Before reading this book for Net galley I had not realised this was the 5th instalment in the Lacey Flint series. To be honest that did not spoil my enjoyment of the book and with reference made to other books it was easy to pick up. The story begins with the kidnap of a baby which is the work of a new incel movement called MenMatter. The movement then engage on a series of micro aggression's towards women which are terrifying. Although supposedly at random Lacey Flint feels like this is somehow personal.
Although I guessed the identify of the lead protagonist there was still plenty of twists and turns along the way.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author Sharon Bolton for my ARC of TheDark in exchange for an honest review.

I have read many great standalone books by Sharon Bolton, but the first 4 books in the series have somehow slipped by. Despite this I didn’t feel at too much of a disadvantage with the back story. Although the first chapter, felt like it should have been in the first book, so it was a little bit confusing.

But having said that it was a great start that continued throughout the book. Lacey Flint is a strong character with a dark and mysterious back story, a risk taker, with a no-nonsense approach to life and work. This is a well-constructed novel with several plot twists, fast paced, with tension by the bucket load.

Looks like I have some catching up to do!

This is my first Sharon Bolton but won't be my last!

Lacey Flint is a Met cop with the Marine Unit who rescues a baby set adrift on the Thames but she wonders, who would want to harm a baby?

DCI Mark Joesbury knows the answer as his team is tracking a misogynistic group on the Dark Web who want to redress the balance between male and female.

A gripping thriller that leaves you guessing right until the end

Thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing for letting me read it!

A fast paced police thriller based in London with a compelling female lead in Lacey Flint. The city is being terrorised by a series of misogynistic crimes. With a focus on the more sinister aspects of social media, it feels very contemporary and believable. The plotting is tight and the characters are interesting to follow. A very accomplished crime novel which keeps the reader engaged throughout.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the advance copy

Anyone reading The Dark by Sharon Bolton might want to read After Dark by Jayne Cowie as it's almost the complete opposite. The Dark seeks to exploit the notion that men are being undermined in a society which is excessively pro-women and therefore society needs balancing in men's favour, whereas After Dark considers men are too powerful and violent, that their freedom should be curbed and a curfew imposed, leaving women free to roam unharassed at night.
The Dark is a very good thriller with an excellent hook of a potential double suicide at Beachy Head in East Sussex. This sets the scene for Lacey Flint (an assumed identity) to turn her life around and become a police officer. The bulk of the thriller centres on a terrorism threat from a number of individuals who are either incels or people who try and stir up sufficient hatred amongst incels for them to carry out horrendous attacks on women. I have heard the term 'incel' before but never thought it had the following that this novel gave it credence for. So, I Googled it and apparently there is quite a following. One lives and learns. The story builds to make the reader think some major terrorist atrocity is about to happen but in a plot twist it turns in to something else. The novel concludes with Lacey Flint facing her nemesis again, at Beachy Head.
This novel has plenty of pace and some rather good cliffhanger moments but if you break it down in to elements it's similar to so many, especially when it comes to the man on the inside. I will deduct a star for this.
Was Prostrate Cancer UK a typo or some sort of irony?


After Dark
by Jayne Cowie

When Police Officer Lacey Flint rescues a baby that has deliberately been set adrift on a float on the Thames her first question is who would want to hurt a baby.
DCI Mark Joesbury knows exactly who would want to do it. His team have been monitoring an Incel page on the dark web and the chatter is growing.
The incident with the baby is just the start, things will increase in violence and frequency. All of them designed to scare women, to terrify them into hiding away.
Joesbury is determined to find out who is behind the attacks, but the dark web is a place designed for people to hide their real identities, where they can live out their darkest fantasies.
Lacey rescuing the baby wasn't part of the plan and it has made her a target for the group. Joesbury needs to get to the heart of the Incel group, but he also needs to protect Lacey.
This is a brilliantly written, terrifyingly real story. There were parts where I was holding my breath and although its fiction it's the kind of thing you could imagine actually happening.

Lesley Flint #5

When a baby is snatched from its pram and cast into the river Thames, off=duty police officer, Lacy Flint is there to prevent disaster, But who would want to hurt a child? DCI M ark Joesbury has been expecting this. Monitoring a complex network of dark web sites, Joesbury and his team have spotted a new terrorist threat from extremist women-hating group known as ]incels' or 'involuntary celibates'. Joesbury's team are trying to infiltrate the ring of power at its core, but the dark web is built for anonymity, and the incel army is vast.

