#BookReview Dödsdömd (Dead Woman Walking) by Sharon Bolton (@AuthorSJBolton) (SWE/ENG) @ModernistaRed @Marablaise

Dödsdömd by Sharon Bolton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW

Strax före gryningen, i bergen nära gränsen till Skottland, mördas en ung kvinna. Samtidigt kraschlandar en luftballong i området. Bara en person, Jessica Lane, överlever mirakulöst.

Jessica har sett mördarens ansikte. Men mördaren har också sett hennes. Och han kommer inte att ge upp förrän han har eliminerat det enda vittnet till brottet.

Ensam och rädd, och utan att kunna lita på någon, flyr Jessica till den plats där hon känner sig tryggast. Men det kan visa sig att just den platsen är den farligaste av alla…

Dödsdömd [Dead Woman Walking, 2017] är Sharon Boltons nya fristående thriller.

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Sharon Bolton är en av mina favoritförfattare och jag har ivrigt väntat på att denna bok skulle släppas på svenska så jag kunde få läsa den. Bolton har en otrolig förmåga att skriva thrillers som verkligen griper tag i en och fängslar en från början till slut. Dödsdömd är inget undantag.

Jag måste erkänna att inledningen, ballongfärden är en av de mest spektakulära jag har läst. Att komma på en sådan idé. Att handlingen i boken varvades mellan nutid samt tillbakablickar på Jessica och hennes systers barndom ökade mitt intresse och jag hade svårt att lägga boken ifrån mig. Jag verkligen älskar tillbakablickar som är lika fängslade som det som sker i nutids handlingen och speciellt gillar jag när man börjar förstå varför författaren har med tillbakablickar.

Genom boken gång så var det saker jag misstänkte och fick rätt i men Bolton visade samtidigt att hon är en mästare på att lura läsaren att tro att den har rätt för att sedan twista till handlingen rejält. Speciellt mot slutet då flera saker skedde som överraskade mig.

Dödsdömt är en superb thriller, fängslade rakt igenom och jag verkligen längtar efter nästa Sharon Bolton bok!

Tack till Modernista för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

Just before dawn in the hills near the Scottish border, a man murders a young woman. At the same time, a hot-air balloon crashes out of the sky. There’s just one survivor.

She’s seen the killer’s face – but he’s also seen hers. And he won’t rest until he’s eliminated the only witness to his crime.

Alone, scared, trusting no one, she’s running to where she feels safe – but it could be the most dangerous place of all . . .

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Sharon Bolton is one of my favorite writers and I have eagerly been waiting for this book to be released in Swedish so I could read it. Bolton has an incredible ability to write thrillers that really grabs hold of your interests and captivate one from start to finish. Dead Woman Walking is no exception.

I have to admit that the introduction, with the hot-air balloon trip, is one of the most spectacular I have read. To come up with such an idea. That the story in the book was switching between the present and flashbacks to Jessica and her sister's childhood increased my interest and I found myself unable to put the book down. I really love flashbacks that are as captivating as the present story and I especially like when you begin to understand why the author has added flashbacks to the story. 

Through the book, these were the things I suspected and later found that I had guess right about, but Bolton showed at the same time that she is a champion to trick the reader to believe that one has figured everything out and then turn the table on you. Especially towards the end when several things happened that surprised me.

Dead Woman Walking is a superb thriller, utterly captivating straight through and I really long for the next Sharon Bolton book!

Thanks to Modernista for the review copy!

#Wishlist June: Most Wanted 2017

I was browsing Goodreads trying to come up with a good theme for this month's wishlist when I strumbled over my list of books published this year. Books that I really, really want. So, here are 5 books I hope to get a chance to read (soon)! It's a mix of genres, and several are part of a series. Well, all, but one...;)

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The fifth book and the exciting conclusion to bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's "impossible-to-put-down" Cainsville series, in which she mixes hard-hitting crime writing with phenomenal world-building to create a brand of fiction all her own.

