Member Reviews
Dr. Felicity Lloyd is a glaciologist on the small, isolated island of South Georgia in the Antarctic.
She is awaiting the arrival of the last ship of the season to see if her husband Freddie, recently released from prison, is on board.
Will he come looking for her?
Nine months earlier in England, Felicity is seeing a therapist named Joe Grant.
She's had some blackouts and lost time. She doesn't remember being married.
Joe's mother Delilah is a policewoman. She's investigating the murders of two homeless women, and a third one is missing.
Felicity comes up in connection to her cases.
We return back to the island.
Joe and Delilah have come for Felicity, but can't find her. She has gone into hiding from Freddie.
The suspense mounts and the twists become more tortuous!
This entertaining thriller started out a bit slow for me, but overall it was a fun read and I did not guess most of what was happening, until the very end.
I love Sharon Bolton and was so happy to have the opportunity to read her new book.
Thank you Minotaur Books for the e-ARC via NetGalley.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.
Actual rating: 3.75 out of 5
I look forward to reading books written by this author. However this book is my least favorite so far. The Split is a complex, twisty, psychological thriller. It kept my attention and had me guessing throughout but I was somewhat let down with the ending. I still look forward to readying her books.
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Sharon Bolton for a copy of "The Split" in exchange of an honest review.
This is one book that actually lives up to all its 5 star ratings. What a fun, wild ride of wilderness, adventure and suspense. What I loved most about this was the frigid and remote South Georgian setting, which lies near Antarctica. I actually looked up information on this area because I was unfamiliar with it. Sharon Bolton is a master both at creating suspense and drawing the reader in. I was enraptured by the setting, intense plot and well-drawn characters. This was my favorite Sharon Bolton book yet.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Minotaur Books and Sharon Bolton for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I thought this book had an intriguing plot with several well developed characters. I liked how the author revealed small details as the book went along. I had a good idea of what was going on with the main character, but even after figuring that out there was another layer to the story that kept me reading until the end.
Well played!
I’m sad to say that this book was just NOT for me. I didn’t like the storyline and the twist... I’ve read it way too many times and it’s really not a twist I enjoy, at all. The writing was good and if you do like the storyline you might enjoy it (I’m not going to say specifically what I disliked about it because I don’t want to give out spoilers). I suggest checking out more reviews on this book, there are great ones out there!! Hopefully you’ll have better luck with it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you @minotaur_books for an #earc copy of this book!
While this book was slow to start out (in fact I almost dnf'd it after the first few chapters), I'm glad I pushed through. Because it picked up and didn't stop! I really enjoyed the plot, and the multiple POVs, although, perhaps there were a few too many (? I do get why but it was a bit much). This book covers mental illness in the midst of the thriller aspect, so a recognizable plot, but well done. I did find the Antarctic setting at the beginning and at the end was a bit off the wall (though I definitely got the metaphor of ice bergs calving and "splitting"), and served as something that took away the relatability of the novel. Overall though, a solid, fast-paced, thriller!
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.
This was a very interesting story about a young woman Felicity that escapes to a very remote area in South Georgia to study glaciers and to hide from an abusive person, Freddie.
The story goes back in time where Felicity is attacked and is in the hospital. She is afraid and she refuses to say what really happened.
Felicity agrees to counseling in an effort to get a clean bill of Health to take the South Georgia job. Joe is a counselor who is just returning to work after being attacked by one of his patients. Joe can tell there is more going on with Felicity than she is will to share. She is losing time and forgetting where she has been.
What will happen to Felicity? Will she come to understand how she is losing time? Will Joe be able to help her? Will Freddie find her?
I enjoyed the twists and turns in this story! Thank you Netgalley for my complimentary copy. Thoughts and opinions are my own.
5 Clever and Brilliant Stars
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.
I always get so excited when I open up a Sharon Bolton book! This book was so clever and brilliant. This book gave me a book hangover. I kept flipping the pages to find out what was going to happen next. It kept me up all night long and gave me a five star high!
This is a complex crime thriller which is exceptionally plotted out and kept me on the edge of my seat. I was holding my breath and at times a bit scared to read on. It was fantastic.
The twists had my jaw drop to the floor. It was so crazy, and I mean CRAZY! JUST MY KIND OF CRAZY!
I also loved the character development.
If you haven't read any books by this author, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? You really don't know what you are missing! She is my all time favorite author. All of her books have been WINNERS for me. This one is a memorable read.
I thought I had this book all figured out but I was so wrong!!! It is an unpredictable read.
I want to thank Minotaur Books/St. Martin's Press, Netgalley and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
This is an intense psychological thriller about a woman named Felicity. She has endured a violent life and in this story, she learns who she really is.
