latinist succeeds as both literary fiction and thriller; it is every bit as suspenseful as it is intellectually intriguing, with many of the features of A.S. Byatt’s Possession."
― Hannah Joyner, Washington Independent Review of Books

“With its ambitious young scholar, an ancient tomb, and a scheming advisor, The Latinist is a twisty and memorable new addition to the campus-novel genre. Mark Prins propels you through his tale of breakthroughs and retribution while delivering a sharp commentary on power dynamics in academia. A cunning and insightful read—I couldn’t put it down.”

—Maria Hummel, author of Still Lives and Lesson In Red

“Within the first few pages of this book, I knew I was in the hands of a masterful storyteller. The Latinist is imaginative, propulsive, and wildly intelligent. What a joy to encounter a thrilling and singular new voice in fiction.”

—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest and Good Company

“The Latinist is a novel about love and scholarship, ego and obsession, coercion and consent—a brilliant, marvelously infuriating puzzle of a book that combines the globe-trotting exploits of The DaVinci Code with the smarts and literary gifts of A.S. Byatt. A terrific debut!”

—Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement

“Brainy and deftly plotted, The Latinist enchants with its deft inversions of power, its witty poetic inventions, and its passion for languages old and new. A lovely debut.”

—Andrea Barrett, author of Archangel and The Air We Breathe

“In The Latinist, Mark Prins weaves together an extremely contemporary plot—an American academic caught up in the machinations of her advisor at Oxford—with a much older plot—the discovery of a second century Roman poet. The two thrillingly intertwine and the result is a wonderfully suspenseful novel. The Latinist is a brilliant debut.”

—Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in the Field

“The Latinist is a whip-smart tale of obsession that teeters on the knife edge of suspense and literary fiction; Mark Prins is a worthy successor to Patricia Highsmith, Donna Tartt, and Ian McEwan.”

—Alexandra Andrews, author of Who Is Maud Dixon? 

“Darkly disturbing and luminously told, The Latinist is a thriller that exposes the world of cutthroat academics. Every twist is delicious and every turn breathtaking as Mark Prins’ devilish debut revels in a scholarly world of cunning, ruthlessness and dangerous obsession. Funny, erudite and utterly absorbing, this is a merciless tale to be relished like a guilty pleasure.”

—Christopher Yates, author of Black Chalk and Grist Mill Road