When Olivia Taylor-Jones found out she was not actually the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers, her life exploded. Running from the fall-out, she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois, but she couldn't resist trying to dig out the truth about her birth parents' crimes. She began working with Gabriel Walsh, a fiendishly successful criminal lawyer who also had links to the town; their investigation soon revealed Celtic mysteries at work in Cainsville, and also entangled Olivia in a tense love triangle with the calculating Gabriel and her charming biker boyfriend, Ricky. Worse, troubling visions revealed to Olivia that the three of them were reenacting an ancient drama pitting the elders of Cainsville against the mysterious Huntsmen with Olivia as the prize.

In the series' fifth and final novel, not only does Gabriel's drug addict mother, who he thought was dead, make a surprise reappearance, but Kelley Armstrong delivers a final scary and surprising knock-out twist. It turns out a third supernatural force has been at work all along, a dark and malevolent entity that has had its eye on Olivia since she was a baby and wants to win at any cost.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a new explosive thriller.

Mind Game takes Jane MacGuire back to Scotland where she continues her search for the treasure she’s been chasing for years. But now she’s being plagued by dreams of a girl in danger. Who is this girl, and what is she trying to tell Jane? And will Jane figure it out before it’s too late—for her and the mysterious young woman? Things are further complicated when Seth Caleb comes back into Jane’s life. This time he’s the one in trouble, and Jane will find herself pulled unexpectedly into his world as she fights to save him.

With the adventure, intrigue, and explosive energy that Iris Johansen fans love, Mind Game is a high-octane thriller that readers won’t be able to put down.

The thirteenth novel in Craig Johnson's beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series, the basis for the hit Netflix series Longmire

Sheriff Walt Longmire is enjoying a celebratory beer after a weapons certification at the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy when a younger sheriff confronts him with a photograph of twenty-five armed men standing in front of a Challenger steam locomotive. It takes him back to when, fresh from the battlefields of Vietnam, then-deputy Walt accompanied his mentor Lucian to the annual Wyoming Sheriff's Association junket held on the excursion train known as the Western Star, which ran the length of Wyoming from Cheyenne to Evanston and back. Armed with his trusty Colt .45 and a paperback of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, the young Walt was ill-prepared for the machinations of twenty-four veteran sheriffs, let alone the cavalcade of curious characters that accompanied them.

The photograph--along with an upcoming parole hearing for one of the most dangerous men Walt has encountered in a lifetime of law enforcement--hurtles the sheriff into a head-on collision of past and present, placing him and everyone he cares about squarely on the tracks of runaway revenge.

The search for a kidnapped child leads a courageous railway cop down a twisted trail of murder.

It’s been five months since Special Agent Sydney Parnell survived a violent confrontation with a gang of brutal thugs, an encounter that left her physically and emotionally scarred. Deep down, Sydney fears she isn’t ready for another investigation. But when a woman is murdered on the train tracks and a child is kidnapped, she knows she’s the only one who can lead the hunt for the killer. While Denver police and the FBI chase down blind alleys, Sydney focuses on a single cryptic clue left behind at the crime scene—one that will send her down a path of greed, violence, and long-ago love.

With Denver beset by a series of monsoonlike thunderstorms that threaten to flood the city, Sydney and her K9 partner, Clyde, must wade through a murky trail of murder that stretches back thirty years—all to rescue a child…and catch a killer with a long memory and an insatiable appetite for destruction.

Just before dawn in the hills near the Scottish border, thirteen passengers on a hot-air balloon flight witness a brutal murder. Within the next hour, all but one of them will be dead.

Alone, scared and trusting no-one, she flees for her life, running to the one place she feels safe. But she's seen the killer's face, and he's seen hers - and he won't rest until he's eliminated the last witness to his crime . . .

That's it my friends! There are several more I want to read published this year. But 5 it is (this time!)

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Want to see more wishlist?

Check out these that my friends have posted:

Erin at Flashlight Commentary

Stephanie at Layered Pages

Heather at The Maiden's Court

Colleen at A Literary Vacation

Holly at 2 Kids and Tired

The Top 15 books of 2016

My Top 10 books of 2016 quickly turned into top 15 instead of 10 when I started to go through the books I've read. It could just as easily have been top 20, but I had to draw a line somewhere. The books are in no particular order because that would just mean hours of agony and indecision. So, on to the books: 

From New York Times bestselling author and famed former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein comes a chilling new Alexandra Cooper novel, Entombed, in which Alex matches wits with the master of detective fiction himself-Edgar Allan Poe...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Sometimes I wish that she’d just leave me in peace . . .

