Wow…. That’s all I can manage for a moment,
I can honestly say that’s the best book I’ve read for a long time, this was my first Lacey Flint book although I’m a Sharon Bolton fan, so I need to go back to the start I think!
However, back to this.. the subject matter is disturbing, and you could see how it could possibly become a harsh reality, and maybe is in some parts of the world, it makes for hard reading in places. It is very fast paced and absolutely believable from start to finish, superbly written, not over the top but above all a bloody good read.

A fantastically written book about an extremely disturbing underground (or not so) movement.
Lacey is an interesting character with plenty of attitude and the supporting cast of police officers and criminals are all eminently believable and well thought out.
The subject matter, of the incel movement, is horrifying in the size of backwards steps it proposes and the amount of abuse it instigates and encourages, making the book very uncomfortable to read in places as the 4 leaders of the movement step their game up and begin their hateful campaign.
That said, with more twists and turns than a roller coaster this book will keep you reading into the wee small hours!

I find it quite hard to review this book. I have followed the Lacey Flint series over the years and it was very good to catch up with her, and of course follow her difficult personal relationships and life in general. But the specifics of the plot, which is about the Incel movement and men who hate women, disturbed me so much that I found the novel difficult to read, much as I appreciated it was well done and well plotted.

I think the recent Sarah Everard case, as well as other crimes against women, made this topic too much for me at the moment.

Overall I think top marks for the plotting, writing and character of Lacey, but on a personal level it dropped a star for me due to the subject matter.

Wow!
When a baby is snatched from its pram and cast into the river Thames, off-duty police officer Lacey Flint is there to prevent disaster. But who would want to hurt a child?

There is SO MUCH happening here!… gripping and full of suspense and twists. And that ending is shocking. I never saw those reveals coming… I have to know what happens next!

I found this a rapidly moving thriller tackling the incel movement. I have heard of this but I found it a new topic for a book and was interested in the views expressed, while disagreeing!!
I was able to engage with the characters and was always keen to pick the story up again. The main character is unusual, presumably due to her back story. She is very focused and takes action apparently without thinking and without taking advice!
I was interested enough to buy another book about her!
Recommended

This trully was an utter joy to read! As always Sharon Bolton has hit a home run. This is exactly what thrillers aspire to be! I literally couldn't put it down. I've read all of the other books in the series but not having read them won't take away from how much you'll love this book at all. The characters are so beautifully written and so intelligently portrayed and well rounded. I'm madly in love with Mark btw and am longing for the relationship.him and Lacey have together. It's so kuch more than just a thriller, it's a mystery, there's romance, suspense, real current life issues and situations, and real life worries and threats which I loved! It's so fast paced and it drags you along and never let's up. There's no down time with this one, no filler pages or dragging things on and on.... it starts with such a bang and goes on at a break nace pace tile the end! Even the final page still has yet another twist to end on a cliff hanger. It's so well paced and never feels rushed or tied up just to close out the book. There's no loose ends or things that don't add up.... its just such an amazing story and I dare anyone to dislike it

I absolutely loved this book!

I didn't realise that it was the latest in a series, but it was exceptionally easy to get into. The author did a fantastic job of feeding me enough information that I had a good idea of any important facts pertaining to the characters from previous books.

This is probably the first time that I've read a crime book and felt genuinely uncomfortable. Unlike most crime books, which focus on serial killers or outlandish acts of terrorism, this one was far closer to home. The incel movement is very real and insidious, as a woman it's frightening to know that there are probably men much closer than I'd like with these views. That makes the threat in this book more real to me; these are people who hate half the world's population and probably dislike everything I stand for. With how common extreme right wing terrorism is, it made The Dark a very current and uncomfortable read. But I liked that at the same time.

These were predominantely female characters (except Joesbury) who were facing a threat that hated their existence. Each character went through their own struggles and fear around it, whilst Lacey had an extra fear on top. I enjoyed how Joesbury reacted to the ideology he was presented, it gives you hope.

