{"id":1650,"date":"2015-04-30T12:59:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T19:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=1650"},"modified":"2015-04-30T12:59:17","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T19:59:17","slug":"sharon-bolton-little-black-lies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/sharon-bolton-little-black-lies\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon Bolton: Little Black Lies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"littleblacklies\"<\/a>S.J. Bolton may have changed her name to the more agreeable and feminine \u201cSharon,\u201d but make no mistake, her creepy intensity is undiluted. This novel is a stand-alone in the mode of her earlier novels \u2013 Sacrifice<\/em>, Awakening<\/em> and Blood Harvest<\/em> \u2013 and boy does it get under your skin. If you aren\u2019t big on an eerie, gothic storyline, give this one a pass. On the other hand if you enjoy a well written and unforgettable read, dive right in.<\/p>\n

Set on the Falkland Islands (there\u2019s a map in the front subtitled \u201cLand of Sky and Sea,\u201d a cheerfully ironic subtitle if ever there was one) about a decade after the well-remembered Falkland Island conflict of 1982. The conflict is still fresh for the islanders (who live with the threat of land mines in their sheep fields) and one of the main characters is a Falkland vet with PTSD. He\u2019s not the main character, but he makes the timing relevant, though he\u2019s not as obvious a plot device as that implies.<\/p>\n

One of Bolton\u2019s real gifts is creating troubled, memorable young women as her main characters \u2013 scarred veterinarian Clara of Awakening is especially unforgettable \u2013 and marine biologist Catrin joins their ranks. Catrin lives as a recluse after the accidental deaths of her two sons several years back. She\u2019s an expert on sea mammals, especially whales, and her yard is decorated with a giant Orca skeleton. She\u2019s governed by a simmering hatred of her former best friend, Rachel, who she blames for the deaths of her sons.<\/p>\n

As the story opens, a young boy has disappeared and the whole island is out looking for him \u2013 and along with the disappearance of another young boy several months back, it\u2019s looking like a sinister string of child deaths and disappearances, and while heartbreaking, it\u2019s also bad for tourism, a staple of the Falklands, where cruise ships regularly stop with their loads of passengers.<\/p>\n

Catrin joins the search for the boy, helped by Falkland vet Callum, who clearly still carries a torch for the now divorced and miserable Catrin. We\u2019re not privy to the thoughts of Rachel until later in the book when a tragic turn in her household swivels the attention of the island her way. Both women live the life of outcasts, and a scene with beached whales early on makes Catrin\u2019s descent into outcast hell even more dramatic. The scene with the whales is riveting, heartbreaking and hard to forget (or look away from, as you read), but it is not for the faint of heart, so be warned.<\/p>\n

Foolishly, I thought I knew where Bolton was heading with her resolution and boy, was I wrong. She deftly shades the characters of Catrin, Callum and Rachel as well as delineating life on the Falklands \u2013 a fascinating bit of armchair travel \u2013 while keeping all the narrative threads of her disturbing story well in hand. This is definitely one of the reads of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S.J. Bolton may have changed her name to the more agreeable and feminine \u201cSharon,\u201d but make no mistake, her creepy intensity is undiluted. This novel is a stand-alone in the mode of her earlier novels \u2013 Sacrifice, Awakening and Blood Harvest \u2013 and boy does it get under your skin. If you aren\u2019t big on … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-1650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-british"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1652,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650\/revisions\/1652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}