Psychologist Evi is worried about one of her patients – a woman who is convinced her little girl is still alive. Two years after the fire that burnt their house down.

Meanwhile, the new vicar in town is feeling strangely unwelcome. Disturbing events seem designed to scare him away.

And a young boy keeps seeing a strange, solitary girl playing in the churchyard. Who is she and what is she trying to tell him?

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Media calls him "The Birthday boy" because he kidnappers girls just before they turn thirteen and then he sends pictures of them home to their families showing how he slowly tortures them to death. Every year they get a new card. 5 years ago Detective Constable Ash Henderson's daughter Rebecca was kidnapped. One year later get a card, but he keeps that a secret for his colleagues and because if they would know would he not be able to stay on the investigation...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

From the bestselling author of Girl in Translation, a novel about a young woman torn between her family duties in Chinatown and her escape into the world of ballroom dancing...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Mary Russell is used to dark secrets—her own, and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Jerome Burnel was once a hero. He intervened to prevent multiple killings and in doing so damned himself. His life was torn apart. He was imprisoned, brutalized.

But in his final days, with the hunters circling, he tells his story to private detective Charlie Parker. He speaks of the girl who was marked for death but was saved, of the ones who tormented him, and an entity that hides in a ruined stockade...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. An ancient species, long dormant, is now very much awake...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Lorena "Hick" Hickok is assigned to cover Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1932 political campaign. This is the start of a love story that would last for years, despite long periods of separations and the fact that Eleanor Roosevelt was to become The First Lady of United States. But, this love story could not last. Madame, that Hick so lovingly called Eleanor could never become someone anonymous again, even after FDR death.

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

In her storied career as a Texas Ranger, Caitlin has confronted all manner of villains, but nothing that’s prepared her for the terrorist group ISIS’s pursuit of a devastating weapon on Lone Star State soil. The land in question lies on an Indian reservation where a drilling operation steeped in mystery and controversy is about to commence under the auspices of shadowy billionaire Cray Rawls...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Held captive for eight years, Lily has grown from a teenager to an adult in a small basement prison. Her daughter Sky has been a captive her whole life. But one day their captor leaves the deadbolt unlocked...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Samantha Whipple is used to stirring up speculation wherever she goes. As the last remaining descendant of the Brontë family, she's rumored to have inherited a vital, mysterious portion of the Brontë's literary estate; diaries, paintings, letters, and early novel drafts; a hidden fortune that's never been shown outside of the family.,,

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

The dead don’t tell secrets… unless you listen.

The girl’s smashed-in face stared unseeing up to the blue sky, soil spilling out of her mouth. A hundred flies hovered above the bloodied mess.

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

A five-year-old boy from a remote farm on the plains of Skåne disappear late one summer evening in 1983. The only trail after him is a shoe in the tall corn fields. 

Although the whole neighborhood gets involved in the search do they not find him, and rumors and suspicions spread quickly. And, the clumsy criminal investigation is, in the end, closed down when they can't find the boy, and the grief and uncertainty get the boy's family to slowly fall apart.

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Thoughts and honorable mentions:

The hardest part was I found other really great books while making this list. But, I decided when I made this list that I would not change since it would only make everything messy. And, soon I would be up in Top 25 instead of top 15...;)

But, I would like to mention some really great books that I read during 2016 that I found to be brilliant: Dead Man Walking by Simon R. Green, Arrowood by Laura McHugh, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, Melody Bittersweet and The Girls' Ghostbusting Agency by Kitty French and Redemption Road by John Hart...Honestly I could go on and list all my 5-star books, but instead just check out my Goodreads page! 😉

When you are done here can you check out my friend's lists/wrap ups:

Layered Pages

The Maiden's Court

2 Kids and Tired

Blood Harvest by Sharon Bolton (SWE/ENG)

Blood Harves by Sharon Bolton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW

Tolvåriga Tom Fletcher och hans familj har precis flyttat till det lilla samhället Heptonclough i utkanten av en vidsträckt hed. Familjen verkar äntligen ha funnit sitt drömhem. Men snart rämnar fernissan. Tom börjar höra röster och ser en underlig flicka smyga omkring vid kyrkogården. Han är övertygad om att han är förföljd.

