Dead Woman Walking

Jessica Lane is out celebrating her sister, Isabel’s birthday with a hot-air balloon ride. As the balloon floats near the Scottish border, the passengers see a man emerge from the woods and kill a woman. At the same time, the hot-air balloon becomes unmanageable to continue flying and crashes out of the sky into the very woods where the killer is lurking. Several passengers are killed, others are left critically injured, and just one, Jessica, has the ability to walk away from the accident.

Jessica has seen the killers face and he has seen hers. As the lone survivor, she must put herself into a potentially deadly cat and mouse game with the killer. Alone and scared, Jessica decides to run to the place she things is safest, only to show more discover that even the safest of places can turn dangerous.

Bolton’s style of writing in DEAD WOMAN WALKING keeps the reader on the edge of their seat with short, action-packed chapters. Chapters alternate between the status of Jessica, her past, the killer, and the police force. Jessica is a captivating character who you desperately want to survive this tragedy and learn more about her past along the way. I was blown away by Bolton’s ability to whole-heartedly engage me with the secondary characters in the book. I wanted to learn more about Jessica’s sister, the police detective assigned to the case, and even the terrifying killer.

DEAD WOMAN WALKING just barely misses the mark of receiving a 5 star rating. I struggled to engage with the story in the beginning and thought that the early chapters describing the situation leading up to the crash and the crash itself tended to be slow. The book picks up quite a bit in the middle and through the ending, which made it difficult for me to put it down. The ending of the novel was absolutely beautiful. The plot was neatly wrapped up and you had resolution with all of the characters you met throughout the book. I loved Bolton’s writing style and fully intend to put her books on my “must read” list.

Thank you to Minotaur Books, Sharon Bolton, and NetGalley for providing me a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. show less

Dual review with Swedish first and then English!

SWEDISH REVIEW

Sharon Bolton är en av mina favoritförfattare och jag har ivrigt väntat på att denna bok skulle släppas på svenska så jag kunde få läsa den. Bolton har en otrolig förmåga att skriva thrillers som verkligen griper tag i en och fängslar en från början till slut. Dödsdömd är inget undantag.

Jag måste erkänna att inledningen, ballongfärden är en av de mest spektakulära jag har läst. Att komma på en sådan idé. Att handlingen i boken varvades mellan nutid samt tillbakablickar på Jessica och hennes systers barndom ökade mitt intresse och jag hade svårt att lägga boken ifrån mig. Jag verkligen älskar tillbakablickar som är lika fängslade som det som show more sker i nutids handlingen och speciellt gillar jag när man börjar förstå varför författaren har med tillbakablickar.

Genom boken gång så var det saker jag misstänkte och fick rätt i men Bolton visade samtidigt att hon är en mästare på att lura läsaren att tro att den har rätt för att sedan twista till handlingen rejält. Speciellt mot slutet då flera saker skedde som överraskade mig.

Dödsdömt är en superb thriller, fängslade rakt igenom och jag verkligen längtar efter nästa Sharon Bolton bok!

Tack till Modernista för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

Sharon Bolton is one of my favorite writers and I have eagerly been waiting for this book to be released in Swedish so I could read it. Bolton has an incredible ability to write thrillers that really grabs hold of your interests and captivate one from start to finish. Dead Woman Walking is no exception.

I have to admit that the introduction, with the hot-air balloon trip, is one of the most spectacular I have read. To come up with such an idea. That the story in the book was switching between the present and flashbacks to Jessica and her sister's childhood increased my interest and I found myself unable to put the book down. I really love flashbacks that are as captivating as the present story and I especially like when you begin to understand why the author has added flashbacks to the story.

Through the book, these were the things I suspected and later found that I had guess right about, but Bolton showed at the same time that she is a champion to trick the reader to believe that one has figured everything out and then turn the table on you. Especially towards the end when several things happened that surprised me.

Dead Woman Walking is a superb thriller, utterly captivating straight through and I really long for the next Sharon Bolton book!

Thanks to Modernista for the review copy! show less

Wowzers, wowzers, wowzers!!!

