It’s been a long time since I actually sat up half the night gripped by a book.......this is probably my favourite book of the year. Twists and turns like a helter-skelter just when you think you have it sorted things change, very cleverly written and I bet you don’t know what’s going on until the end. The characters are all so believable and also likeable, each has an agenda. Just read it you won’t regret it.
#Netgalley #Amazon

There are a few authors that you know will never disappoint , Sharon Bolton is one of them and The Pact is her latest thriller.

The book begins 20 years ago with a group of 6 students,3 girls,3 boys, who attend a top private school nervously awaiting their A Level results the next morning,all of them high achievers with brilliant futures at stake. Apart from scholarship girl Megan they come from well-off families and from the beginning come across as having a sense of entitlement . The group have taken part in a dare,almost an initiation ceremony, that is extremely dangerous but so far at least all but one has completed successfully. While the only one of the group of friends not to have completed it reluctantly tries disaster strikes and a mother and 2 children are killed. With the whole group involved and all of their futures at stake an agreement is made that if one of them takes the blame the others will support them in every way and Megan volunteers.. In return she gets and agreement that when she has completed her sentence she can ask any favour of each of the others,,,,The Pact.
From the beginning Megan is badly let down,her so-called friends distance themselves and after 20 years, much longer than she'd expected, she's out and ready to enforce the pact

Anyone reading the above and not knowing Sharon Bolton would be thinking, "I can see exactly where that's going", and they'd be wrong. What follows is not just a tale of someone seeking justice and what's been promised then what they do when denied it, It's as much a morality tale as the rather unpleasant group discover what Karma is all about the hard way after once again trying to avoid treating Megan the right way,which would have saved them all all kinds of grief.

Another great read from Sharon Bolton

From the moment I discovered The Pact is set in Oxford and predominantly the part of Oxfordshire I grew up in, I hoped I would like this novel. Thankfully, I loved it. There were so many memories of places I went to just like the characters although some details such as Domino's Pizza being in Thame that long ago are incorrect - sorry author and publishers to be pedantic but I know how exciting it was to get Domino's in our small town and it certainly wasn't that long ago!

This is a book that never lets up with the tension and secrets. It seems pretty simple when the pact is made and the characters try to get on with their lives. Twenty years later that's shown not to be the truth. One of the group wants payback for what went wrong twenty years ago. They're not prepared to pay for what was a group mistake.

I guessed who was behind the nefarious deeds quite quickly but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel, such is its brilliant plot and characterisation.

There is a plot point that is used to explain why a character didn't do well in their exams which I found was glossed over too quickly to almost make it feel implausible. That's my only niggle about the while plot though.

This is one of those novels where you feel like you grow up with the characters and become part of their lives.

The Pact is one of those novels that makes us evaluate what we would do in that circumstance and what humanity and morality really mean to each person.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my early copy of this novel which is published on 27th May 2021.

This is an intriguing idea for a book and that is a good thing. It has six main characters all at a posh Oxford school expecting outstanding A level results when it all goes wrong. One silly decision haunts for ,literally, the rest of their lives. It results in the least favoured of them going to gaol. That haunts the other five for twenty years but how to react when she is released. That is the story. It is well written with well drawn characters and a story line to keep readers wanting to know how it all works out. One of the young people, Felix, has a habit of calling each contact he makes by the name of a chemical that matches their character. That is one of many interesting extras. The story also has a traumatic and unexpected ending. This is a really good read. I recommend it.

This book is brilliant.
Not least the setting in Oxford, which I know well enough to be really transported to the characters sides, but also the is it/ isn't it/ it has to be/I wasn't expecting that twists and turns of the plot as Megan starts to reclaim her life.
The book really captures the intensity of a teenage friendship as well as the social isolation felt by Megan as the scholarship girl, the one who didn't fit in compared to her more well heeled classmates which continues as the ex-con amongst the rich and famous.
Plenty of characters to really get your teeth into be it loving or hating them!

The Pact is about six school friends. They attend Oxford's most prestigious private school and all are expected to ace their A levels. But a stupid dare means that things do not go quite according to plan.
20 years later five of the group are doing well; a politician destined for the top job, a successful lawyer and the Head of their old school. Then the sixth member of the group reappears and life changes for them all.
I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of this book. The tension was great and the characters were interesting but I felt the ending was rather rushed and this let it down for me.

Sharon Bolton what are you doing to me?

I was quite calm before reading this.

Cracking premise and a great writer makes this even better than it could have been.

TI also makes you think what you would do in the same situation. Haha brutal.

This was such a page turner!
The story itself was a unique one and I loved the revenge aspect of it and how fully formed all of the characters felt.
Sadly the ending let it down for me. I was thinking that I would be giving this 5 stars but I couldn't give it any more than 4 in the end.
I did like that I thought I knew where everything was heading and it went in a completely different direction.
It was also a nice twist that Dan, who had been missing, was the one who had been committing what we assumed Megan was.
But then it was never really explained why he did what he did.
I also didn't like the fact that Megan ended up saying that she was only kidding about needing a liver transplant and wanting one of Amber's children, etc.
It felt quite silly that what had been driving the entire narrative was just a joke in the end.
But overall, it was well written and kept my attention the whole way through and had me racing through it within 48 hours.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more books by Sharon Bolton.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have enjoyed this authors previous books so was excited to have the opportunity to read this pre released book. The book begins 20 years previously where we are introduced to the group and the events that dictate the rest of the book are introduced. This author always does a good job of creating mystery and tension in her books. I also thought the legacy of the decisions we make was covered accurately.