De vuxna i Toms närhet försöker hjälpa honom, inklusive psykiatrikern Evi Oliver och samhällets nye kyrkoherde, Harry Laycock.

Men det visar sig snart att något inte står rätt till i Heptonclough. Det som familjen Fletcher till en början trodde var busstreck visar sig vara rena hot. Och när Toms yngre syskon Milly och Joe försvinner blir mardrömmen verklighet.

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Sharon Bolton har snabbt blivit en av mina favorit författare och Ond Skörd är definitivt en av de bästa böcker hon har skrivit. Från början är boken kuslig och mystisk och den behåller den tonen rakt igenom till det chockerade slutet. Men tursamt nog så har boken lite mer lättsamma ögonblick tack vare psykiatrikern Evi Oliver och kyrkoherden Harry Laycock. Det är definitivt attraktion mellan dem från första ögonblicket de träffas och sedan fortsätter det genom hela boken. Vad mer kan jag säga än att jag gillar verkligen mina mord mysterium med lite romantik. Men, allting går inte på räls, Evi har en patient som har ett gott öga på kyrkoherden.

Sedan har vi bokens själva berättelse, den mystiska flickan som Tom ser och den underliga kyrkan. För att inte glömma alla de döda flickorna. Sedan får vi givetvis inte glömma byns skumma ritualer, mellan varven trodde jag hela byn var ond som filmen The Wicker Man från 1973. Jag förväntade mig inte alls slutet, det tog mig verkligen på sängen att få reda på vem som låg bakom allting och varför.

Ond Skörd är definitivt en av de bästa böcker jag har läst detta år och jag rekommenderar den varmt!

Tack till Modernista för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

She's been watching us for a while now...

Now you see her

Gillian is haunted by the disappearance of her little girl two years ago. A devastating fire burned down their home, but she remains convinced her daughter survived.

Now you don't

Ten year old Tom lived by a neglected church. Is he the only one who sees the strange, solitary child playing there? And what is she trying to tell him?

Now you run

There's a new vicar in town - Harry. But menacing events suggest he isn't welcome. What terrible secret is this town hiding?

Sometimes I wish that she'd just leave me in peace.

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Sharon Bolton has quickly become one of my favorite authors and Blood Harvest is definitely one of the best she has written. Right from the start is the book quite chilling and mysterious and it keeps being that for the entirely book all the way to the shocking ending. But, fortunately, there are lighter moments thanks to psychiatrist Evi Oliver and the Vicar Harry Laycock. They hit off from the first moments and after that every time they met the sparks fly. What can I say I love my murder mysteries with a bit of romance. However, not everything is going smoothly between them, she's having a patient that is quite sweet on the good Vicar.

Then we have the heart of the book, the mysterious girl that Tom sees and the strange church. And, what about the dead girls? Not to mention the village old strange rituals. I kid you not, there were times I thought that the whole village was evil, kind of like the movie The Wicker Man from 1973. I did not expect the ending, I was actually a bit blindsided to whom could be behind it all and the reason for everything was shocking!

Blood Harvest is one of the best books I've read this year and I recommend it warmly!

Thanks to Modernista for the review copy! 

Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton (SWE/ENG)

Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW

Berömda mördare har fanklubbar.
Hamish Wolfe är inte annorlunda. Han kommer att sitta inspärrad resten av livet för att ha kidnappat och mördat tre kvinnor – och får mängder av beundrarbrev varje dag. Han är snygg, karismatisk och har en stor övertalningsförmåga. Hans beundrare är säkra på att han är oskyldig. Och på att han är deras drömmars man.

Vem skulle gå med i en sådan fanklubb?

Maggie Rose är advokat och bästsäljande true crime-författare, lika tillbakadragen som hon är framgångsrik. Hon tar bara de fall hon vet att hon kommer vinna. Hamish vill ha Rose som sin advokat. Han vill att hon ska förändra hans öde. Hon är övertygad om att hon är immun mot den charm som den här sortens man kan besitta.