Well, I could just leave it there but I'd like to tell you a bit more about this fabulous book. A new Sharon Bolton is always going to be a highly coveted thing for me. Daisy in Chains was one of my top reads of 2016 and I also loved Black Little Lies. And then along came Dead Woman Walking and it's another cracking good read.

It's no secret that a hot air balloon strongly features in the story and I think that it will have put a lot of people off ever going in one. I bet those companies who do balloon rides are not best pleased with Ms Bolton! But what a unique and clever idea. In fact the whole book is unique and clever.

I'm going to be very careful not to give away any spoilers as the blurb is, I suspect, show more deliberately sparse so as to lead the reader on a journey of discovery. It's a shame so much has been given away in reviews as I think that it's a book with many mysteries and it's better to approach it with as few facts as possible.

We know we have a woman in a green jacket who somehow manages to survive the balloon crash. But why is she running? Why hasn't she come forward?

This book is an absolute triumph. It's not just the unusual storyline or the interesting characters, although they come together to produce one heck of a story. It's also the astonishing amount of plotting and weaving that the author must have undertaken to keep the suspense and momentum going. Several times I had to close the book for a minute just to try and process what I was reading and to rethink everything that I thought I understood about the story.

Despite Dead Woman Walking being a thrill from start to finish, I didn't find it was a book I could race through. I wanted to make sure I took in all the detail and sometimes reread bits more than once (which is very unusual for me). In many ways I didn't want it to end but yet I really needed to know what happened in the end.

With chapters from the present merging with chapters from the past and many twists and turns, this was a book I simply didn't want to put down. The chapters are mostly really short and this just added to the tension and the need to keep reading.

Erm....in case you didn't realise, I absolutely loved this book. show less

Jessica Lane has always depended on her big sister Bella. A childhood ridded with tragedy made them even closer until they went their separate ways. Jess was sent to live with an aunt & uncle & Bella became a nun.

Now Bella is turning 40 & Jess has the perfect gift….a view of the world beyond the abbey’s walls from a hot air balloon. What could go wrong? Oh man, where to begin….

If you’re a fan of the author, you know she is famous for sneaky knock-out punches you never saw coming. Half the fun is trying to figure it out before she drops you to your knees so I don’t want to give too much away. Suffice to say while Jess, Bella & 11 others are soaring over the Northumberland countryside, they see a nasty crime in progress. Jess is show more shocked to realize the man looks familiar. And he’s staring right at her. The last thing he needs are witnesses & by the time the dust settles, the balloon has crashed killing everyone on board. But as he picks through the bodies he only counts 12. Wait…where’s the young woman he locked eyes with?

Well, turns out the lone survivor is up a tree. When she comes to, all she knows for sure is she has to run. It’s the beginning of a deadly game of cat & mouse along the Scottish border that grows increasingly complicated once the police are involved.

The overall plot is extremely complex & there are many side stories that flesh out a large cast of characters. Two time lines run simultaneously. In alternate chapters we go back & follow Jess & Bella as they grow up. We know something terrible happened when they were young & pivotal moments are gradually revealed & woven into present day events.

Yeesh…could I be any more vague? It’s one of those books where the less you know going in, the better & I’m getting dangerously close to spoiler territory.

The story moves along at a good pace thanks to short punchy chapters told from multiple POV’s. But to be honest, I had trouble connecting with the MC’s for the first half. It’s obvious that a lot of information is being withheld & only slowly doled out as the book progresses. Because of that, I had a hard time understanding some of the characters’ actions & motivations & it prevented me from being completely invested. At about 45% a couple of big pieces fell into place, the lights went on & from that point I was all in. All of a sudden I understood some of our heroine’s dodgy decisions & it became a true page turner.

At the very end there is a twist that seems a little too neat but it’s a minor quibble after a couple of classic Bolton bombshells that will have your jaw heading south. The characters are very diverse & I particularly enjoyed Sister Belinda, an elderly nun who has watched waaay too much CSI.