A fallout from a dare goes very wring and changes the life course of a group of good friends, linking them forever in debt. Loved it!

#ThePact #NetGalley
A mind blowing revenge saga. Excellent. Highly recommended.
18-year-old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives. In return, they each agree to a 'favour', payable on her release from prison.
They definitely have to pay back her for what they did to her.
I loved the narration. It was flowing.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group Trapeze for giving me an advance copy of this book.

Good thriller which had me racing to the end to finish it. Highly recommend by me. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book.

TW: car accident, death of children in car accident, drunk-driving, dangerous driving, murder, violence, mention of gang-rape, mention of parental sexual abuse,

Thank you to Trapeze & Orion Publishing Group for allowing me to read an eARC of The Pact.

This book was a wild ride from start to finish; I honestly couldn't put it down and the story truly kept me hooked. I've had a bit up and down experiences with Bolton's writing before but this one really hit the mark for me. I like that there's no mystery or intrigue about what happened with them as children; we find out straight away and the tension builds off of that. I much prefer this because it allows you to fully be part of the story and the arcs.

The characters were all fully fledged out - I wouldn't necessarily say any of them are likeable but that's definitely the point. The characters were all part of a reckless accident that killed three people - and then allowed one of their group to take the blame. For 20 years the other five got away scot free - although perhaps not mentally - and so it's hard to like them. I definitely felt sorry for them at times, perhaps mostly so Megan who really was truly betrayed and destroyed - even before the accident. The way the characters unravelled as the book went on was really well done and you could truly see each one of them spiralling.

Why was this not a 5* rating then? For me, the ending was just a bit disappointing. As a whole I definitely enjoyed this book; it was paced well and the characters were complex, compelling, and gripping. The ending let it down slightly for me but not necessarily enough to ruin my overall enjoyment.

Out 27th May 2021 for you to see what you think!

Very interesting and thrilling read.

I thought I had a good grip on what was going on in the story, once Megan came back. But I very quickly found out I was wrong on all counts!

Highly recommend!

This is another stonker of a novel by an incredible author. I love Sharon’s way of writing, the subtleties that you might miss but often build into something more. I loved it.

Intense thriller about a group of friends where nothing is what it seems. I highly recommend this book it was extremely fast paced plot was involved and the characters were realistic.

The Queen of the psychological thriller, Sharon Bolton, serves up her latest delicious and irresistible novel examining the nature of love and friendship amongst a close knit group of young friends, experiencing the golden summer of drink and drugs after the end of their A level exams at the exclusive All Souls School in Oxford. They are certain, after their life of privileges, of the glittering futures awaiting them, nothing stands in their way, the world at their feet. They are members of the senior prefect team, with the cleverest and beautiful 18 year old Megan serving as head girl, and unlike the others, a scholarship girl from an impoverished single parent family. For her, Felix, Xav, Amber, Daniel and Talitha, their lives stand to burn and shatter into tiny pieces one night when a dare goes hideously wrong, resulting in the deaths of GP and mother, Sophie and her two young daughters, Lily and Maisie.

It is Megan who comes forward, offering to take the blame, leaving the others free to fulfil their hopes and dreams for their futures. In return, she wants a non-negotiable favour from each of them on release from prison, and their support through the ordeal, although none of them forsee the devastating 20 year prison sentence and national vilification that Megan receives. Surely, given what Megan has sacrificed for them, the group will support Megan? 20 years later, the 5 have carved successful careers, Amber is a junior minister, Tal is a senior partner in a law firm, Felix is a self made millionaire industrialist, Xav is an investment banker, all married, some with children, and Daniel is now the head of All Souls, with a Doctorate in Classics, living as a lay monk in religious order. They have all had to live in the heart of darkness, the fear, guilt and shame, tainted by the awareness of their personal shortcomings, they have not been left untouched by their actions of so long ago.

When Megan is released, physically in a poor state, having endured two decades of a nightmare of untold suffering, unsurprisingly she is no longer the friend they remember, as she comes to collect on the promise of their favours. They have everything to lose, how far will they go to protect themselves? Once again, Bolton gives us a brilliantly atmospheric, twisty, malevolent, riveting and disturbing thriller, beautifully plotted, maybe not perfect, particularly the end, but which had me enthralled from beginning to end, with a growing sense of dread in the pit of my stomach as the nature of each in the group, the drama and the reality of their friendships are slowly revealed. I particularly appreciated the rich description of the salvage yard with its weeping Angel. This is a cracking read that Bolton's legion of fans are likely to love and adore, and if you have never read her, this is a great place to start! Highly recommended! Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.