Goodness me! Sharon Bolton has made a welcome return to the Lacey Flint series with The Dark, which was published this week, and what a return it is!

I have been a firm fan of this series, since winning the first book, Now You See Me, in a Twitter competition some years ago and after an extended break – in which Sharon Bolton didn’t actually take a break, as she wrote several excellent standalone novels – Lacey is back with all of the ingredients that make these novels so compelling.

In The Dark, we delve a bit further into some of the details of Lacey’s life that we already know from previous novels, but then are bang up to date with terrorist activity from a group of incels who are terrorising London’s women. Using the quick connection methods of social media, they are gathering to disrupt a landmark event taking place in the capital – with Flint, and Mark Joesbury trying to stop them.

In this novel, as in all her other books, Sharon Bolton is expert at leading the reader up the garden path – like a good magician, you won’t notice the misdirection until she’s ready, but the payoff is just brilliant!

I think what makes Sharon Bolton’s novels so terrifying is that some of the crimes and plots she describes are perfectly believeable. Groups similar to that in this novel are in the news, we know they exist online, if you spend any time at all on social media, you see their hateful comments towards women, so it’s not a huge leap to consider that the events in this novel could happen.

Alongside this immediate threat, there is a direct threat to Lacey, which is tied to her early life – but could it explain some of what is happening to the rest of London’s women?

I can’t heap enough praise on this book, and this series. Sharon Bolton shows that there is plenty of life left in Lacey’s story and so many more threads that could be picked up in future and, if you’d like to, you could read this book in isolation, but you really would be missing a treat! I can’t recommend them enough.

The book starts with Lacey, before her police days, when she was troubled. Many years later a group of males start a group on the dark web, hating women. Lacey and her team race to stop these dangerous men, whilst her past comes into play.
Excellent book, well planned and interesting plot and characters. I found the views fascinating and couldn't guess how it would end. Brilliant read!

This was my first Sharon Bolton book, although I do have several on my shelf which I will now be moving up the TBR!

This book was brilliant! We start off on a beachy cliff where decisions are made. 12 years later we are in London, where a baby is snatched and put in the Thames. This is the beginning of a shocking new movement.

I hadn't heard the term Incel before so this was all new to me but it was so well done, I managed to keep up.

This story builds as the danger increases. Are the 'men only' followers really about to bring terror to the UK and demand that male superiority is restored at the expense of females, or will the females in this story combine to bring about law and order and normality?
Lacey Flint isn't Lacy Flint. You'll soon find out why after reading the opening chapter. She has a secret to hide. However, someone else knows her secret. Who will win the outcome and what are the consequences for those people that surrounds these two? Lacey's love life confuses matters which brings different elements to the confusion. You wouldn't want the story too easy to solve.
A child being taken is always going to stir feelings and the writer manages this well as the tension increases. I'm not so sure about her close work colleagues and I'm not sure I trust the journalist, but sometimes you must trust those close to you, but who do you let into your tight circle?
I have read Sharon Bolton before and was very pleased with that book and this. A free copy was nice to receive and doesn't change my review. I enjoyed this story which made me read until the end, hoping the pages would turn quicker on the kindle. I will definitely read more by this writer after this excellent novel.

I was delighted to get a chance to return to Lacey Flint once again and Sharon Bolton did not disappoint. It took me a while to remember the back story of Lacy and could of done with a recap but I soon caught up. Pacy, edgy, and full of twists and turns. I enjoy all the characters developed in this series and really hope that we get the opportunity to return to Lacey's world once again. I would defintely recommend the whole series for anyone who loves thrillers, but i'm not sure it is a stand alone read.

My heart was raving throughout this book! Such a clever plot, intricately weaving the elements together.

I loved the characters, even the bad ones, well written and enough uncertainty to have you questioning who is the bad guy(s)!

A great, fast paced book, full of modern themes. A must read.

I loved this! It's a gripping crime book that astutely gathers in social commentary, and imagines a world that isn't that different from our own, but where the rights and freedoms of women are gradually encroached upon, a change brought a bout by fear. I was delighted to see the return of Lacey Flint, Mark Joesbury, Dana and Helen, and while you don't have to have read the previous books in the series, the character arc is well worth it.

