A favourite crime writer, Sharon J. Bolton's latest psychological thriller is her usual trademark gripping and suspenseful read that had me turning the pages as fast as possible. Olive Anderson is a senior oncology nurse, who has been married to Michael for 6 months, an MP with 2 children, living on a farm with his dead wife, Eloise's mother, Gwendoline Warner. The ex-military Michael is a very good looking man, a man known as 'the sexiest man in parliament', so no surprise Olive is envied, but the marriage has turned out to be more difficult than she anticipated. On a work trip, Olive has booked into a Hexham hotel on a winter's night, where she is joined by a stranger for dinner, a woman with a wedding ring, they pretend to be wives, only for events to shock and spiral out of Olive's control.

Olive is reported missing by a frantic and worried Michael, on the case is DS Lexy Thomas, and she insists on bringing in traffic cop, PC Garry Mizon, who secretly loves and grows flowers. He is a man who comes from generations of police officers, has failed the detective tests twice, known for making mistakes, but is the best driver, and had gone to school with the beautiful Olive. Olive had nursed the late Eloise in hospital when she was dying from ovarian cancer. In a narrative that shifts from past to present, we begin to be given a glimpse of small pieces that will begin to give insights over time into the bigger picture. There is the strange disappearance of Maddy Black and oodles of intrigue, all of which will form a dangerous case for Mizon and Thomas amidst the terrors of a freezing wintry background.

Just to warn readers, this holds more sexual content that is usual for Bolton, otherwise there will be much that feels familiar to fans of the author, a twisty, multilayered storyline of murder, gangsters, buried secrets, deceptions, lies, relationships, and revenge. Forming their own close relationship are Thomas and Mizon, forced to be maverick detectives, racing against time as they unearth the clues to try and find out more about Olive and what happened to her. Mizon in particular at long last demonstrates he truly has the skills to become a detective. Fans of Bolton and those who enjoy dark and tense psychological thrillers are likely to enjoy this. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Politician's wife Olive Anderson plans on spending the night alone in a hotel to get a break from her husband ,step-children and his deceased former wife's mother who still shares their home. An enigmatic stranger joins her at her table in the dining room , engaging her in a strange role-play pretending to be her wife. Intrigued, Olive joins in and her planned quiet night ends up being anything but.

This is a very entertaining tale full of secrets,twists and surprises,there's plenty of action, quite a few laughs a race against time thread running throughout and even a touch of erotica.
This is as close to a cozy crime thriller as Sharon Bolton has ever written, there's even a bit of romance, but a bit of "language" and the occasional quite graphic violence mean I'd hesitate to put it in that category.
That said it's a great read with interesting characters and an involving plot.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the ultimate revenge based thriller which circles around three women all connected by one man.

Elouise , Olive and Maddy all share connections with Michael Anderson and all three of these women have either disappeared or have questions around their deaths.

The book is told in three parts with each part focusing on one of the women’s stories, With family betrayals and loyalties being questioned continuously in this story.

Started off great with an interesting story. Sadly the formatting made it extremely difficult to follow and i ended up really confused. Sadly i cannot say much more.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my early copy but may have been a bit to early?

Unfortunately, this will be a DNF for me. The Kindle formatting is completely off, and it makes it nearly impossible to make rhyme or reason of what is going on. I think it has two narratives which would eventually intersect but at the moment, the two are co-mingled randomly and it just isn’t making sense. I won’t be rating it on Goodreads.
I wish it had been edited properly before it had been made available as an ARC as I have heard great things about the author and I was eager to give her a try!

This one wasn’t 100% for me. I am not a huge fan of sex scenes and it was a bit spicy for my PG tastes.
Sharon Bolton is always hit and miss for me I haven’t had much luck and I think I will have to try her less commercial thrillers I.e the lacy flint novels.
The writing was her usual standard which is always pretty good but overall I wasn’t completely wowed by this one. The other thing that was super off putting was the formatting. It was really difficult to get into the story when chapters and sentences were mashed together.
Thank you to Orion and NetGalley and the author for an ARC.

Well, I wasn’t expecting that! Sharon Bolton has written another cracker! The twists! The tension! The friendship! I really liked Garry and Lexy’s pairing, I almost feel like they’re a duo in on and of themselves, I don’t want to give any spoilers but you will enjoy this thrill ride, but I will say the snow (the weather) has its own kind of charm and character itself.
I loved some of the characters’ names especially the Tricks’ I wish I were a Trick!

Omg! This book is outstanding! I honestly believe this is one of the best books that ive read this year!

The characters are amazing and they just make this story!

I swear the twists and turns you will not see coming! I felt like screaming at times during this, it was crazy!

I will definitely be reading more from this author because trust me they know how to write a best seller.

I just hope and desperately have my finger's crossed that this becomes a tv show because it would be fantastic.

Should a kept it in his pants…. Now taste her revenge!
Incredibly satisfying thriller of woman scorned - great return to form for Ms. Bolton.