For me this was a good thriller, dark and twisty with believable characters. I enjoyed the pace of it and it was well written. I haven't read any of Sharon Bolton previous books but will be looking out for them. This can be read as a stand alone as the back story didn't detract from any of the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an Arc in exchange for an honest opinion

Welcome back, Lacey! After an eight-year absence, Lacey Flint has returned, along with other fabulous characters such as Joesbury, Dana and Helen - reading this book was like meeting up with old friends - and I loved it, in fact, I think it is even better than the previous four novels - and that’s saying something.

The Dark has a very chilling plot involving a newly formed group of involuntary celibates (or Incels) extremists calling themselves MenMatter. The group’s main belief is that men’s rights need to be reinstated, and this includes restricting women’s rights and liberties so that the ‘natural order’ of things can be restored. As a woman, many of the scenarios - whilst almost dystopian, made me feel fearful and uncomfortable, however, the book also includes stats around male suicide, and details poor levels of support available for men with mental health issues - this made me feel equally uncomfortable.

Along the way, Lacey discovers that her own secrets are at risk of being exposed - we are given more insights into Lacey’s previous life. This book has everything, I devoured it and it left me wanting more, oh, and that ending…

This book didn't grip me like a normal sharon bolton has done before. The characters were ok and i liked the plot but felt it could have been more.......3/5

I picked up The Dark with a big dollop of trepidation. I loved the Lucy Flint series, but eight years is a hell of a gap. But I’m thrilled to say this is a fitting addition to the Lacey Flint series, and if you haven’t read any of the previous books, don’t worry, it can easily read as a standalone. From the shocking opening chapter Sharon Bolton captures the reader's attention. She leads you down a rabbit hole that’s dark and terrifying, where hatred and violence lurk in the shadows. The plot plays on most woman’s biggest fears where a sense of malice is palatable from the start.

A baby is snatched from its pram and thrown into the Thames. Thankfully, Lacey is there and able to save the child. DCI Mark Joesbury has been monitoring a complex network of dark web sites along with his team. And they have spotted a new terrorist threat from the extremist, women-hating, group known as involuntary celibates (Incels). The pressure builds when the team learns the snatched child was just the first in a series of violent attacks designed to terrorise women. Lacey’s embodies everything the incels hate about women and becomes their prime target!

Bolton has dug deep into the Intel movement. It’s obvious she has throughly researched her subject. The story may be fictional but Intels are very real, which makes this story feel scarily plausible. Along with Lacey, this book features predominantly a strong female cast, but there’s also Joesbury who does a good job of convincing the reader that all men aren’t women hating psychopaths. Lacey is an intriguing character. There’s a big mystery surrounding her past and throughout The Dark Bolton drops exciting titbits ensuring the reader’s attention never waivers.

There were a lot of elements that made The Dark such an exciting read, but there was a downside! They were more than a few similarities to The Nurse, a book I read a few months back, so it slightly spoilt the read for me, as it didn’t feel as original as I had hoped. Never the less the writing’s excellent with an intriguing plot and it still made for a gripping read.

Lacey Flint is back - and what a come back it is.

Still a constable in the marine unit, still living on her boat, still in love with Joesbury but knowing that her secrets will destroy them so keeping her distance, Lacey is managing to keep going. But when she intervenes in a horrifying incident by the side of the Thames her past and present collide in unexpected ways. She might have a clue which can help identify the man leading a terroist group of incels intimidating women, stirring up misogynistic behaviour and threatening a day of retribution, but revealing it will mean revealing who she really is and then she'll lose everything.

Dark and twisty, there is an element of chilling dystopia to this novel. The incel movements demands reveal a dark underbelly of anti women feeling that rings all too true. Men at all levels start making noises about pacifying the terrorists, as women see their hard won rights retreating before their eyes. It's all too easy to feel that this is the status quo. To forget that forty years ago women couldn't get a mortgage, that they could be sacked for being pregnant, that even now the balance of power at political and corporate levels favours men. But just look at Texas and Afghanistan to see how quickly rights can disappear - and at all the countries where women have never had rights at all.

Clever and disturbing. Highly recommended.

When a baby is kidnapped and sent down the river, police officer Lacey races to save it. But why would anybody do this and is the case more personally linked to Lacey than she could ever imagine…
I loved this! It had a good build up and was an intricate police procedural.
I hadn’t read other books from the series but it really didn’t matter as this was a fantastic read as a standalone novel.
The characters were easy to identify with and likeable, you were instantly onside with the investigation. The criminals on the other hand were threatening and terrifying which made for an intense and shocking read. I can’t wait to read more in this series, I’m really pleased to have come across this author.

Very good book. Intense thriller from start to finish. I haven’t read the previous books in the series but I didn’t feel that I was missing out as this can be read as a stand alone novel.
I dropped one star as I don’t like bad language.

OH MY GOD THIS IS TERRIFYING! but also woah, what an insight into a world I knew nothing about before. The thing that makes it so scary, is that this community really exist and act in this way. An insight into the world of the Incel community, warts 'n' all - I stayed up way later than I should have reading this. Sharon Bolton remains a firm favourite of mine, and this is one I will definitely be recommending to customers who want something a bit different!