From page 1, you will be entranced and will keep turning the pages. This is a story with so many twists and turns, it will leave you guessing until the very end of the book.
This is my first novel from Sharon Bolton. How have I not read her books before!? This was an awesome story. I flew through it in just over a day! The main character, Felicity, is a glaciologist. She took a job on the remote, unpopulated island of South Georgia in the Antarctic to escape the fear of her ex-husband. Once imprisoned for murder, he is now out of jail and she fears he will come find her. But a doctor who was working with Felicity before she took the job realized that Felicity may have had issues long before her ex husband even came along. This book was brilliant! I loved the way the setting was described and I loved the characters. It was written in a few different parts and went back and forth in time a little bit, which was essential and helpful in giving backstory as well as introducing some other key players in the story. This one had some pretty great twists in it! I will say that I had the major plot twist figured out rather early on, but it did not take away from my enjoyment of this book at all. This was an awesome read and I'd recommend it! Thanks so much to @minotaur_books and @netgalley for allowing me to read this!
Antarctica is my favorite unseen location in the entire globe, and I've admired Sharon Bolton 's novels from the beginning. So I had really high hopes and expectations for THE SPLIT. Divided majorly into three sections, with the first and third set on Antarctica's incredible South Georgia Island, and the center section set in Cambridge, England. From the first section we expect a Suspense thriller including a lot of "Man vs. Nature" scares (of which there's plenty) and the third section is purely psychological thriller. The center section, in Cambridge, is more psychological plus police procedural plus murder mystery.
Oddly, the center section left me out in the cold. I kind of wish the author had just stuck to Antarctica and used Cambridge as backstory.
The setting of this mind bending novel sets it apart from others. Getting attacked by a seal, huge moulins, avalanches, crumbling ghost towns, crevices, torpedoing chunks of iceberg, these are not your everyday dangers. But Felicity knows Glaciers. She will need to escape into harsher climate in order to save herself from the man who has been chasing her.
The setting had a lot to do with my enjoyment of the story. South Georgia seems like the end of the earth, but Bolton takes the chase even further.
What a fun psychological thriller this was! The first 25% of this book was alittle slow, so I was nervous about how the rest was going to play out. Luckily, she picked up pretty quickly and then it was filled with nothing but twists and turns. I did predict alittle of what was going on, but, it didn't take away from the story at all. Although I predicted some, there was a lot more that I didn't see coming. Once you get past the first bit of the book it quickly turns into a fast-paced read. There was so many different characters, and I actually think I enjoyed every single one of them. Each had their own little thing going on, but it kept the story super interesting. I absolutely loved Felicity's character, she was so unique and made the story so interesting.
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I think what I absolutely loved most about The Split was the setting, it took place in the remote Antartic island of South Georgia. I felt like I could feel how cold it was just by reading about it. I love when a books setting is described so well, that you just get sucked right in. I guess reading it while it's snowing outside was a little plus for me too!
I read and enjoyed many of the books that this author wrote as S.J. Bolton. They followed a female detective, Lacey Flint, and were always suspenseful page turners.
The Split is not part of a series but has the author's trademarks of a well told and suspenseful story. I especially enjoyed the settings of this book which are the Antarctic and Cambridge. Read the novel to find out why the protagonist, Felicity, travels so far and why she feels that she must do this. Who will be there to help her when the stakes get higher and higher?
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.
"The ends of the Earth. That's how far she ran this time. Not far enough."
Dr. Felicity Lloyd, age 27, is a glaciologist and has spent the last couple of months on the remote island of South Georgia in the Antarctic Circle where she, along with other scientists, works for the British Antarctic Survey studying the formation and movement of glaciers there. A plum assignment doing what she loves, but the most important aspect is that the island is so remote and is unreachable during the long winter months. She's safe there -- or at least she thought so -- until the last ship of the summer is docking and she sees his name on the manifest. He's found her. As soon as she sees Freddie get into the launch to head for the island's dock, Felicity jumps into an RIB and heads out to hide away elsewhere on the island in Husvik, a dangerous, abandoned settlement that is forbidden to the tourists. Why is Felicity so afraid of Freddie? NO SPOILERS.
And this is where the story really takes off as Part Two begins and it is 9 months earlier in Cambridge, England. Felicity begins therapy with Dr. Joe Grant after she's found severely injured and incoherent with torn clothes and bleeding limbs. And no memory of what happened. Although she's recovered physically, she needs to have a psychiatric assessment before being allowed to return to work for the BAS and be considered fit for a job she knows is the chance of a lifetime. But there is a lot going on in Felicity's life and Joe senses that work with her isn't going to be as easy as she hopes. Felicity is keeping a lot of secrets and Joe becomes very concerned about her safety as events spiral out of control. No more details on the plot.
