I read and loved Bolton’s super creepy procedural The Craftsman, so when I saw her name on this book I instantly grabbed it. This is not at all like her serial killer procedural, which I don’t say as a complaint but, rather, so readers don’t pick this up as a “read alike” and end up disappointed with a book they would have enjoyed had they known it was different.

Okay, with that said here we have the kind of book where most readers will spend the experience trying to figure out what the hell is going on. It’s told in parts and follows Felicity, now living on a remote Antarctic island in hiding from her husband, and a year in the past when she was seeing a therapist right before fleeing into hiding. In the now, her ex has been released from prison and has shown up on the island to see her. In the past, her therapist is trying to help her while his police mother is concerned for him after the trouble he had with his last patient…

That is all I’m giving you. If you want out of your head for a while and into a story you won’t ever feel you have footing in, here’s your next read. And for extra in your head (literally) psychological thrills, go with the audiobook narrated by Katie Scarfe.

(TW mentions child suicides, brief detail/ past child murders, not graphic/ stalking/ discussion of rape, past rape, including child/ child harm in past/ domestic abuse discussions/ past murder suicide/ past domestic abuse)

I've seen several positive reviews for this, praising Sharon Bolton's writing but noting that it was a slow burn. Because of this, I tried multiple times to push myself through, hoping it would prove worthwhile in the end. Unfortunately, I do not think that I am the right reader for this one. I was not able to see it through to the end, as I did not find the book interesting or attention grabbing.

The first section was like trudging through mud carrying weights. I almost abandoned but the reviews have been SO good.

In sections two and three, it picks up a lot but it's also much too easy to figure out what is going on. In my opinion, the author shows her hand too early and too readily.

It was so obvious to me where this was headed that I thought, after the raves, that there must be more coming but...no.

Minotaur Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Split. I voluntarily chose to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Felicity Lloyd is a glaciologist who has gone to a remote island in the Antarctic island, but not just for her professional career. Trying to escape her past, what happens when Felicity is confronted with secrets that she buried deep?

This psychological thriller could have taken place anywhere, though the descriptions of the desolate Antarctic were one the more interesting parts of the book. I was not a fan of The Split overall, as there were too many flashbacks that ruined the continuity of the story. The main character was not all that likable, nor did I like the doctor or his mother. Having read Sharon Bolton novels in the past, I was expecting more from The Split. For these reasons, I would not recommend this particular book to other readers.

I enjoy a great psychological Nordic noir thriller that is so clever, I never see what is coming. This was truly an enjoyable book that was a delight to read as someone who enjoys reading exciting new thrillers. I was so happy to find one that truly was captivating, full of surprises, very deceiving twists and turns at every corner. I am definitely a Sharon Bolton fan after reading this truly amazing book with a jaw dropping twist. What a great read! I highly recommend this one.

Just thinking about this book gives me chills (no pun intended!). This review is going to be short and sweet because I don’t want to give away anything. The story grips you from the very beginning and has so many twists and turns it was near impossible for me to even come close to figuring out ‘whodunnit’.

Riveting and somewhat dark, the author takes you on a journey of unknowns. With many characters, it was a little difficult to follow at times, but the ending ties everything together nice and neat. This book had an ending I was not expecting at all, which I absolutely loved.

If you’re looking for a somewhat fast-paced different sort of mystery, this book is for you!

I always enjoy books written by Sharon Bolton. This one was good but I don't think I liked it quite as much as past titles. The first section of this book was a little slow going in. I did find the story picked up once you got into part 2. This one was a bit of a slow burn with lot of characters to keep up with and main character Felicity is quite an unreliable narrator. It was a bit hard for me to connect with her.. I did find the setting of South Georgia island to be very atmospheric although I had to remind myself quite a bit when they said South Georgia that they weren't talking about the State of Georgia. The final chapters where quite suspenseful although the plot twist seemed maybe a bit far fetched for me.. The plot twist did take me a bit by surprise but looking back the clues were there I just didn't catch on to them. I'm leaning toward 3 1/2 stars for this one.

As always , Sharon Bolton has written another hold your breath, sit on the edge of your chair thriller. With believable characters and a setting that can only have been written by someone with an appreciation for the unique geography of Antarctica this is the perfect book with which to while away a few hours. If someone can't escape to South Georgia Island and be safe there is probably no where in the world to do this!