The end is satisfying & evokes a range of emotions as the characters (and readers) finally get their answers. It’s not my favourite book by Ms. Bolton but she sets the bar so high, I still highly recommend it to anyone looking for a smart, intricate thriller that will mess with your head. show less

Jessica Lane treats her sister, Isabel (known to most as Sister Mary Magdalena, as her sister has been serving in a convent for many years) to a hot air balloon ride for her 40th birthday. But things go awry when Jessica--from the balloon--sees a man murder a young woman. From the ground, he spots her face clearly. Then the balloon crashes, and there is only one survivor. The man knows she can identify him, and he won't stop until the threat to his safety is eliminated. So Jessica runs, unsure of who she can trust, or where she can go, all the while knowing that her beloved sister is dead.

Wow, what a book. I don't want to say more about the plot for risk of spoilers or ruining any of the awesome "whoa" moments you encounter while show more reading this one. The story flashes back and forth in time as Jessica tells us about the day of the accident and then various pieces of the past. It's a combination of suspenseful, confusing, and spellbinding that will grip you from the very beginning. You're immediately roped in as the balloon crashes and then left wondering about the sisters' past, which is only unveiled in small nuggets.

I found this book to be extremely tense. As in, my body was actually tight while reading. I was rigidly turning pages, wondering what was going to happen next and if Jessica was going to get to safety. Bolton made me suspicious of everything and everyone--I felt like our protagonist: I could trust no one.

One of the best parts of this novel is that in addition to our "Fugitive"-esque plot, we have a fascinating police case weaved in. This really keeps the book moving as the plot continues to thicken. Not only is Jessica being pursued, but we're learning more and more about the case she was researching in the years and months before the crash. In addition, the final layer is the snippets about the sisters and their tangled family past. Somehow, Bolton twists them all together nearly effortlessly. You have to be able to keep track of when everything occurs (the chapters are just marked as "XX amount of time before" the crash), but you get used to it.

I totally guessed one of the big shocking aspects of the novel early on, but I was still second guessing myself the whole time, and it didn't diminish my enjoyment of it whatsoever, plus there was still so much that completely surprised me. To the extent that I wish I had time to go back and read it again and figure out how I missed so many things! Seriously. This book made me go "wow!" multiple times. It captivated me the entire time I was reading it. There was one final twist too many for complete plausibility at the end to get 4.5 stars, but I still highly recommend this one. A wonderful, spellbinding thriller that cements for me how much I love Bolton's work.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review; the U.S. version is available everywhere as of 09/05/2017.

You can read my review of Bolton's novel LITTLE BLACK LIES here.

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A brilliantly complex crime thriller, possibly with more and better twists at the end than Harlan Coben!! 13 people in a hot air balloon witness a murder, and the killer manages to crash the balloon; however, one of the passengers manages to escape, setting off a mad dash by the killer to eliminate the last eyewitness, who flees. Has she panicked or are there other reasons for her disappearance? Bolton does a great job, keeping everyone guessing why the murder took place, who is hiding what, and who can be trusted. The backstories are tantalizingly revealed over the course of the book. 4.5 stars.

It has been several years since I have read a book from this author. In fact, it was when the author was writing under the published name, S.J. Bolton. Now that I have finished this book, I am going back and reading prior novels as well as keeping my eyes out for the next book. No matter what name the author goes by now, the writing style has not changed. Ms. Bolton can write a really great book.

It is always a great sign when instantly, the story can grab you and keep you focused until the last sentence. The sole survivor, Jessica could have just went to the police for help but instead she turned into a woman on a mission to exact justice for herself. The way that Jessica went about it was smart. However, she was not the only one that show more showed intelligence. There is Superintendent Ajax. He did not miss details in the case.

The storyline does flash back to the past. Yet, every time that it did, a little morsel of information was given that added to the present; making the story even more intriguing. I am happy to report that reading this book is not in vain as the ending is just as strong as the beginning. Ms. Bolton brings a powerhouse story filled with multifaceted characters in Dead Woman Walking! show less