Tense, gripping and with a twist you won’t see coming, Sharon Bolton is back in an explosive new standalone thriller about a woman on the run in The Split.
No matter how far you run, some secrets will always catch up with you…
The remote Antarctic island of South Georgia is about to send off its last boat of the summer – which signifies safety to resident glaciologist Felicity Lloyd.
Felicity lives in fear – fear that her ex-husband Freddie will find her, even out here. She took a job on this isolated island to hide from him, but now that he’s out of prison, having served a term for murder, she knows he won’t give up until he finds her.
But a doctor delving into the background of Felicity and Freddie’s relationship, back in Cambridge, learns that Felicity has been on the edge for a long time. Heading to South Georgia himself to try and get to her first is the only way he can think of to help her
Sharon Bolton (previously S. J. Bolton) is the critically acclaimed author of some of the most bone-chilling crime books ever written. She has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year and the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. In 2014 she won the CWA Dagger in the Library for her whole body of work.
Sharon lives near Oxford with her husband and son.
My Review:
I read The Split as part of an online readalong with 60 other members of THE Book Club on Facebook. Having read Sharon’s previous standalone thrillers I knew we would be in for a twisty ride and boy was I right!
If you haven’t read any of Sharon Bolton’s books before then you are in for a treat. Atmospheric, creepy, twisted and dark in places, The Split keeps you glued to the pages and double-guessing throughout.
Set primarily in the Antartic, on the small island of South Georgia we meet Felicity Lloyd – the resident glaciologist who is fascinated by icebergs and all things icy! However it soon becomes apparent that Felicity is also petrified of someone finding her and is in fear for her life.
The book is split in to 4 parts and the reader is taken back to Felicity’s past in the UK and slowly we begin to learn what or who has driven her to this remote, isolated island.
With several narrators and storylines running alongside each other, we meet Joe, a likeable therapist who treats Felicity when she is found dazed and confused after an apparent attack in Cambridge. Joe has his own secretive back story and has personal issues to deal with when meeting Felicity brings up a troubled past which he has to face.
Joe’s mother is also a prominent character in The Split – Delilah, a feisty and strong police detective who is looking into a spate of killings of homeless women when the attack on Felicity makes her a potential witness/victim.
There are so many elements to this story that take the reader on a dizzy ride through the freezing temperatures of the Antartic and back to the cobbled pavements of Cambridge, following Felicity on her escape from her past with glimpses of her troubled childhood and fragile mental health.
Twisty, gripping and atmospheric – another “chilling” story from Sharon Bolton.