This was my first book by this author and I'm certain it won't be my last.
I will admit I struggled with the first 1/3 of the book. Things just weren't piecing together in a way where I could really follow the story and then somewhere near the halfway point things started clicking and momentum was building and I found myself reading as fast as I could to see what was going to happen.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sharon Bolton is a talented author. I adore her Lacy Flint series. After her last few stand-alone novels, I am really missing Lacy. This latest is no different.

It’s well written, overall. But as you may have guessed from the title, there is a BIG PLOT TWIST that is visible from about the second chapter. Felicity is beautiful and brilliant, with her whole life ahead of her. When we first meet her, she’s in the South Georgia area of The Sandwich Islands, a cold, forbidding area with few residents, doing scientific research. But, clearly, there is something very wrong: she’s apparently terrified that an abusive ex is, sooner or later, going to turn up on one of the ships that ports at S.Georgia seasonally. And she’s not entirely wrong ...

Flashbacks occur throughout the book to give us the background on what led felicity to her situation, and who she might have left dead or hurt in her wake. But is Felicity a murderer? Is there a dark side to her personality that she doesn’t realize is even there? Why is she so secretive, even with the therapist her job is making her see in order to clear her for her next assignment? Is she the one who’s been terrorizing the homeless people in her city?

As I said, the twist should be clear to anyone who has seen an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Like, say, the most recent one with the same title.

Bolton is great at creating a milieu; she did much the same in Little Black Lies with the Falkland Islands; and her writing is top notch. Where things go awry is the suspension of disbelief that needs to happen for the book to succeed. Anyone who has seen an M night Shyamalan movie (Like, say, the most recent one, with the same title) will see the plot twist coming. It’s a little cheap, and, frankly, Bolton can do better. She can write rings around the lakes of James Patterson, so it’s disappointing to be able to guess the ending of the story, which is better suited as a typical Hollywood thriller than as an atmospheric, dread-inducing English mystery.

A plus For the obvious copious research put into the setting; B minus For the Cliche plot twist; C minus for the main character being a gorgeous blonde; D+ for her therapist falling in love with her.

You always know that you are in for a thrilling ride when you read a book by Sharon Bolton. She is another one of those authors that I read automatically, without having to read the blurb first.

When it comes to settings, "The Split" delivered on two fronts. Firstly, one of the settings was one which I was completely unfamiliar with, so I learned a lot while reading. The inhospitable though coldly beautiful South Georgia Island locale added some unique atmosphere to the novel.
The second setting, the university city of Cambridge, England, is one of my favourites. I've always wanted to visit and see it for myself.

Secondly, the protagonist, Felicity Lloyd, was an unreliable narrator. You know that if the protagonist is questioning their own actions that you'll be doing double duty trying to figure out what is going on. I'm always up for a challenge. I had great sympathy for Felicity as I was reading. She was afraid that she was going insane or suffering from early-onset dementia. She had memory lapses, was sure that someone was in her house when she was at work who played tricks on her by moving her possessions about. The character of Felicity's therapist, Joe Grant, was also a sympathetic character, though he seemed weak at times.

As usual, the author has used short chapters which aids in the page-turning factor and moves the story along at a swift pace.

There was a twist in this book that came as an utter surprise to me, and I'm always delighted when that happens. As the ending neared, I found that there was one aspect of the plot that I found far-fetched which for me, detracted from the overall reading experience. All in all, an absorbing thriller, but perhaps not my very favourite by this author. Recommended!

The Split is my first experience with Sharon Bolton’s writing so I can’t speak to how it compares to other works she’s done, but I can say that based on this, I will likely be reading more of her books. Overall, it is a fast, easy page-turner with an interesting choice of location (The Antarctic), the plot was well-paced and the characters nicely described. The author successfully creates a tense atmosphere and uses the isolation of the environment to its best. I was a bit annoyed by some of the characters that wandered into the story, then wandered back out, and kept waiting for them to “do” something. It all comes together quite plausibly, however. I did see some of the twists coming, but it didn’t spoil the story for me.

Thanks to NetGallery, Minotaur Books and the author for a complimentary copy to review.

Thank you for the chance to review this galley prior to publication. Please refer to my goodreads profile for a full review.