Memorable, dark, puzzling and a very satisfying read.

What's the book about?

Lacey is on the scene to save a baby who is yanked from its pram and thrown into the Thames. DCI Mark and his team have identified a new terrorist threat from the extremist, women-hating group 'incels' or 'involuntary celibates.' His team learns that the kidnapped child was only the first in a series of violent attacks aimed at terrorising women. Things become even more tense as Lacey appears to have been singled out by the movement's leaders as the embodiment of everything they despise, putting her in grave danger.

My thoughts:

Always good to see another installment of a series you've invested so much time and energy in. This topic is such a relevant one and it's creepy how my girl friends and I were discussing something similar to this misogyny just a few weeks ago. I'm glad to see Lacey is back and the book itself is a compelling, twisted and tense novel!

My first encounter with Lacey Flint resonates. The characterisation is so complete with snippets from the past illuminating the present that it reads well as a standalone book. It's fast-paced, contemporary and has a dystopian vibe, but given the current climate, it's believable, making it so dark and disturbing. There is a believably created investigating team dynamic with a good balance of investigation and personal experiences. Lacey's extraordinary secret past threatens to destroy her present, and this is cleverly woven into the investigation, making Lacey vulnerable.

I love the complex characters, the contemporariness of the plot and the atmospheric setting; interwoven with the menacing, mysterious ethos, this is a riveting read.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This was another excellent novel in this series. It was tense from the start and didn’t stop until the end. I enjoyed the interplay between the characters and found it sadly true to life. Recommended

Thank you to #NetGalley for my advance copy of #TheDark by #SharonBolton

What a read, starts with a bang and the tension grows and grows.
Detective Lacey Flint is near the Thames when a baby is grabbed from their mother and thrown into the fast flowing water.
Although the child is saved this is just the start of a reign of fear engulfing the UK.
A group calling themselves MenMatter are calling on men to rise up and put women back where they belong, in the Kitchen.
A terrifying read that seems to be far fetched but maybe it’s closer than we think.
Absolutely brilliant.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the first book I read by this author and it was a great discovery as this book kept me on the edge till the end.
It's one of those book I started just-to-check-how-it-is and left happy and sleep deprived as I read till late in the night.
The plot is tense and well developed, excellent storyteller, great characters.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Wow this book was such a rollercoaster ride. So exciting. Seemingly the fifth instalment of the Lacey Flint series ( I hadn’t read any of the previous books) although can be read as a standalone. The action starts immediately as a baby is thrown into the River Thames, by coincidence Lacey is there and attempts to mount a rescue. Action packed, believable and very much set in the modern day. I am definitely adding the previous Lacey Flint novels to my tbr list.

Thanks to netgalley for access to an arc.

You can read The Dark without having read the others in the Lacey Flint series, but I can tell you that if you do, you’ll be heading straight for the back catalogue to read the others, because this is an addictive series with a must read character in Lacey Flint.

This is a series I adore and Sharon Bolton has kept us waiting eight years for the next instalment. Has the wait been worth it? You bet it has!

Sharon Bolton’s timely and exciting novel focuses on a rising threat to women – the incel or involuntary celibate movement which is rearing its head in a number of places. In a tense, exciting and very pacy novel, Bolton cleverly mixes together current right wing political strands and tendencies with this movement to produce an ugly and compelling picture of what could happen without it once feeling at all far-fetched.

Lacey Flint’s background and the secrets she keeps are to the fore here as she faces up to a formidable adversary. This is someone she has met before; someone who can bring down everything she has worked for. Her relationship with DCI Mark Joesbury has been on the back burner for a while; getting too close was threatening both Lacey’s freedom and making her fear that she could bring Joesbury down with her.

But the upsurge in violent misogyny brings the two together as they combine to fight an enemy that has tentacles everywhere.

Sharon Bolton’s writing is piercing, brilliant, dark and seriously unnerving as she so cleverly cpatures the heart of the incel movement and how it could be used and manipulated to subjugate and terrify women. It is a very scary and horribly plausible scenario.