This was fascinating and absorbing on so many levels. The first thing I did was pull up a detailed map of South Georgia noting the locations of the settlements. The setting was incredible and so well-described that I could almost visualize myself there as the satellite images depict the abandoned whaling stations. Bolton's writing is excellent and the narrative flips between several different characters identified by their first names as the story progresses. We learn more about Felicity in starts and stops with me guessing and wondering all the while. It's really quite masterful how it all unfolds with some great twists and turns along the way. I could not put this down so read it all this evening in a single sitting. The characters are unique and memorable, some I liked a lot more than others! This is definitely a thriller that I won't soon forget and I think all of us who read extensively in this genre appreciate the uniqueness of a novel that doesn't quite go in the expected direction. Enjoy! I certainly did.
Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.
I saw the outcome of this one coming from the very beginning. I felt this book wasn’t very original. To me the disassociative identity disorder is very over done in thriller books. I felt the very beginning of this book was very confusing and would easily distract & possibly discourage a reader from continuing with the book. I would have DNF this one but kept going only to see that I was correct about the ending. I was for the most part. Not a fan of this one.
Publishers Sypnosis:
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....
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Sexual assault/Rape
2.75/3 Stars!
With an incredibly unique twist, this book had all the makings of one of the most unique thrillers i have read in quite some time. We follow our main character Felicity as she is running from her ex-husband who has followed her to a remote island where she is studying glaciers. We then flashback to 9 months ago, to see the events that led up to her running away from Cambridge. While this book did EVENTUALLY have my full undivided attention, it wasn't up until about 40% into the story i actually became invested in the characters. Luckily i stuck it out and it ended on a high note for me but the pacing was really slow. I felt like it really dragged for the first half. Overall, if you enjoy slow-burn thrillers, this is for you.
Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur for a copy of this e-book
After hearing so many people rave about Sharon Bolton’s books, I finally decided to give her a try with The Split. And, y’all, I’m going to be very honest. I feel like I have been LIED to. This book was an utter disaster.
Felicity Lloyd is a glaciologist who works with a small team of scientists on the remote island of South Georgia, which is within the Antarctic Circle. Felicity is damn good at her job, but she didn’t choose this remote location thousands of miles from her home in Cambridge, England by accident. Felicity lives in constant fear thanks to her ex-husband Freddie who has finished serving his jail time for murder and is coming for her.
With the help of Dr. Joe Grant, a psychologist that Felicity confides in, Felicity uncovers a history of brutal abuse. Felicity knows without a doubt that she has to do everything in her power to keep Freddie from finding her before she winds up dead. Joe is determined to help Felicity before it’s too late.
I typically don’t mind unreliable narrators, but Felicity’s character is frustrating. The story starts in the present, which is the exploration in desolate South Georgia. Felicity is an intelligent and self sufficient scientist, who is amazing at her job…then we go back 9 months prior to South Georgia to Cambridge. In Cambridge, Felicity is an absolute trainwreck who can barely get by day to day without having a breakdown. She decides to seek the help of Dr. Joe Grant in order to come to grips with why she’s always so on edge. The Felicity that we see in sections two and three of the book (both in Cambridge) is literally night and day from the subject matter expert we were initially introduced to.
At about 30-35%, I knew exactly where this story was going (which is rare since I’m normally surprised by plot twists). I decided to put my feelings on that aside and continue with the story to see if it would get any better. Spoiler alert, it didn’t.
The plot itself is disjointed and confusing since we have six different POVs and three different timelines. I think the author should’ve focused on Felicity and Joe since her therapy sessions are the heart of the story rather than some of the other POVs that didn’t serve an additive purpose.
While this story wasn’t for me, others really enjoyed this one, so don’t let my saltiness deter you.
Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
The Split is a superb twisty thriller with multiple layers of mystery waiting to be unfolded.
Felicity is working on South Georgia Island near Antarctica studying glaciers. She is also hiding from someone in her past. Felicity was hoping no one could find her in such a remote location. She was wrong.
I didn’t read anything about this book before I dived right in. I suggest you do the same. The twists are more surprising and you feel much more empathy for Felicity’s confusion when you also have no idea what path this thriller is on.
I really enjoyed The Split. It kept my interest throughout. The plot is well-paced with peaks and valleys of danger but permeated with a haunting feeling of dread. 5 stars and one of my favorite thrillers this month.
Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.