Definitely a thrilling ride for those who love thrillers! I would highly recommend this book to those who want that hold your breathe and turn pages to find out the truth and then ponder and ponder if you got what you were suppose to! I highly recommend!

I loved this book, the story and characters are quite complexed but the book is something you can get your teeth into. Two sisters have had very bad experiences growing up but they make a pact never to tell but can they keep to their word.

This book deals with every parents nightmare as a daughter gets ro ‘know’ someone on the internet and agrees to meet him.....only it isent who she thinks and she has been catfished, the story is based on how, why and what happens before and this meet and the shocks when it becomes apparent who is involved

The book took a while to settle, by that I mean it took me a while to understand what was happening and with who as it goes back and forth between the past and the present with various characters and only later in the book did I think back and think ‘ahhhhhhhhh ok I see’

A lot of the book deals with Facebook and other social media sites and any user of these will find those parts fascinating and some of the detail gone into is obviously down to some great research

I found the title of the book although relates to part of the book not the best title for the main premise of the book and something to relate to social media would have IMO been better and more in line with the book

The story is well written and dark, scary, intense and will make you think......it’s also what and does happen in real life

In this book there are delicate subject matters covered that made at times uncomfortable reading but were handled sensitivity

‘The Pact’ is a good book it is also an interesting unnerving read with twists and turns and some impact making characters

Do not, I repeat do not, read this book unless you want to disappear in to the pages and not emerge until the end. I found myself turning faster and faster as I had to find out what was going on. Rosie feels like she is underwater. Her mother Toni has a pact with her sister Bridget about something that happened to them 30 years beforehand. Rosie is remembering parts of her life to date as she floats around the seabed in her opalescent world. She was a budding actress in her local drama group and then following a play an agent approached her. She was a typical teenager, “like” being every other word and a world of snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. When a friend of a friend “likes” her her world begins to change. Oh what a clever idea and so very well done. I really didn’t see the who’s or where’s (as it should be). I think this should be on the school curriculum in secondary schools. They know all about it but this would really bring it home. “It”? I am not going to give anything away as I don’t want to spoil it for you. If you are a parent read it.Again we have all seen the headlines but this brings things home so very cleverly. A stunning read and one that will stay with me for a very long time (and I’m not a parent!). Read and learn. One brilliant book.
(rest oflinks on publication day)

I'm sad to say I really struggled to get into this book. There's an intriguing premise, and it did pique my interest for a while, but I kept struggling with the voices and found it hard to stay interested.

Wow! This book was more than I ever thought it was going to be! thrilling read, this book has twists and turns galore and I devoured it in one sitting! I haven’t had the pleasure of reading this Author’s work but that will change right now. You HAVE to read this book if you enjoy a good mystery thriller!

The Pact is one of those books that made me lose sleep at night, because I couldn't put it down! Sisters Toni and Bridget have a dark secret, and Bridge is committed to keeping Toni and her daughter, Rosie, safe at all costs. After Toni's husband was tragically killed, Bridge even puts her own life aside to move in with Toni and pick up the pieces.

Both Bridge and Toni are overprotective of Rosie, who feels stifled and, like any typical teenager, wants to act out a little. We know almost immediately that something terrible has happened to Rosie, who is lying in a hospital bed, and through the narratives of all three women, we travel both back and forth in time to find out what happened, and why.

I really liked this book. There is a great deal of twists, and the characters are very strongly realized. I especially loved Bridge, who will literally do anything to keep her family safe.

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for an ARC.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My second book by the author and I enjoyed this one more than Mother.

I liked that it was a bit different in writing style as the book begins by describing the thoughts and memories of Rosie from a first person perspective.

Add to that the teaser of the original pact and where that fits in.

Then we have a shift in the book as we follow Rosie’s online relationship with a boy.

I really enjoyed this book and it only dropped a star due to the implausibility of the key storyline and why the perpetrator went through a year of planning when they could have so easily done the deed much sooner....vague sorry but don’t want to give spoilers!!

The Pact is one of the best psychological thrillers I have recently read. The main characters form a tight family unit often referred to as a triangle throughout the story as they deal with such issues as sexual abuse and the dangers of social media. It is well written and fast paced. I had one problem with this story-I couldn’t stop reading it -much to the annoyance of family members. So set time aside and enjoy this intriguing story! It is well worth it!

A good well written psychological thriller, I read this book over two night while I was on holiday and so many times it made me want to call my daughter who was back home just to see if she was ok. The book is very hard to review without given to much away so all I will say is pick it up and make sure you have a whole day to read it because you won't want to put it down.
Very well written on a subject thats very close to every parents nightmare. The characters are strong and true to life. I cannot wait for the next book by this author.