Sharon Bolton has a knack for writing the best thrillers and The Split did not disappoint!
Felicity is terrified of her ex-husband and has literally gone to the ends of the earth to hide from him. Only, as she sees his name on the manifest of the last ship of the season, she realizes she must run again. As she prepares to run, we meet a mysterious guardian and also Freddie - the ex-husband. Part 1 ends with a bang and we find ourselves in Part 2, re-living the months leading up to Felicity heading away for her job. We meet a therapist and her police officer mother, a few homeless women who seem tied up in the mystery and a mysterious guardian of the homeless. Here everything starts unravelling so quickly your head will spin, all the while your gears will be turning trying to solve what exactly is going on, who is involved, who is in danger and who’s dangerous.
This book was SO good!

I loved the string where part of this takes place. South Georgia Island off the coast of the Antarctic, another cold weather draw for me. I sometimes wonder if I was an Eskimo in a previous life. Felicity is a glaciologist, a rather unique profession in fiction. These were the parts of the story I liked best.

Another part of the story takes place in Cambridge, and it is here where we see Felicity having blackouts, scared someone is breaking into her house when she is not there. There are also some of the homeless going missing and the psychiatrist Felicity goes to see is also someone who treats those on the streets. Pro Bono, rather unusual, no? By the way this is not a spoiler as it doesn't tell you much about anything.

Although I guessed early on some parts of this, that is not the reason I gave it three stars, when Bolton usually Garner's at least from me, a four star rating. I just had problems believing the rationality of the risks one of the characters takes, his actions not ringing true. Plus, a little of too much included for this at all to make real sense.

So good and not so good, there you have it.

ARC from Edelweiss.

Author : Sharon Bolton
The Split
1⭐
Description:
Tense, gripping and with a twist you won't see coming, The Split is an explosive new stand-alone thriller from Sharon Bolton about a woman on the run. 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 thoughts 👎
The story started out good. But then it just derailed. The plot itself is so confusing . There is six different POVs and three different timelines. And way too many characters for me. I did not connect with any of them. Many thanks to Netgalley, Minotaur Books and Sharon Bolton for my e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sharon Bolton is a great option for smart atmospheric thrillers. I just finished a book with the same diagnosis and let me just say, this book is way better because of the great writing. I’m not the biggest fan of thrillers but this one is very good. I didn’t love the ending so Black Little Lies will continue to be my favorite Bolton book.

Felicity is a glaciologist who has made the career decision to move to an isolated island in Antarctica to do research. She has done this because she lives in constant fear that her husband, Freddie, will come after her. When he is released from prison after serving a term for murder, he does in fact come after her, but things in Felicity's past and present are not at all what they seem.

This was a fabulous read that I could not put down. It was really well written with characters that were genuine and intriguing. This was a book which one cannot tell too much about because there would be too many spoilers. However, this was another true thriller from an author whose work is always outstanding. Very strongly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author Sharon Bolton, and the publisher St. Martin's Press, for a free ARC in return for my honest review. The opinion expressed here is all mine. A super read. Don't miss this one.

Well, I'll be damned. I was so involved with the story that I did not even ponder trying to figure out the ending. This isn't the usual whodunit. This is about a woman and her split personalities. Did she kill people? You're left to think that she did, because it doesn't even enter your mind that she could be innocent, because she's doing all of these crazy things. It sure does look like she did.

The book starts off like she's going to kill Freddie, or at least someone not Felicity is going to kill him. Then you get the sense that maybe she's been killing people long before she headed to South Georgia, near Antarctica.

You can't help but feel bad for her, because something is triggering her fugue state. Something really horrible must have happened to her. I mean, Felicity has to be innocent through all of this. It's not her fault that one of her alter egos did something without her knowing about it.

At the end, I was so convinced I knew the story and it was just a matter of time before the cops got her, then Sharon Bolton does a 180 and I'm like...what? I was so wrapped up in the story I did not second guess the evidence...and that's what made this a 4 star for me.

Content warning: Involves rape, child abuse.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of The Split by Sharon Bolton.

Felicity "Flick" has a unique position as a glaciologist working on an Atlantic Island. It's a good job, and she's content with her work and her coworkers. But she also lives in deep fear that her ex-husband Freddie is going to find her. So when she finds evidence that he's located her, she panics and prepares to flee.

Flashback before Felicity starts her job, and now she is seeing a therapist about how she is sure that someone is breaking into her house. She's anxious and paranoid and desperate for help. She just doesn't know if she needs help from herself, or someone else.

As far as psychological thrillers go, this was ok. I feel pretty confident in the three stars. My biggest criticism is that it was just a bit messy. The time hopping felt random and scattered, and it was just a lot. I had to remind myself a lot where we were in the story and who they were referring to. Part of that I think was intended, but it made the experience less enjoyable.