Wow! This is a brilliant read... dark in so many ways! The drama starts straight away with an opening scene of what might have been an attempted suicide, but might also have been murder. We then quickly switch to present day when a baby is snatched and thrown into the river Thames. Police link this to a terror organisation of 'incels' or involuntary celibate men and follows their efforts to encourage men to frighten women and remove them from positions of power in society.

This is the first book I've read featuring Lacey Flint and this story does stand alone, but I think is probably best enjoyed read in order as, although this book is action packed, but its clear there is a lot of prior history!

I zoomed through this book and couldn't put it down! The pace is incredible but its also hugely thought provoking and relevant to present times. I had heard of incels but this book made me realise how serious an organisation like this could be if the movement gains enough followers and momentum. Because if this, it didnt feel far fetched at all - it felt like this story could happen - and it is terrifying!

This book has everything - mystery, suspense, murder, terrorism, sexism, kidnap, child abduction but the pace of it prevents it being a heavy read. Its thought provoking and scary and shows how easily society as we know it could change. This book will stay with me for a long time. I'm definitely going to go back and read the others! I like Lacey Flint. She's far from perfect but is a good person. I liked her alot!

I have been lucky enough to review this book early via NetGalley.

The Dark is a Lacey Flint novel and not having read any of the previous books surrounding this character I wasn’t sure what to expect storyline wise but I have read a book by this author previously.

From the off this had me gripped. Two women in a car at a notorious suicide location. One dead and the other about to drive them both off the edge of the cliff. A young man is at the same place and he believes that they are there to stop him but he soon realises that’s not the case when he realises whilst sitting in the car that the woman is deadly serious about driving off the cliff.

It then flicks to modern day and whilst out for breakfast with her 2 friends Lacey is there when a baby is snatched from its pram and thrown into the river Thames. Thankfully Lacey is there with her kayak to prevent disaster but why was this woman and her baby targeted? 

Women then become targets in so many different ways by a group of men who call themselves incels and are working predominantly on the dark web. The leaders of the group have singled out Lacey as the type of foid that their hate is mostly aimed at.

This book had so many twists and turns and I loved it. It is part of a series but worked perfectly well as a stand-alone and I will definitely be reading the other Lacey Flint books. Brilliant!

I made the huge mistake of starting this at bedtime. From the onset my adrenaline was pumping. My heart was racing and it was a subject that I knew nothing about. This is 100% a 5 star read. Be prepared for an absolute belter of a read, totally immersive and nerve tingling.
Thank you to Netgalley, and Sharon Bolton for the advanced copy of this book. I certainly do not give 5 stars if they don’t deserve it, I hate when people give rubbish books top marks as they received an advance copy. This definitely deserves the praise! Enjoy the book.

This was the first novel I've read by Sharon Bolton and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
An interesting take on what goes on on the dark web for a start, the unusual plot was intriguing and the characters were very believable.
I do like a good police procedural thriller and this was a particularly good one.

Sharon Bolton is a talented author who has written many novels. But it is the Lacey Flint series for which she will be remembered. This is a return to that series after a long break - the fifth instalment. If, like me, you thought the series dipped in quality in the fourth book, the good news is that the fifth one is back to the high quality of the first three.

The novel begins with a memorable opening scene that fills in some of Lacey’s back story and ties her to a character at the heart of this story. Sharon Bolton has the rare talent to take a familiar idea and write it differently. She does this brilliantly in the opening scene.

The book goes on to develop the story of Lacey and Mark Dewsbury while the central story focuses on a theme that is very current: a variety of terrorism that is much more personal than the kind perpetrated in support of a religion or national cause.

As always with this author, the plot moves quickly. The strength of the writing is in making the plot both horrifying and credible at the same time. This is a world that probably does exist within our own even if we don’t see it.

For readers who appreciate powerful settings, this Thameside setting is a great example. Lacey lives on a boat and the growth of the story relies a good deal on its setting. You don’t need to know this part of London but it helps.

The familiar characters from the earlier Lacey Flint books are all there and their stories are picked up from earlier. In all honesty, I would say this is the least successful part of the novel. The presentation of Dana and Helen as paralysed by motherhood rather takes the edge off these characters who were much more interesting in the earlier novels. Equally unconvincing are the few occasions when they and the female Home Secretary suddenly throw in a swear word as if this somehow makes them more human. It makes them sound a bit childish. The presentation of the Home Secretary is a bit of a cliché in truth.

More positively, the story develops Lacey’s experiences as a prison visitor at Durham with this relationship becoming a part of the story. Thus, the writer fills in part of the puzzle of her past.

Overall, this is a worthy addition to the series, though, and a good reason to go back and re-read the others.