Growing up Toni had it rough things weren't going right for her and her sister, so they made a pact that they would never let each other be in those situations again. The two sisters Toni and Bridget had secrets that they were to never mention again, secrets from their past about their abusive childhood. Years go by and the girls grow up and now Toni has a daughter Rosie. Her only goal is to make sure that Rosie grows up and doesn't have to go through the same things that she went through. However something happens and Rosie gets hurt and is fighting for her life in a hospital bed. I really enjoyed the way that this book was written. From the
mother's point of view trying to help her daughter and figure out what happened, but also from the daughter's point of view trying to tell her mother what happened but also fighting for her life. At first I wasn't sure because sometimes when characters change to fast it makes it a little confusing however the author made the story so compelling that the character changes were easier to accept. I think that my favourite character had to be the daughter she lived her life like any teenager secretive, but things went terribly wrong for her. So she is telling her mother exactly what happened from her coma. How she met the boy online how she did things
even though she knew her mother wouldn't approve. I liked how it showed her slight rebellion and how much she cared about her mother. You could really feel the bond between these two through the whole story. This was a great read really kept me on the edge of my seat through the whole thing. I enjoyed the different points of view because I feel that it gave the reader more insight on what happened as well as how it made the characters feel. Great read there isn't a single thing that I would change about this one.

At the heart of the story is every parents worst nightmare, losing a child. In this time when social media is such a prevalent part of everyone’s lives, as a parent we know the danger is out there, but we never think it is going to happen to our child. This is such a story, it will give you the chills and make you think.

The story is told 3 POV’s. Rosie, Toni, her mother and Bridget her aunt. Rosie is just your typical teenage girl. She wants to fit in, be like the other girls, talk to boys, go to parties. All of this is hard to do when you have a mother who is so over-protective that she does random spot checks on our phone and internet. When Rosie starts chatting with a boy she’s is heaven. He says all the things she wants to hear, he’s sweet and cute too. He is even interested in her roles in drama and her dreams of becoming an actress. What more could a girl ask for? The more I read, I began to wonder if he was just faking it all, pranking her? Was it all too good to be true? Rosie is so blissfully happy she doesn’t even stop to think about anything but how he makes her feel. But all the secretiveness and the lies and deceit leads her down what could be a deadly path.

Toni is a single mom, it is clear how much she loves her daughter, yes she is a little over protective. As a mother, I think most of us are probably a little over protective at times, it’s in our nature. We want what is best for our kids. And given Toni’s upbringing and the horrible abuse she endured, I wouldn’t honestly expect her to be any less protective of her daughter. Bridget, Toni’s sister, didn’t have it any better growing up but has always been there for Toni and Rosie. And I think there isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for either of them. Something happened in their past and together they have this “pact”, they don’t talk about it, and Rosie doesn’t know what it is about or how it came to be either. But it has held their family together all this time. But will the events that unfolded be enough for one of the sisters to break the pact?

Through the alternating POV’s each of the characters pasts are given a little at a time. With Rosie however, it is a lot of back and forth, it is jumbled. She doesn’t know where she is or how she got there. While reading her’s, my heart hurt so badly for her. But between all three POV’s, all the pieces slowly come together, the how and who, and the suspense just kept building and in a few places I caught myself holding my breath. This has no shortage of twists, and biggest one being right at the end. Man, was it good…

The Pact was more than just a psychological thriller, sure it had it’s fair share of suspense but it also had family at the heart of it. This is one author that I will be keeping an eye for more books from.

This book was flawless! I loved it and when I finished I immediately purchased the authors previous novel Mother. The premise is you have Toni, her daughter Rosie and Toni’s sister Bridget. Toni was abused as a child so is very overprotective of Rosie. The story is told in reverse so you start with Rosie in hospital unconscious with her mother by her bedside. The story is told from the three main characters perspective. Gradually you think you begin to understand what has happened but trust me nothing is as it seems.
I am an avid reader and it’s not often I don’t have an idea of where a story is going but with this not a clue and I loved it.
The only issue is what book to read next as I want to save Mother and any other might lead to disappointment as it won’t be as good as this!
Thanks for the ARC Net Galley, SE Lynes and Bookouture in exchange for an honest for an honest review#ThePact #NetGalley

I struggled with this book at times although the premise of the story was interesting it dragged on at the same level with no peaks really

I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Now, I loved this author's previous books, psychological thrillers that were just so dark and weird. This is more of a conventional child-abduction thriller, nothing wrong with it, just not a stand out. The mother and aunt seem a bit flat, although the teenaged protagonist felt very real. Serviceable

An Unnerving Phycological Thriller Every Parent Should Read
It's not unusual to find a psychological thriller that will have you up all night. It's not even that unusual to find a thriller that will leave you feeling slightly unnerved, or even disturbed by the conversations being had. It is, however, unusual to find a novel that can harness all of that whilst wrapping up the story in the warmest of characters, the most loving of stories and the most thoughtful of family dilemmas.

