Book Review: The Split | Sharon Bolton

I’ve been a big fan of Sharon Bolton ever since I ready my first book by her, The Craftsman. I picked up that book because frankly I’ll try almost anything the team at Minotaur Books deems good. I couldn’t put it down! Sharon Bolton has now become one of those authors I’ll read anything by, without even needing to read the blurb.

The Split was one of those books—I had sort of skimmed the blurb when I got the book and then I didn’t re-read it when I started, so I went in somewhat blind. There are some books where I’ll recommend going in blind as the best way to consume it. The Split isn’t one of those books, because even if you read the blurb there will be plenty of twists and turns and surprises to keep your mind engaged as the story unfolds. What is covered in the blurb is only the tip of the iceberg (pun intended)! A delightful psychological thriller with fantastic settings, complex characters, and heavy on the psychology.

About the Book

No matter how far you run, some secrets will always catch up with you…

The remote Antarctic island of South Georgia is about to send off its last boat of the summer – which signifies safety to resident glaciologist Felicity Lloyd.

Felicity lives in fear – fear that her ex-husband Freddie will find her, even out here. She took a job on this isolated island to hide from him, but now that he’s out of prison, having served a term for murder, she knows he won’t give up until he finds her.

But a doctor delving into the background of Felicity and Freddie’s relationship, back in Cambridge, learns that Felicity has been on the edge for a long time. Heading to South Georgia himself to try and get to her first is the only way he can think of to help her. 

Reflection

The Split is truly Sharon Bolton delivering at the top of her game (as she always does). This book is so tense and delicately crafted. There isn’t a single scene or even paragraph that isn’t laced with context. Switching back and forth between the present, set in South Georgia Island in the Antarctic, and the past, set at Cambridge—The Split centers around Cambridge graduate, glaciologist, and researcher Felicity Lloyd.

In the present, Felicity has accepted a position on a multi-year research project on an island in the Antarctic, and we learn that it isn’t just the work that motivated Felicity—she is on the run from her ex-husband Freddie and she’ll go to literally the ends of the earth to escape him. The tension mounts as Felicity carefully checks the passenger manifests for each ship bound for the island, hoping the day never comes where Freddie’s name appears.

In the past, Felicity is at the beautiful Cambridge campus. Having experienced a recent trauma, Felicity is seeing psychologist Dr. Joe Grant to help recover some lost memories and hopefully heal and move on. But as Felicity and Dr. Grant get closer to the truth Felicity has locked inside of her, it becomes more and more urgent that Felicity leave Cambridge as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Dr. Grants mother D.I. Delilah Jones is tracking troubling crimes impacting the homeless population in Cambridge. Could the three seemingly separate stories somehow be linked? And how close is Freddie to catching up with Felicity once and for all?

There are several POVs used in differing parts of the novel, dominated largely by Felicity and Dr. Joe Grant, but with other characters also having bits of their own stories to share. The way the stories intertwine is brilliant. Even that parts that I guessed the connections earlier on were so captivating and brilliantly connected, it is hard to imagine having guessed how this book would resolve.

Tautly-wound, The Split delivers twists as chilling as the icebergs Felicity studies. Brilliant!