The Dark is a newly found group of involuntary celibates, or incel extremists calling themselves MenMatter, They intimidate women and threatening a day of retribution. There's some disturbing and shocking moments. I was pulled into this story straight away. This is a well written book with a believable plotline. It's tense, action packed and thrilling. This book can be read as a standalone.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #OrionPublishingGroup and the author #SharonBolton for my ARC of #TheDark in exchange for an honest review.

I read a lot of crime fiction, and ordinarily I can enjoy it as an arms length form of distraction, not something that's relevant to me or my life. That's not the case with 'The Dark', which felt uncomfortably realistic and very close to home, with 50% of the population at risk of danger. I read it with my stomach squirming with nerves and listening out for unknown sounds around me.

Sharon Bolton's latest Lacey Flint book is about an ever growing army of incels and men's right activists (MRAs). Incels- short for involuntary celibates - are men who have been groomed on the dark web by four anonymous men, only known by their nicknames and avatars. They think that women (known by them as 'foids' - female humanoids) have too much power and freedom in society, often at the expense of men like them. The MRAs blame women for their lack of career success, lack of successful relationships and anything in life that they feel isnt their fault - and they are gathering together to address this through violent, shocking and illegal actions. Its time for men to reclaim what is truly theirs by rights. I had my heart in my mouth reading it, keen to see how the situation might be resolved but scared to see what was going to happen before then.

The socio- political aspect of the MRA movement felt very real and well researched; we know that there are people all over social media sharing these kinds of views but I haven't seen them reflected in a crime book in this way before. The threat to all women felt very current and entirely possible. The opinions are sadly nothing new but the way in which they were escalated and hyped up was frighteningly likely. The men who are orchestrating the incels are perceptive and clever in their planning and communications, often causing distractions for the police in order to achieve their true aims.

One of the opening scenes in the book features a man brazenly stealing a baby from a buggy on the Thames foreshore, setting off down the Thames on an inflatable unicorn float, carrying the baby and not caring about the other boats on the river, It is a nerve-racking scene, you can almost feel the wind in your hair and the waves splashing as the inflatable unicorn careers down the Thames, and you read it desperate to know that the child is going to survive. It is clear that the men are doing it for publicity for the MRA cause; the police who arrive on the scene don't yet know who they are dealing with but are desperate to save the baby before its too late.

Lacey Flint, who has starred in numerous books before, is a river patrol police officer, part of a team who patrol the Thames day and night keeping it safe and looking for any potential trouble or mishaps. The Dark is a very welcome return for Lacey, who is a fabulous detective to read about. She is smart and fearless, spotting patterns in behaviour and making links, tackling dangerous situations head on in a selfless fashion. Like all good fictional police officers, she is dealing with her own trauma and secrets, and this affects how she behaves and the decisions that she makes.

I would recommend The Dark to anyone who is looking for a contemporary crime thriller which will keep you glued to the page until the very end.

This is fifth book in the Lacey Flint series.
I had not read the previous books in this series and I was missing the back story.
I enjoyed parts of this book and I thought that Lacey was a very interesting character.
A fast paced thriller with twist and turns.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I do love a good Sharon Bolton book. Always super fast paced, lots of storylines and a sideways dab of romance/personal story. The dark doesn’t disappoint. Loved catching up with Lacey, and good to know they’ll be more books. Recommend.

I don’t think I’ve given any of Sharon Bolton’s books less than a 5 star rating and The Dark certainly doesn’t buck that trend. This probably makes me predictable but Sharon Bolton … Never is!

The Dark is gripping from the beginning, unputdownable and just generally riveting. No one does tension building quite like Ms Bolton and in this, the 5th Lacey Flint novel (possibly the last, although I really hope not) we see Lacey and Mark Joesbury joining forces once more, this time to battle against a terrorism the likes of which the world has never seen before. But on top of this stonkingly good story line we also get some of Lacey’s background and secrets unfolding which is a real treat for those of us who have followed and loved this series all the way through.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Highly recommended.

I wasn’t aware this was a part of a series, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. I don’t feel like I lost out without knowing the full back story.

I really enjoyed this book and I was terrified at how plausible the uprising of incels and the destruction possible.

I liked Lacey and I found myself racing to finish this.

I read "Now You See Me" years ago and loved it. I read The Pact last year and was blown away. I just couldn't get into this one. It was so slow and just seemed a bit too posh for my liking. Prefer gritty and more down to earth stuff.

