Review of Dead Scared by S.J.Bolton

Liz has reviewed Dead Scared for us...

If you haven`t read any of S.J.Bolton`s crime novels before, be prepared for a real treat in this one. It is un-put-downable - I was walking around the house doing my normal chores with my nose in the story!

The very first lines swoop down on the imagination and carries it off like a peregrine falcon dropping onto its prey and transports you down into a spectral world of unbelievable cruelty and death at the prestigious colleges of Cambridge.

Rebellious policewoman Lacey Flint is sent in as Laura Farrow, a new student (actually, as she later finds out, as a lure) to uncover why so many students are committing suicide. Straight away there is intrigue as she and the resident psychologist Evi Oliver, who raised the alarm in the first place, as she found that many students were committing suicide in flagrant ways, try to trace why this should be happening. These students are always ones who have a psychological weakness.

Lacey is working in the dark as her bosses, particularly DI Joesbury, for whom she is carrying a romantic torch, has been forbidden to tell her the background to the investigation. Immediately after her arrival at her college, strange things happen to her and, as she is incapable of being just what she has been told to be – a vulnerable, depressed high achiever – she starts her own investigation which will bring her and Evi to the very brink of destruction.

I was very impressed by the speed of the book which carries the reader forward with no time for reflection on events. S J Bolton has crafted this novel exquisitely to keep your adrenaline high and instils in the reader a desperation to discover the outcome of Lacey/Laura`s investigation. There are plenty of heart-stopping moments but to give an example here would be to spoil the intrigue!

Gruesome in parts, delightful and romantic in others, the author leads the reader on what can only be described as a dark and sinister rollercoaster of a read which will have you questioning…is someone watching YOU????

Thanks Liz and thank you to Transworld for sending us a copy to review.