The Dark is a brilliant book with coruscating, intense writing, brilliantly unpredictable plotting and some characters who will strike a resonant chord with readers. Sharon Bolton isn’t slow to draw her own parallels with events that are happening elsewhere in the world either, lest any woman reading this book start to feel that this is after all, only fiction. I wish that were so, but as she scarily points out, the world is changing for women and in far too many cases, not for the better.

I think that’s one reason this book really got to me. Yes, it is a fantastic thriller with great characters, lots of action, danger, thrills and spills, but it is also highlighting a serious trend that women everywhere need to be alive to.

Verdict: Tense, scary, plausible with terrific characters, serious engagement with a clever and insidious plot and wonderful writing. This is Bolton on top class form and she is unbeatable. Just wonderful.

When off duty Lacey is chatting with friends beside the River Thames when a man snatches a baby & throws it into a child's inflatable unicorn. Fortunately Lacey is able to rescue the child. The event is a horrible one but DCI Mark Joesbury is not altogether surprised. Whilst monitoring the Dark Web there has been an increase in activity by 'Incels' - men who consider themselves involuntarily celibate & consequently hate women & would like to see them barefoot & catering to a man's every whim! As their activities grow more violent, it seems that they have in in for Lacey. She begins to suspect that something that happened in her past is connected but if it came out, her carefully constructed life could collapse around her.

It's been a long time since there was a Lacey Flint book. As it is one of my favourite crime series I was thrilled to see this one. It's been a long wait but it was well worth it. The story like the title is dark & frighteningly believable. I loved it! I do hope this means we won't have to wait so long before me meet Lacey & Mark again. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Another great read from Sharon Bolton.
This book features Lacey Flint who has been in other books but I’m not sure if I’ve read them.
There’s enough of a backstory though so I was able to follow.
This book is a bit of a shocker in places as a group of men are attacking women and want them to be treated as inferior to men as punishment for how they’ve made men feel in the past.
They think nothing of attempting to harm babies and even using acid on defenceless women.
Lacey is drawn into the case but soon it turns personal and her secret is threatened to be exposed.
This is a gripping crime thriller.
Thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The Dark is the 5th in a series of books but if you haven’t read the others ( I hadn’t) you are in with the characters within a couple of chapters and totally drawn in. Sharon Bolton is brilliant at creating fabulous, believable characters and throwing them into an unbelievably tense situation.
MenMattter is an incel group operating on the dark web, they embark on a series of violent stunts which begin to threaten the safety and freedom of every woman. Trying to unmask the shadowy figures behind the movement are Lacey Flint and her friends and colleagues Mark And Dana. However, Lacey isn’t sharing some key information linking her to the ring leader, AryanBoy.
The plot ratchets up the tension to the point that you almost can’t read on, it’s very cleverly done and brilliantly written. Sharon Bolton just writes the perfect thriller, I’m going to find the rest of the series!
Thank you to #netgalley and #orionbooks for allowing to review this ARC

I had not realised that this title was the fifth in a series but it was easy to read as a stand alone. The tension created from the Prologue and then Part One was intense and it never eased. This was edge of the seat reading from the start.
Lacey Flint and DCI Mark Joesbury find themselves working together again in the fight against a group of incels (involuntary celibates) on the dark web who appear to be intent on putting women back in their place - in the home, serving their menfolk and inferior. It is unnerving and Sharon Bolton's writing makes this sound feasible and terrifying. From start to finish an edge of the seat read.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Sharon Bolton/Orion Publishing for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Dark is just that... Dark! It deals with abduction, misogynism and mayhem, and that's just to begin with. Very well written and very thought provoking at times too, with a storyline that you can't put down! Only having read it did I discover that it's part of a series however it reads well as a standalone.
Overall 4.5*
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

Sharon Bolton is one of my favourite authors and I have read almost all of her books.
This is the newest instalment in the Lacey Flint series. You can read it as a stand-alone but you will struggle to understand some of the back story and character relationships without reading the previous 4 books.
This picks up where book 4 left off with Lacey still working on the river, she is yet again pulled into a police case and becomes a target.
As always I was pulled into the story immediately and struggled to put it down!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️