Men kanske är Hamish Wolfe annorlunda…

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Wow, vilken bok. vad jag älskar med Boltons böcker är inte bara hennes förmåga att skriva spännande böcker med otroliga vändningar, utan även hennes förmåga att skapa intressanta och fascinerande karaktärer som Maggie Rose och Hamish Wolfe. Från början fängslades jag av handlingen och jag älskade känslan av att inte veta hur allting skulle sluta. Är Hamish oskyldig eller inte? Varför håller polisen som fångade Hamish så stor koll på Maggie? Han övervakade henne så mycket så det kändes som att han förföljde honom. Och den största frågan, vem är egentligen Maggie Hope?

Daisy i kedjor gav upphov till många frågor medan jag läste boken och det är svårt att skriva vad som fängslade mig så mycket med boken utan att avslöja saker. Men jag vill säga detta. boken är oerhört spännande, med vändningar som jag absolut inte hade räknat med och ett alldeles fantastiskt slut. Utan tvekan är detta en av de bästa böcker jag har läst detta år!

Tack till Modernista för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

Famous killers have fan clubs.

Hamish Wolfe is no different. Locked up for the rest of his life for the abduction and murder of three young women, he gets countless adoring letters every day. He's handsome, charismatic and very persuasive. His admirers are convinced he's innocent, and that he's the man of their dreams.

Who would join such a club?

Maggie Rose is different. Reclusive and enigmatic; a successful lawyer and bestselling true-crime writer, she only takes on cases that she can win.

Hamish wants her as his lawyer, he wants her to change his fate. She thinks she's immune to the charms of a man like this. But maybe not this time . . .

Would you?

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Oh wow, what a book. What a ride! What I love with Sharon Bolton's books is not only her ability to write thrilling twisted stories, that's her ability to create interesting and extremely fascinating characters like Maggie Rose and Hamish Wolfe. From the beginning was I captivated with the story and I loved the feeling of not knowing how it all would end. I mean questions like; is Hamish innocent or not, why is the cop that caught Hamish keeping a close eye on Maggie, that is starting to feel a bit stalkerish,and who the hell is Maggie Hope, what makes her tick?

Many, many questions went through my head during the time I read the book. And, it's hard to write about what's so interesting about it without giving anything away. But, I will say this, nothing is at it seems, sure some things that happen makes sense, but I never saw that ending coming. This is one of the best books I have read this year!

I want to thank Random House for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

The 5 best books read in May

Choosing the 5 best books for May was actually quite hard since I read a couple of pretty good books and I only gave one book five stars, but I gave quite many four stars. So, anyway, here is my try in making a list of 5 books that I loved in May! 

A dark, gripping novel from the author of The Weight of Bloodabout a mysterious kidnapping and the ways in which our lives are shaped by the stories we create about our past

Arrowood is the most ornate and beautiful of the grand historical houses that line the Mississippi River in southern Iowa, where the days are long and humid and communities are small and closed. It has its own secrets and ghostly presence: It’s where Arden’s young twin sisters were abducted nearly twenty years ago—never to be seen again. Now, Arden has inherited Arrowood, and she returns to her childhood home determined to establish what really happened that traumatic summer. But the house and the surrounding town hold their secrets close—and the truth, when Arden finds it, is more devastating than she ever could have imagined.

4.5 stars

Althea Bell is still heartbroken by her mother’s tragic, premature death—and tormented by the last, frantic words she whispered into young Althea’s ear: Wait for her. For the honeysuckle girl. She’ll find you, I think, but if she doesn’t, you find her.

Adrift ever since, Althea is now fresh out of rehab and returning to her family home in Mobile, Alabama, determined to reconnect with her estranged, ailing father. While Althea doesn’t expect him, or her politically ambitious brother, to welcome her with open arms, she’s not prepared for the chilling revelation of a grim, long-buried family secret. Fragile and desperate, Althea escapes with an old flame to uncover the truth about her lineage. Drawn deeper into her ancestors’ lives, Althea begins to unearth their disturbing history…and the part she’s meant to play in it.

Gripping and visceral, this unforgettable debut delves straight into the heart of dark family secrets and into one woman’s emotional journey to save herself from a sinister inheritance.