The Pact, by S.E. Lynes, is a book that had me on the very edge of my seat, whilst holding my duvet up covering one eye from the horrors I was reading, but at the same time not able to turn the pages quick enough.

We all make promises as kids, don't we? We make promises we intend to keep, and promises we know we never will... Rosie has made a few promises to her mum. Promises she knows she will not keep, but has no idea the danger she has put herself in. But Rosie is not the only one keeping a secret. Toni and Bridget made a promise, no... they made a pact, but neither of them realised just how dangerous sticking to that pact could be. For them all.

The thing that separates this thriller from most, is the heart and emotion you find at the centre of the story. While most psychological thrillers focus on dissecting the murky mind of serial killers, or disturbing family events, The Pact explores something much more real. You find yourself dissecting a loving family rather than analysing the thought process of the villain. Find yourself asking 'how could this happen to such a normal kid' but then terrified that this scenario could happen to each and every one of us.

This is a psychological thriller that brings the evil right to your door, welcomes it inside and offers it a cup of tea.

The twists and turns within the book are not hidden under camouflage. The writing has been so effortlessly crafted that you know what is happening before it happens. The parental hairs stand up on the back of your neck and you will be screaming at the pages of the book as you turn them. Unable to pull away, but desperate to warn the characters you have so easily fallen in love with.

The twists in the novel are not scary or groundbreaking, instead, they are far more sinister than that. They are subtle and real. This could be real life, and that alone makes it the most terrifying of all thrillers.

Evil is not hidden under the bed or lurking in the closet but strides around in plain sight. These are the real dangers we face each and every day. The dangers that seem so normal that we don't even think twice.

The most remarkable aspect of this book, for me, is the relationship between mother and daughter. Their story so closely reflects the worries of modern parents and the fears we face in such a social-media-heavy world. The words on the page could have very well been formed on the tips of my own tongue far too many times.

The situations explored in the novel may not be close to us all personally, but it’s highly likely someone we know has been touched by a situation not dissimilar.

The truth is, as much as we can hope to protect our loved ones from the horrors that lurk outside the front door, we can never really see true evil, because most of the time, true evil can be right under our noses the whole time.

The Pact is an incredible novel, one that all parents should read. One that all fans of phycological thrillers should read. Hell, one that everyone should read. It is an enlightening, terrifying and real portrayal of the life we now live, surrounded by the trappings and dangers of social media.

I would like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Pact’ by S E Lynes in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Fifteen-year-old Rosie, a talented actress, lives with her mother Toni and Aunt Bridget and dreams of having a career on the stage. But Rosie is lying unconscious in hospital and is unable to tell her what happened.
I found ‘The Pact’ confusing and was more than three-quarters of the way through before I realised what was happening, but by that time I’d lost interest in the story. I’m sorry, it just wasn’t for me.

The Pact is far, far more than the psychological thriller it's marketed to be, yes it had me literally holding my breath for far longer than is healthy and I was genuinely terrified by what may happen next, but it's also a stunningly beautiful book about love, loyalty and family ties, of the fears a parent has for her child, of the confusion of growing up in this social media age, of how past traumas can influence every thought and act and how no one really knows what another person is coping with.

The often fraught relationships between these wonderfully crafted complex characters are stunningly portrayed, nailing how both love and frustration with those people we love go hand in hand. The author really lets you under the skin of each character and has a real knack of making you care about each and every one.

The story is cleverly revealed and shows how, even when face to face, unscrupulous people can take in the most careful of us. Based around every parent's nightmare, the dialogue, pacing, tension and twists are all skillfully handled and I'm not sure I can find a book to follow this one!

Needless to say that as with her first two books, I absolutely loved this one and will be shouting from the rooftops for everyone to read it - 5 stars feel miserly for this outstanding book but unfortunately that's the limit, just be aware that they are 5 GIANT stars.

Many thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC

Thanks a million Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this book. I want sure about this book in the beginning but after the first few pages I was hooked. I would highly recommend it.

This is the third book I have read by S.E Lynes and it didn’t disappoint.

The story is told in narrative parts by sisters Antonia, Bridget and Antonia daughter Rosie. The story starts with Rosie in a hospital bed asleep trying to remember what had happened to her and how she got there.
Antonia and Bridget made a pact together years ago that they would only need each other and never to ask for help from anyone else if they got into trouble. What happened to them to make the pact and why?
As we find out what happened to Rosie will the sisters need to break the pact or will they get through it together as they promised each other.

I loved this book, it had some twists and turns in it, I found myself covering up half of the bottom part of the book so I could slow down my reading! A very well written book, with the characters stories told brilliantly and a unexpected twist at the end.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for my copy in exchange for my honest review.