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Saturday, May 2, 2020

#ATBR2020 Review: The Split by Sharon Bolton @jessmapreviews

The Split 
by Sharon Bolton


Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publish Date: April 28, 2020
Kindle Edition
304 Pages
Standalone
Genre: Suspense

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.

My Review:


This one is a hard one for me to review and this is why.  I rode the STRUGGLE BUS without a seat belt for the first third of this book.  Typically I would DNF at this point, but it's Bolton... and her style is suspense with that slow build and the pay off is worth any struggle you might get at the beginning. So...…. while I did think things picked up after the first part, it unfortunately did little to keep me riveted to the pages.

I absolutely loved how atmospheric this read was.  Bolton certainly pulls you into the environment and sets the scene for the reader in her trademark wonderful way.  I think I just needed more within the plot of it to coincide with the atmosphere to really jolt me this time.  Give me pacing of the last third throughout the book, and maybe it would've been a little bit different of a read for me.

Listen, I love Bolton.  Dead Woman Walking and The Craftsman are two AMAZING reads.  I will continue to read her as she puts out books and have Daisy in Chains on my backlist.  I'm excited for whatever else she puts out and the next book in The Craftsman *ahem - waits impatiently*

Final thoughts - predictable, slow burn with a couple issues but overall an atmospheric and suspenseful read.

★★

Jessica's Review:


While this isn't my favorite book by Bolton, I still love her writing and the way she builds the suspense. Told in four parts, THE SPLIT, brings us to a remote Antarctic island with glaciologist Felicity Lloyd. There's a profession I knew absolutely nothing about and talk about being cut off from everything once the summer season ends.

Within the different parts we get new timelines - present day, 9 month prior to her being on South Georgia, 7 months later, and then back to the present day. I have to admit, it was pretty hard for me to stick with this one during part one. It felt like it was dragging and that nothing was really catching my attention, but before I set a book down I give it to a certain page count, so I continued. I'm glad I did because it really picks up in part two!

While I did figure out the reveal in part three it didn't completely ruin the reading experience. The ending really ramps up things and definitely worth pushing through at the beginning. Overall, I will continue to pick up more from Sharon Bolton and would still recommend this. I think the the fact that it took me a lot longer than usual to get into it is what brought down my rating a little bit.

3 stars

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