Big Fish meets The Notebook in this emotionally evocative story about a man, a woman, and an alligator that is a moving tribute to love, from the author of the award-winning memoir Rocket Boys—the basis of the movie October Sky

Elsie Lavender and Homer Hickam (the father of the author) were high school classmates in the West Virginia coalfields, graduating just as the Great Depression began. When Homer asked for her hand, Elsie instead headed to Orlando where she sparked with a dancing actor named Buddy Ebsen (yes, that Buddy Ebsen). But when Buddy headed for New York, Elsie’s dreams of a life with him were crushed and eventually she found herself back in the coalfields, married to Homer.

Unfulfilled as a miner’s wife, Elsie was reminded of her carefree days with Buddy every day because of his unusual wedding gift: an alligator named Albert she raised in the only bathroom in the house. When Albert scared Homer by grabbing his pants, he gave Elsie an ultimatum: “Me or that alligator!” After giving it some thought, Elsie concluded there was only one thing to do: Carry Albert home.

Carrying Albert Home is the funny, sweet, and sometimes tragic tale of a young couple and a special alligator on a crazy 1000-mile adventure. Told with the warmth and down-home charm that made Rocket Boys/October Sky a beloved bestseller, Homer Hickam’s rollicking tale is ultimately a testament to that strange and marvelous emotion we inadequately call love.

4 stars

Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly lady of 926 Augur Lane, has enlisted the investigative services of her fellow residents to solve a decade-old murder—her own. Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, Detective R. F. Jackaby, dive into the cold case, starting with a search for Jenny’s fiancé, who went missing the night she died. But when a new, gruesome murder closely mirrors the events of ten years prior, Abigail and Jackaby realize that Jenny’s case isn’t so cold after all, and her killer may be far more dangerous than they suspected.

Fantasy and folklore mix with mad science as Abigail’s race to unravel the mystery leads her across the cold cobblestones of nineteenth-century New England, down to the mythical underworld, and deep into her colleagues’ grim histories to battle the most deadly foe she has ever faced.

In this masterful debut that starts off as a mystery and becomes much more, Tora Hamilton is an outsider at her new home on the rocky, wind-swept Shetland Islands, a hundred miles from the northeastern tip of Scotland. Though her husband grew up here, it’s the first time he’s been back in twenty years. Digging in the peat on their new property, Tora unearths a human body, at first glance a centuries-old bog body, interesting but not uncommon. But realizing that the body is in fact much newer, that the woman’s heart has been cut out and that she was killed within a few days of bearing a child, Tora, herself an obstetrician, becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her—even when the police, her colleagues and eventually her husband warn her against getting involved.

Sacrifice is a bone-chilling, spell-binding debut that will grip readers from its beginning to its startling end.

Sacrifice by Sharon Bolton (SWE/ENG)

Sacrifice by S.J. Bolton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW

När Tora flyttar till Shetlandsöarna är hon väl medveten om att hon kommer att behöv tampas med ett kallt klimat såväl som ogästvänliga människor: en inte bara fysisk, utan också psykisk isolering. Men hon hade aldrig kunnat drömma om att hon skulle gräva upp ett stympat kvinnolik på sin tomt, och därigenom dra fram flera mörka hemligheter – och en oroväckande legend – i ljuset.

Märkena på kvinnans kropp är otäckt lika en typ av ristningar som finns utspridda över hela ön. Och Toras efterforskningar visar att kvinnor med en illavarslande regelbundenhet försvinner härifrån.

Vad har hänt dessa kvinnor? Och varför varnar hela lokalbefolkningen – inklusive hennes man – Tora och uppmanar henne att lägga sin »besatthet« åt sidan? Ju längre hon kommer i sina efterforskningar, desto mer tvivlar hon på att hon någonsin kommer att lämna ön med livet i behåll...

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Sharon Bolton has a underbar förmåga att skriva böcker som håller ens intresse uppe från början till slut. Som med alla andra böcker jag har läst av Sharon Bolton så är offer både fängslande och fascinerande att läsa. Men inte bara berättelsen är bra. Karaktärerna; Tora, Duncan, Kenn, Dana och Andy får liv och i och med att det är en thriller så vet man inte heller vem man ska lita på medan man läser boken. Precis som Tora inte hade en aning om vem hon kunde lite på. En sak som jag verkligen gillade var att Dana Tullock är med i boken. Jag har läst om henne i Bolton's Lacey Flint böcker och det var en trevlig överraskning att ha en henne plötsligt dyka upp i handlingen.

