S. J. Bolton

Olive Anderson is away for the evening, eating alone in a hotel restaurant. When she returns to her table after a breather she finds another woman sitting there. At first Olive is annoyed but then when the woman tells the waiter she is Olive's wife she's more surprised than anything. What's going on?

Well, that's the question I had all the way through The Fake Wife. What on earth is going on? I mean that in the best possible way as Sharon Bolton is the mistress of twisty and complex show more storylines. I had to keep my wits about me, and to be totally honest I did sometimes lose track of what was happening, but I do love a plot that makes me think and join the dots up like this one did.

When Olive goes missing after leaving the hotel with the fake wife, Constable Garry Mizon and DS Lexy Thomas investigate the disappearance. Garry is a bit of a maverick and maybe a little out of step with the other officers and I loved him. Whilst not officially the main character, he was definitely the star of the show for me and I'd love to see him pop up in another book. His relationship with Lexy is written brilliantly and their scenes were my favourite of all.

The Fake Wife is an excellent, pacy thriller. It didn't feel run of the mill at all and the plot is intricate and exciting. I always enjoy Bolton's books and this one is no exception. show less

I first became acquainted with Sharon Bolton's talent through her series featuring Thames River Police Officer Lacey Flint. Not only did I love Flint's character, but I also loved the mysteries Bolton crafted-- and the respect for the River Thames that she fostered in me. So it's not surprising that I picked up The Craftsman. It did not disappoint.

Bolton's retrospective of Lovelady's career over thirty years gives readers a chance to see how much (or how little) things have changed in the show more police force. It also shows Lovelady's strengths as an investigator. In addition, the Lancashire village setting is a character every bit as strong as Lovelady herself. (Bolton's a winner at crafting atmospheric settings.) When the killings begin again, the powers that be want everything hushed up. And when it looks as though Lovelady might have been wrong thirty years ago, the powers that be begin to turn on her. As one of the villagers tells her, "That's the patriarchy for you. It's what men do when they're afraid and they feel helpless and out of control. They turn on the outsider, usually a woman, and they blame her for everything that's going wrong. You've become the witch, my dear!" By this time, readers are fully on Lovelady's side and want her to find the answers quickly.

There's already enough reason for Lovelady to be fully invested in finding out the truth, but when her own son goes missing, I had to smile at her reaction: "These people have no idea, no idea at all, what they unleashed when they went after my son." Now that's my kind of character-- and one of the main reasons why I enjoy Bolton's work so much. I learned that the author has written another book featuring Lovelady. It's a sure thing that I'll be reading it (The Buried). show less

First off – Sharon Bolton, or even your editors by any chance are reading this – Please don’t let this be a stand alone novel!!! My poor brain is screaming at me for more!
What an absolutely genuinely brilliant book! The plot was genius. Having read all her novels to date I knew it would be good but I admit I didn’t anticipate it to be soooo good!
I literally wanted to rush through the entire book as it threw me off in different directions then back again so the anticipation for the show more conclusion was all-consuming but at the same time I wanted to savour each chapter and drag the book out as long as possible to make it last longer!!
Consumption won out and I would have completed it in 1 sitting if I didn’t have to play taxi to my darling children or feed them!! – How inconsiderate of them to require feeding whilst I’m miles away in the in the shadow’s of Pendle Hill with one of my newly acquainted favourite female detectives, Flossy!
I can safely say even I was slightly unsettled by the parts of the book to the point of dreaming about it which is highly unlike me! The scarier and gruesome the better normal but this book involves one of my biggest phobias, buried alive, and I felt every suffocating, claustrophobic detail and it makes your imagination run riot as to how mind-blowingly horrendous that would truly be. Well it did mine anyway!
But best of all was the added layer to the story – witchcraft! If you are a complete skeptic when it comes to the occult this may just give you pause for thought. I’m not saying there are witches as in the Harry Potter/Roald Dahl witches, more along the lines of the harvesting the power of nature, spiritual and the power of the combined believe kind of witches! The more believable kind that doesn’t turn people into toads!
But even if the occult, witches thing doesn’t appeal to you don’t let that put you off as that is more of a sub plot threaded through even though it does play its part beautifully. And you can tell a lot of research has gone into the subject of the old-fashioned witch trials and rituals conducted in the past as well as in the present day.
WPC Florence Lovelady is so well written that you cant help but become invested into her life the entire way through, she is for me the standout character of the book but you do meet some really interesting, if slightly eccentric other characters along they way that stand out for their own reasons! The handsomely charming police officer Tom, whom even I thought i might have slightly fallen in love with at one point! – Sorry Roy!! (My other half, bless him!)
I know my review isn’t exactly full of the whole plot to the book but that was my intention! Make you curious enough to go read it for yourselves and not ruin it for anyone as this is a book you must defiantly need to read and discover for yourselves! So I won’t tell you what happens and to whom, I will leave the twists and turns all for yourselves and see if you get thrown off the scent a few times as I was!!!
I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this book for review purposes and I am extremely grateful to the Orion Publishing Group, Sharon Bolton, her publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity!
I preordered my copy of this book way back on the 19 Jan 2018 and when the actual hardback copy of the book arrives I will be reading it again 🙂
The Craftsman will be released in the UK on 3rd May 2018 and can be pre ordered now from Amazon UK or Amazon.com
And I can not express to you enough how much you need to read this book and how wonderfully brilliant it really is!
I will be keeping my fingers and toes crossed that there will be a follow-up to this book and I hope you will be too!! show less

This book takes great advantage of the fact that British pagan rituals are creepy as anything (see: Susan Cooper and the original Wicker Man), and that little villages that still practice these rituals are extra-creepy. Bolton uses this setting for a mystery / gothic thriller that reminded me of Andrew Taylor's The Four Last Things, which is high praise.

I realized immediately that this book was not something I should be reading at night alone in the house, and realized at the same time that show more I wasn't going to be able to put it down. I stayed up past midnight to finish it, and am glad I did - the resolution, while horrible, explains away the supernatural aspect that would really have disturbed my sleep. I figured out the culprit fairly early, but that didn't take away from the suspense, as it's mainly centered around "why" and "what the heck is going on" rather than "who".

I really liked this, and will be checking out Bolton's earlier books. show less