Many thanks to NetGalley for a pre release copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

'The Dark' by Sharon J. Bolton is the latest novel in the Lacey Flint series. As the fifth book, there is a lot of backstory that was unfamiliar to me and so, it did take me a few chapters to understand the characters and the tangled web of their relationships. And I would recommend reading the previous novels to gain a complete understanding of the complex background.
Don't worty however, as there's also plenty of action taking place and this ensured that I was sufficiently entrigued to continue.
Lacey Flint is an experienced police office, working with the River Thames Marine Unit when she witnesses an abduction and finds herself thrown headfirst into a new and compelling case. She is swiftly reunited with previous characters such as Helen, Dana and Mark, each of whom plays a vital role in this new novel as the country faces a new threat.
The subject matter of the novel is certainly a topical one with the issues of incels, misogyny and retribution. The author has clearly done her research into this fascinating but disturbing area.

Lacey Flint is a police constable for the Metropolitan Police Marine Unit. When off duty and meeting some other off duty police friends for lunch, she just happens to be in the right place at the right time when a baby is grabbed from its pram and thrown into the river Thames. She saves the baby, but the men involved get away from Lacey and her colleagues.

DCI Mark Joesbury has been expecting an incident. What exactly, they didn’t know, but something in the area was expected to happen. Joesbury and his team have been monitoring the dark web, a seedy underbelly of the internet. There had been rumblings of an ‘attack’ on the Thames. It is all part of a new threat emerging from an extremist group of women hating men know as ‘incels’ - involuntary celibates. They believe all their problems, and that of the world are the fault of women, and that balance has to be returned to men. Joesbury and his team are trying to get to the bottom of exactly what the group has planned. But the dark web hides its secrets well.

Time is running out - the baby in the river was the first of many violent attacks. All focused on terrifying women. Lacey has become a prime target of the incel group as a result of saving the baby, putting her at the centre of the danger. They have to move fast before the incel’s plans come to fruition. But who can be trusted?

This was my first encounter with the Lacey Flint series. It is the fifth book in the series, and I had to ask myself, where have I been, because this was an absolutely unputdownable read! I felt I was missing out on a little backstory, with some of the tension and hinted drama between the characters. But it is so skillfully written that it worked just as well as a stand alone story. The teasers, that Lacey Flint used to be a detective, she has more secrets than we know, her previous success as a detective, yet she stepped away from the role, it all left me wanting more. (So I am glad I have the previous books to go back to!)

Combine the excellent writing and fantastic characters, with the deep dive into a dark underworld, which, while grim, scary, and sounding too crazy to be true, is based on unsettling truths, it made for an entirely gripping read. I devoured it in one sitting, and hope there is more to come.

*I received this book from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

I didn't know that this book was part of a series and I can honestly say that it didn't matter.

Too often a series book does one of two things; Either it assumes the reader already knows who everybody is and how they fit together, or the author spends a large amount of time giving a precis of what happened to get our protagonist to this point. Sharon Bolton did neither - and I thank her for that. I wasn' aware it was a series book before I requested it, and I didn't feel under or over-informed when I was reading it. She got the balance perfect.

The premise of the book is chillingly believable. There are shades of The Handmaid's Tale and nods to life for women under the Taliban and other controlling male-dominated regimes. The UK is under threat from a group of angry incels on the dark web who are planning to turn back the political clock to a time when men were men and women couldn't vote or hold public office. Oh, and every ugly nasty man would get 'assigned' a wife who has to do everything he wants her to. Lovely! The plot established such changes as being theoretically achievable.

Our heroine, Lacey Flint, has a chequered past, some of which I'm sure must have been introduced in earlier books, but she's a very sympathetic character. Her relationship with a fellow police officer was a bit perfunctory, but heck! what's a girl to do when she's trying to save babies from drowning, friends from freezing and the world from a return to the dark ages? I could forgive her. The cast of secondary characters is also very strong.

I would definitely read more books in this series if the opportunity arose.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

What a really enjoyable, well written and well paced story this is.

Not heard of this author before and wasn't aware that there were previous stories about the main character but that didn't detract in any way from my enjoyment of this book.

It really was hard to pause reading this to get on with other things and I'm now looking into more of this author's books.

I was completely enthralled by the threat of Incels portrayed in this novel. In fact I’d go as far as to say I was chilled and I don’t think I have ever said this before about a thriller. I went as far as looking at my Air Drop settings as a result of the plot. I recommend you all do this whether you read the novel or not!
The pace and tension was exquisite and the only reason this fell short of a 5 star read was that I just didn’t like the resolution. This is obviously a personal thing and altered the tension just to drama for me.
This is another of Netgalley’s excellent offerings free of charge in exchange for a review. I’m more than happy to provide this and in no way has my review been influenced by this.
I need to get a bit clever about books that form part of a series as I’ve gathered far too many in recent months and my TBR is huge as a result!

This book was so good, although the story itself a little bit disturbing in places but I was glued to it, a very good ending also ..

I am a long time fan of Ms Bolton's excellent writing but, for some reason, I've missed reading the Lacey Flint series. Before reading The Dark, I checked out the previous books to get a 'feel' for the character. I'm glad I did as there are a lot of references to previous cases and Flint's early life which would be quite daunting to a first time reader, especially in the first couple of chapters when a dazzling array of names were thrown in the mix along with snippets of each one's back story.. It is a fast-moving, entertaining read with a slightly predictable outcome but I'm sure Lacey Flint fans will be delighted with it.