Still a fan, hasn't put me off but will try the next one.

I haven’t read the first books in this series, but it doesn’t affect reading this book. Opening with a shocking crime involving the snatching of a baby, this book follows the threats of an Incel group and the resultant fear of women across the nation. Gripping and terrifying, this is a book which will stay with me for a long while.

I never repeat the blurb. A very long overdue (so much so that characters and backstories are easily forgotten) escapade with Lacey Flint and co.
Bang up to date in terms of recent storylines and with references to 'real' journalists and people, this was another well thought out installment.

Lacey Flint is back with a bang! It’s been a number of years since the last installment in the Lacey Flint series and Sharon Bolton is on fine form as the opening chapters of “The Dark” flings you right into the action again.

We first encounter Lacey rescuing an innocent infant from a malevolent plot and the truly dark and unnerving world of incels is revealed to the reader. This incel movement is very topical at the moment and as with many of Bolton’s previous books, the subject matter is not for the faint-hearted – misogyny, violence against women, rape, terrorism is afoot and it’s up to Lacey, DCI Mark Joesbury and his team to catch the perpetrators and put a stop to their horrific plans.
Mark Joesbury is also very much back in action and the relationship between him and Lacey is a delight to read in this particular installment. I have to be honest whenever I read about these two I always find myself on edge as some of Bolton’s decisions regarding this couple throughout the series have been frustrating to say the least. However, the “will they/won’t they” thing that has been going on between Mark and Lacey since the series began is finally resolved and we finally, FINALLY get to see them together at last.
Lacey is obviously still such a stand-out and engaging character and I feel like we see a more mature, self-assured Lacey in this book which is very very welcome. I think the events in "The Dark" are a turning point for her and I really hope Bolton keeps the momentum going and allows readers to see a more decisive, optimistic Lacey who is at peace with her past, the decisions she has made, and the future she could have if she allowed herself to dream.

I really enjoyed seeing and catching up with Dana Tulloch, her wife, Helen, and their beautiful new son, Inigo, they are always such a delight to read.

I have to say I did not see the ending coming, it was very much a surprise, but I am excited to see where Bolton will take Lacey and Mark next and seeing them deal with this revelation!

Overall, I really think this is one of the best in the series so far; the action, the thrills, the tension, the dialogue are all really fantastic and Bolton had me on the edge of my seat many many times. I will most definitely be first in line for the next one!

I would like to thank Netgalley, Sharon Bolton, and Orion Publishing Group for the ARC.

I’m so glad this series is back! I love Lacey as a character as these books in general. I read the first 4 years ago but that didn’t stop me being able to follow this or enjoy it just as much. This was such a refreshing read from Sharon Bolton after being disappointed by her last couple of stand alone novels, The Dark reminded me of why she’s one of my go to authors.

Continuation of The Lacey Flint series. it has been a long time since we have been able to dive in to this enthralling London based crime thriller. The Dark is a terrifyingly realistic portrayal of the growing incel community and their activity on the dark web. This twisted web of hatred, misogyny and abuse towards women and radicalised terrorism movement.

Lacey Flint finds herself at a nightmare scene, preventing the death of an abducted baby by the River Thames. DCI Mark Joesbury has been monitoring MenMatter website and has been expecting such atrocious act's after hearing the whispers between the incel online communities. The stakes are high with men encouraged to stalk "femoids" terrorise them with violence and deadly acts of revenge and cause mass hysteria between the female population. The police are up against it and struggling to unmask the perpetrators behind the viscous abuse and shut it down before it escalates.

This tangled web of lies, manipulation, insidious deceit makes for compulsive reading. Full of twists and turns. Sharon Bolton is Queen of physiological thrillers and pulse racing, edge of your seat storylines.

A welcome return for Lacey Flint! An excellent book which kept me up reading late into the night. It’s a thriller that sucks you in from the first chapter and although I had an inkling who the perpetrator was there we’re enough twists and turns to keep me guessing about the plot overall.
Highly recommended

My thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for a copy of “ The Dark” for an honest review.

This book gripped me from the start and didn’t let go !
I hadn’t read anything by Sharon Bolton before , and wasn’t aware this was so far into a series , but this definitely didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book .
Wonderfully written characters and a very disturbing storyline that kept me guessing right up to the end.
I will definitely be getting the previous books , and can’t wait until Bolton’s next publication
Highly recommended .