The Dark also felt very well researched, alongside being well written. I can't imagine what the author had to read in order to research this book, and it came together perfectly in this story. Everything felt realistic, possibly a little too close to home sometimes!

Thank you to Orion and NetGalley for letting me read and review this early! It was an excellent crime story with rich characters and creepy antagonists!

This is the fifth novel in the Lacey Flint series by author Sharon J. Bolton.

Lacey Flint is a little bit of a mystery with a secret past that she very much wants to remain secret. A very strong character who enjoys the company of men, which often leads to potential trouble for Detective Lacey Flint. She is a risk taker and adopts a no nonsense approach to both work and life.

Off duty police officer Lacey Flint is reluctantly involved in a crime when a baby is snatched from its pram and thrown into the river Thames. Her natural instinct is to get involved and try to save the child.

Meanwhile DCI Mark Joesbury had feared the worse when on monitoring some dark web sites had witnessed a new terrorist threat from the extremist, women-hating, group known as ‘incels’ or ‘involuntary celibates.’. The pressure is on to put a stop to this group before further crimes are committed but first they must deal with the snatching of a child, the first in a series of violent attacks designed to terrorise women. The case becomes very personal when the leaders of the group appear to focus on Lacey and make her a figure of hate for the sect which obviously makes her very vulnerable.

These books have good plots and are well written but the the character Lacey Flint is very much the star of the show. Exciting character who is multi faceted and never far from the action. A very enjoyable read that would work as a stand alone.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Orion for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my gosh Sharon Bolton has done it again and Lacey is back with a bang!
It's been several years since the last Lacey Flint book and I was delighted to hear that there would be a new novel about one of the best heroines in crime hitting the shelves this year.
This really didn't disappoint. It felt incredibly up to date, featuring incels (genuinely terrifying), cyber threats, political attacks and demonstrating the speed at which a new normal can change the public arena. Covid isn't mentioned but the air of fear and anxiety arousing from an ever present, often unseen danger as well as the claustrophobic feeling of being kept indoors for your own safety is definitely present.
Lacey is as brilliant as ever and once again her past is lurking, threatening to surface and be revealed. All our favourite characters are back too with Joesbury, Dana and Helen all present and so beautifully characterised.
Honestly it was a gripping, electric, edge of the seat narrative and all I'm wishing for now is the next instalment.

Great to have PC Lacey Flint back in this latest from Sharon Bolton. After a baby is snatched and thrown into the Thames, Lacey witnesses the scenario and rushes into the canoe to rescue the baby. A series of events follow and a new woman hate group is prevalent in the city on the dark web. DCI Mark Joesbury heads up in investigation and needs to identify the leaders behind this new terrorist group.
It’s becoming harder for Lacey to conceal her troubled past, and nearly comes to surface in this instalment. Can’t want to see how
Lacey deals with this going forward. This can be read as the series or standalone as goes into detail on past events.

*4.5 stars*

Police officer Lacey Flint is back!

Lacey is off duty when a baby is snatched from its pram and mercilessly thrown into the River Thames - by coincidence though, Lacey is nearby, and manages to save the baby, but who on earth would do something so wicked?

DCI Mark Joesbury isn’t surprised however, he and his team have been monitoring the dark web looking at a group of women hating ‘incels’ (members of an online community of young men who consider themselves unable to attract women sexually, typically associated with views that are not only hostile towards women, but also men who are sexually active), and what better way to hurt a woman than by abducting and killing her child!

It’s clear that Joesbury has his hands full here, and things are about to get a whole lot worse, especially when he discovers that Lacey embodies everything the incels hate about women, and becomes their prime target!


Goodness me! This was a real roller coaster of twists and turns. I did guess who the perpetrator was pretty early on, but it didn’t really spoil my enjoyment of it, particularly as the author is so adept in her use of smoke and mirrors!

I hadn’t read any of the previous Lacey Flint books so when I was given an ARC of this story, I only knew it would be a crime thriller. I did find that it didn’t matter that I hadn’t read any of the others.

