Sharon Bolton has created a belter of a thriller with her latest novel, The Craftsman. With a mixture of mystery and gothic elements, I feel that this should be real winner amongst crime lovers! I seized every opportunity I could to dive into this book! Creepy and full of suspense! I have to admit that I haven’t read any of Sharon’s previous books, but she has definitely won me over with this read, I’m sure it will win her lots of new fans!

The Craftsman opens with the funeral of convicted murderer, Larry Glassbrook, thirty years after he was brought to justice after confessing to the kidnappings of three children. Florence Lovelady has been riding on a high ever since she solved the complex case and she returns to her former home town to see his coffin being lowered into the ground. His funeral stirs old memories and we revisit the time when her home town faced a very dark time in its history. The story is set in the late 1960s and in 1999, when Florence returns to the town for Larry’s funeral, but as we return to the present, old questions about the case begin to resurface. Larry Glassbrook confessed to the crimes, it was an open and shut case, wasn’t it? It appears that The Craftsman isn’t quite ready to be laid to rest…

As we re-visit the time frame when the children disappeared, we can see the trials that Florence faces in the police force as she fights for her voice to be heard in the male dominated world. Although Sharon Bolton doesn’t play too heavily on this theme it is subtly there in the background and it was interesting to compare her situation as it was back then to how it is now when she returns to the town. The treatment she received from some of her colleagues really did make me feel quite angry and I really wanted her to get results. For a lot of the time she can only depend on her colleague Tom to help argue her case.

Another theme which fascinated me was the subject of witchcraft. As the novel opens, Sharon gives us a little background information on the Pendle Witch trials which took place in the sixteen century. I found this really helpful in getting to know more about the backdrop of the book and already she had me wanting to find out more about how this particular theme was going to shape the rest of the story. I had to google images of Pendle Hill which is the perfect setting for this type of book.

I really enjoyed this one. Sharon Bolton has crafted a clever and fascinating tale which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an advance review copy.

Excellent book with a brilliant storyline and great main characters. I would recommend this book.

Oh my word! I have read a few books by this author now and have enjoyed them all. This one though, I absolutely loved!

Florence Lovelady has to be just one of the best protagonists I have met in a while. What a brilliant character! Even though the book starts and ends in present day, the majority of the story is set in the 1960's. There weren't many women police officers around in those days. Especially in the place where Florence finds herself. She is very much the new kid on the block and without trying, seems to rub everyone up the wrong way. Because she is female, the men tend to write off what she says and won't take her seriously. The fact that she has probably more brain cells than the lot of them put together doesn't stop them from giving her a hard time. I felt as frustrated as Florence many a time through out but I had to give her credit for her strength and determination. 

I loved the whole supernatural sort of feel that the witches aspect brings to the story. It isn't in your face and makes for some truly believable story telling. It just added that little bit extra to this story increasing the overwhelming darkness that surrounds it. 

The Craftsman is a brilliantly dark and compelling story. Drawn in from the very beginning, it did not release me until I had consumed and digested every last word. Without a doubt this is my favourite book by this author and would urge fans of this genre to read it.

Sharon Bolton takes us into her northern home territory, Lancashire, inhospitable, unpredictable, often savage, horrifying, but heartbreakingly and wonderfully beautiful. She draws on the areas history of witches with the Pendle witch trials, folklore, legend, and its fear and macabre treatment of intelligent women who dare to be different. Set in Sabden, a town on the edge of Pendle Hill, Bolton combines these themes to give us an outstanding story with elements of horror, the darkest of arts and the supernatural from 1069 and the present, 1999. Assistant Commissioner Florence 'Flossie' Lovelady attends the funeral of funeral director and carpenter, Larry Glassbrook, a man convicted of the murders of 3 teenagers buried alive in 1969. Locals turn out to make clear their disgust and contempt of Glassbrook. Florence is there to lay ghosts of the most horrific of cases that made her career, lost her a finger and pay her respects given her continuing relationship with Larry whilst he served his time in prison. Accompanied by her 15 year son, Ben, she visits the dilapidated Glassbrook home where she was staying as a WPC prior to being forced to leave, and is freaked out when she finds a clay effigy of herself, reminiscent of a voodoo doll. The past casts a dark, disturbing and unsettlingly long shadow into the present as it appears that maybe, just maybe, Larry was innocent of the depraved crimes laid at his doorstep, and the menacing dangers of that period are alive in the here and now.