Handlingen är intressant och besynnerlig och alla verkar arbeta emot Tora förutom Dana. Är det så att de faktiskt har något skumt på gång eller är Tora bara paranoid? Att lägga handlingen på Shetland tycker jag är ett briljant drag då det skapar en speciall atmosfär. Alla dessa familjer som känner varandra, kanske de till och med har hemligheter ihop?

Eftersom jag inte vill avslöja för mycket av av handlingen tänker jag bara avrunda denna recension med att säga att det är en briljant bok med intressanta vändningar och jag njöt verkligen av att läsa boken. Handlingen blev aldrig tråkig eller seg, den rörde sig framåt i en perfekt hastighet och jag var nästan liten ledsen över att komma till slutet för jag hade fäst mig vid Tora och de andra.

Tack till Modernista för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

In this masterful debut that starts off as a mystery and becomes much more, Tora Hamilton is an outsider at her new home on the rocky, wind-swept Shetland Islands, a hundred miles from the northeastern tip of Scotland. Though her husband grew up here, it’s the first time he’s been back in twenty years. Digging in the peat on their new property, Tora unearths a human body, at first glance a centuries-old bog body, interesting but not uncommon. But realizing that the body is in fact much newer, that the woman’s heart has been cut out and that she was killed within a few days of bearing a child, Tora, herself an obstetrician, becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her—even when the police, her colleagues and eventually her husband warn her against getting involved.

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Sharon Bolton has a wonderful ability to write books that keep you interested from the beginning until the end. Sacrifice is just like the rest of the books that I have read engrossing and fascinating to read. But, not only the story is good. The characters, Tora, Duncan, Kenn, Dana, and Andy and the rest come alive through the pages and since this is a thriller you just don't know who to trust while reading the book. Just as Tora don't know who to trust. One thing that I liked very much with the book is that Dana Tulloch is in it. I have read about her in Bolton's Lacey Flint books and it was a pleasant surprise to have her suddenly show up in this book.

The story is interesting and strange and everyone seems to be working against Tora, well except Dana. Are they hiding something, or is it just Tora that's being paranoid? I think having the books setting on Shetland is a brilliant move since it adds a special tone to the book. All those families that know each other are they perhaps hiding something?

I don't want to spoil the story, I just want to say that it's a brilliant book, with twists and turns and I enjoyed it very much. It just never got boring, it didn't move too fast forward, it had a great pace and I was almost a bit sad to read the ending because I grew to like Tora and the rest of the characters very much.

Thanks to Modernista for the review copy!

A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton

A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lacey Flint is now working with the Marine Police so that she can have a more peaceful life. She now lives alone on a houseboat, trying to get over the man she is in love with, Mark Joesbury. But, then Mark  goes missing during an undercover assignment and there are rumours that he may be a dirty cop. Lacey can't believe that, but why has he gone AWOL? And, if that's not enough, she discovers a carefully wrapped body when she is swimming in the Themes... 

A Dark and Twisted Tide is the fourth (and last? I hope not) book in the Lacey Flint series and just like the other three is it a very thrilling book with a great story. There are a lot of things going on in the book; Mark's missing, Lacey finding a dead body and then someone is leaving small gifts on her boat and Dana Tulloch is trying to solve the dead body case and also planning on have a child. It's a well-written, interesting and suspenseful thriller, a real page-turner. 

Lacey Flint is such a great character, with her mysterious past and her tendency to find trouble wherever she is. The case in this book was interesting, and there are turns and twists in the story that I definitely didn't see coming.  Bolton really knows how to write a story that keeps you captivated from the beginning until the end. I have grown very fond of Lacey, Mark, and Dana during the readings of the books. 

The ending is great. I love the kind of ending that you really can't see coming and you are lost to the world around you and when you have turned the last page is it with a bit of sadness, but also with satisfaction. A Dark and Twisted Tide is a book like that.

