Stevie‘s review of The Split by Sharon Bolton
Domestic Thriller published by Minotaur Books 28 Apr 20
Most, if not all, of the Sharon Bolton books that I’ve read and enjoyed have been very much in the vein of procedurals. However, this book is far more of a psychological mystery, even though two of the main characters adopt a very systematic approach to investigating the mystery surrounding one of them. Felicity Lloyd is a glaciologist based on the remote island of South Georgia for a two-year study, and living with the fear that the man she believes to be her estranged husband, Freddie, will track her down there and arrive on one of the cruise ships that regularly call at the island. As the last ship of the season approaches, we learn that it is carrying not just Freddie but also two other people with clues to Felicity’s past.
Joe is a psychiatrist, someone whom Felicity sees professionally as part of the assessment process for her current post. While working in Cambridge, she suffered a number of episodes in which she acted out of character and subsequently had no direct recollection of the events. Meanwhile, Joe’s mother, an unconventional Detective Inspector on the local CID, is investigating a series of deaths and disappearances among the local homeless people that Joe works with on a voluntary basis. Joe is troubled by memories of two female patients whom he allowed to get too close to him, and worries that the same course of events will happen with Felicity. In order to understand her better, he investigates her past in his own time and discovers a number of worrying secrets that Felicity has buried deep within her subconscious. By the time Joe manages to put the pieces together and reach a diagnosis, Felicity is already in the South Atlantic and has become a person of interest in Joe’s mother’s investigation.
Joe and his mother set off to find Felicity and potentially save her from herself, but Felicity learns that Freddie is coming to find her also and puts her prearranged escape plan into action. The various characters find themselves battling the weather, the environment, and their own inner turmoils, and it seems at times that not all of them can possibly survive.
I liked this book a lot. I was particularly fascinated by some of the characters that don’t fit easily into the main narrative, such as Bamber, who watches over Felicity and is prepared to kill to protect her. I also liked the slightly quirky locals and the factors relating to life on a series of desolate islands that have shaped them and their attitudes. I now want to go back and read Bolton’s previous unrelated book about the same part of the world.
Grade: A
Summary:
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.
Read an excerpt.