We go back to the sixties in Sabden where the young, smart and gifted Florence has the temerity to make unwelcome but major contributions in the search for the missing children that lead to major breaks in the investigation. With the exception of DC Tom Devins who supports her, Flossie finds herself derided by the sexist police force, who are of the opinion that she needs to be taught some harsh lessons in how things should be a, and learn what a woman's place is. In a narrative that educates on the differences between coffins and caskets, the body of Patsy Wood is discovered with a clay effigy buried with her. A hard working Flossie looks for any patterns that connect the 3 teenagers and explores the local history of witches, spells, covens, disturbed graves, local elites and the Freemasons determined to hide nefarious activities. The disappearance of another young girl raises tensions skyhigh in a petrified community, although a number of factors differ from the previous killings. The girl is rescued by Flossie, but Flossie's tireless efforts in the case has the town and the police turning against her in an atmosphere of hysteria as she finds herself suspended. In the present, Florence gets reacquainted with a number of locals and Tom Devins, still with the police, whose help she needs as her world falls apart. A frantic and determined Florence has to dig into her deepest inner resources to fight the malignant dark forces aligned against her and her family.

Sharon Bolton weaves a superb spine chilling and harrowing tale that draws on the darkest myths and legends of the British Isles. In true Bolton style, the plotting is impressive and the twists are jaw dropping, and although this is hard to believe given the quality of her previous works, she just keeps on getting better and better. Bolton's creation of Flossie captures the attitudes, culture and prejudices of a police force and a nation of a particular time and period. Women who step out of the norms and expectations of a society still continue to be treated as witches and deserving of the worst of abuse as we can see from the treatment meted out to women by men in areas such as social media. I have no hesitation in highly recommending this latest utterly gripping, creepy and compelling novel from a gifted storyteller. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Wow, now this is a thriller I have been waiting for for 2018. It packs a punch right from the beginning till the very end. Set in two time lines, 1960 and 1999. Newbie Florence joins the police force and set straight to looking for three missing teens from the area. Nothing is as it seems because this was never going to be a straight forward case, not when the history of witches from Pendle Hill come in to it. After a very sucsessful career, Florence returns to where the murders happened to attend the funeral of the man she found guilty. A man she once shared a home with him and his family. Back at this family home after all these years Florence find a voodoo doll of herself and knowing this was what Larry puts with his teen victims before he buried them alive set Florence on edge, are the murders really over even after 30 years have past and the killer now dead?
This was one spooky ride that will keep you guessing throughout and when read at night make you question what you saw in the dark shadows. I love spooky thrillers and this unique books was brilliant. I look forward to seeking out more from this author.

Catching him will make her career - and change her forever.

August, 1999
On the hottest day of the year, Assistant Commissioner Florence Lovelady attends the funeral of Larry Glassbrook, the convicted murderer she arrested thirty years earlier. A master carpenter and funeral director, Larry imprisoned his victims, alive, in the caskets he made himself. Clay effigies found entombed with their bodies suggested a motive beyond the worst human depravity.

June, 1969
13-year- old Patsy Wood has been missing for two days, the third teenager to disappear in as many months. New to the Lancashire police force and struggling to fit in, WPC Lovelady is sent to investigate an unlikely report from school children claiming to have heard a voice calling for help. A voice from deep within a recent grave.

August, 1999
As she tries to lay her ghosts to rest, Florence is drawn back to the Glassbrooks' old house, in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where she once lodged with the family. She is chilled by the discovery of another effigy - one bearing a remarkable resemblance to herself. Is the killer still at large? Is Florence once again in terrible danger? Or, this time, could the fate in store be worse than even her darkest imaginings?

So incredibly creepy!
I urgent all thriller and crime aficionados that think that have been hardened by crime novels to read this! It will give you the creeps so bad, you won't want to turn the light off at night. This murderer is one of the worst I have read about and I'm dying to know if he is based on a real person.
The narrative is tightly plotted and the main protagonist, Florence, someone who is highly relatable and I appreciated Bolton's attention to her struggle in the police as a woman.
Highly enjoyable reading.