Like This, For Ever by S.J. Bolton

Like This, For Ever by S.J. Bolton
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Young boys are kidnapped and then found drained of blood. There are no clues nor witnesses  to be found. And, at any time could a boy be taken and killed. For Detectives Dana Tulloch and Mark Joesbury is this a frustrating case and for Dana is it hard to see the bodies of the little boys left on a Thames beach. She has never thought about being a mother, but this case stirred emotions in her she never thought she would have. For Lacey Flint is the case nothing she wants to get involved in, she hasn't recuperated from her ordeal in Oxford and getting involved in a new case is the last thing she wants unless she involuntary gets dragged into it...

Like This, For Ever is the third book in the Lacey Flint series and it's a dark story, just like the other books. The killing of children is, in my opinion, the hardest kind of crime books to read. That and killing of animals. There is just something unthinkable about hurting the innocent that reading books about it is really hard. 

The interesting thing about this book is that we beside Mark, Dana, Lacey, the usual characters involved in the book's narrations we also get the narrative of a young boy Barney through the book. He is a neighbor to Lacey, and she is worried when he is out late. He meanwhile is also studying the case of the missing boys and he discovers there are patterns to the murders...

There are a lot of potential suspects in this book, but the story took a different turn than I had expected. I always love the part of the book when everything starts to come together and make sense and in this book. In this book, it's like getting a bucket of ice cold water emptied over your head. The kind of conclusion when you're are taken with the story, but there is also a dread in reading it because you are figuring it out...

Beside the case we Mark trying to get through to Lacey, one would think that the ending of the second book would have solved some things in their relationship, but Lacey seems to be hell-bent on pushing Mark out of her life, despite her feelings for him. I'm however glad that the case from the last book seems to have been closed, I did feel that the previous book ended with some questions never answered when it came to the case in Oxford. I'm pleased that's over. It was also great to have Dana back since she was absent in the previous book and also it was really great to finally meet Huck, Mark's son. Love that name. Huckleberry Joesbury. I think it's probably good that I don't have children...;)

You can read the books as stand-alone, but personally, I feel that you will understand the story and especially understand Lacey Flint better if you read the series from the beginning.

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In such a small community as the Falkland Islands, a missing child is unheard of. In such a dangerous landscape it can only be a terrible tragedy, surely...

When another child goes missing, and then a third, it’s no longer possible to believe that their deaths were accidental, and the villagers must admit that there is a murderer among them. Even Catrin Quinn, a damaged woman living a reclusive life after the accidental deaths of her own two sons a few years ago, gets involved in the searches and the speculation.

And suddenly, in this wild and beautiful place that generations have called home, no one feels safe and the hysteria begins to rise.

But three islanders—Catrin, her childhood best friend, Rachel, and her ex-lover Callum—are hiding terrible secrets. And they have two things in common: all three of them are grieving, and none of them trust anyone, not even themselves.

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Catrin and Rachel have been best friends since they were children but after Catrin's children died when Rachel was babysitting have their friendship abruptly ended. Now they both are suffering, Catrin by grief and Rachel by guilt. Then a child goes missing and that is not the first child missing on the Falklands since Catrin's children died...and then Rachel youngest child is taken and everyone thinks Catrin is behind that.

I had a hard time getting into the book. The story is very, very dark. The book is divided into three part, first Catrin, then Callum (Catrin's ex-lover) and finally Rachel. They all tell their story during the days that the child is missing. Catrin is consumed with the thought of killing Rachel, and I was a bit uncertain if I really would be able to finish the book while I read her part of the book. It was just so dark and there is a part in the book that involves stranded whales that really bothered me. I actually closed the book at that part and decided to read something else.

But then when I picked up the book again some day later and thought that I read some more to see if the story gets, well more "enjoyable", and the story started to get better when Callum took over the reins and you get some more backstory to everything. But it's the ending, Rachel's part that truly makes the book a 4-star book and not a 3-star book. The last 100 pages are packed with twists. You think that you have everything figured out and then something is revealed and you realize that nope you hadn't. And there is some ray of light towards the end that made me happy and when you think that everything is going to be fine BAM a new twist that I never ever saw coming!