Fresh, fast-paced, compulsive and clever (Nick Hornby)A gripping adventure, and a fascinating jigsaw (The Times)A white-knuckle ride into the heart of darkness (Sunday Times)Lord of the Flies and The Magus lurk at the roots of this novel, but Garland reshapes them with panache into something terrifyingly new (Mail on Sunday)A mesmerising, knuckle-clenching read (Maxim)Winningly compulsive, brilliantly conceived (Q)Garland's prose is stunningly lucid. Addictive and compelling (Spectator)A highly confident debut...this incisive novel may well come to be regarded as a defining text in the history of imaginative travel writing (Daily Telegraph)Alex Garland is writing a brand new kind of adventure novel. His style is dangerously simple yet altogether captivating (Douglas Rushkoff)An exceptional first novel...An action novel that provokes subtle responses, The Beach takes in ideas about man's inevitable progress from noble savage to social breakdown (and) the related tradition of nature versus art (The Times Literary Supplement)Garland has written a powerful and frighteningly believable novel (Company)Precise and speedy prose, with good old-fashioned romantic adventure spiced up with deadpan authorial irony (Guardian)

A 20th anniversary edition of this million copy bestseller, with a new introduction by John Niven: a classic story of paradise found - and lost.

Richard lands in East Asia in search of an earthly utopia. In Thailand, he is given a map promising an unknown island, a secluded beach - and a new way of life. What Richard finds when he gets there is breathtaking: more extraordinary, more frightening than his wildest dreams.

But how long can paradise survive here on Earth? And what lengths will Richard go to in order to save it?