This story is disturbing because it latches onto the very real threat of men who hate women – for various reasons but mainly because they can’t make relationships and blame everyone but themselves. I’d never heard of ‘incels’, until about a month ago when another story mentioned them – this one brought the horror to life. To me, they are a bunch of pathetic and entitled people who don’t feel the responsibility for their own lives.

However, these ‘idiots’ bring about a spree of terrorist acts in the name of ridiculous demands – for the ‘natural order of things’, where women should be in the kitchen or bedroom and have no power over their lives. No woman is safe. They have conveniently forgotten that it’s always been a ‘man’s world’ and women have had to fight for the crumbs.

Although the focus is on this terrorist group, the story is about more than this, which involves Lacey’s past.

I really liked the writing style, and it was great to read British English (except for chamomile, which is camomile in the UK). It’s set in London and the descriptions give a good sense of place. The cast of characters fits well into the plot. The plot has its twist and turns. All very well done, in my opinion.

Overall, this was a brilliant police drama and though I felt angry about the terrorists, I enjoyed it because it held my attention all the way through. Definitely a ‘dark’ read.

A recommended read!

I really enjoyed this thrilling story but wish so much that I had read the previous books, and will do so now. The novel worked well as a standalone, but I need to know exactly what happened to Lacey in the past, and how her relationship with Mark began and developed. This was a riveting read, with shocking and disturbing moments. There were times when I thought the plot seemed just too implausible, while at the same time being aware that anything is possible in the world of today. The writing was brilliant, and the ending made me desperate to read the next book. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy.

I raced through The Dark in one sitting, could not put it down. I was intrigued by the premise and hooked from the first page, such an interesting and very relevant topic. Chillingly realistic detail. My only criticism is that the ending felt a little rushed and it finished too soon! A really gripping thriller, her best to date.

A fitting addition to the Lacey Flint series which would be as enjoyable to the first-time reader as to those who've read the books that have come before. The on-off relationship between the two main characters continues as they deal with new hurdles coming between them and the story concludes with a reassuring twist that tells us there's more to come.

When a baby is snatched and set adrift on the Thames Lacey Flint is in the right place at the right time to perform a daring rescue. The group behind this are trying to strike fear into women around the country and Lacey has made herself a target.

I've long been a fan of Sharon Bolton, right back to her first novel Sacrifice (as SJ Bolton), so was really pleased to get hold of a review copy of The Dark. Of her earlier works I think the one that terrified me the most was Awakening (if you've read it you'll know why) but things have changed. With The Dark the author has given me nightmares.

The story begins twelve years previously, an opening filled with despair. The description of the feelings really grabs you and drags you down, however there are touches of black humour in there too. The novel then quickly moves forward to now and the scene on the Thames that initiates the main story, a baby is snatched from it's pram and set adrift on the fast moving river.

The snatching of the baby is the opening ploy by a group of domestic terrorists, Incels. Incels, short for involuntary celibate, are men who feel that they are being overlooked by women who are only interested in good looking men. Feeling marginalised by society a group of Incels use the dark web to encourage others around the country to act, striking fear in women.

The whole premise of the story seems so plausible and close to home which is why it is so terrifying. Descriptions of attacks that are going to happen are clinical and precise, the aftermath is chaotic, distressing and fearful. The demands by the Incel group reflect the regimes that women in some repressive states endure every day.

This is a great read, pulls you in from page one. Although it’s one of a series, you can still read it as a stand-alone, such is the level of writing.

A Thrilling Read.

Many thanks to Orion Books and Netgalley for a FREE Advanced Review Copy of this book. 

Although this is book 5 in the Lacey Flint series, this is the first one I've read. I don't believe this detracts from the story at all, and I'm interested enough to go back and check out the previous four books, which I suspect will enlighten me as to how Lacey ended up where she is in this book.

"A few hours after midnight, two young women sat in a car close to the edge of a cliff; one of them was dead, the other merely felt that way." ... This has to be one of the best opening lines I've ever read.

From here, we're thrown into a dire clifftop drama, which almost results in a teen, male stranger going over the edge with the occupants of the car.  The narrative then jumps ahead twelve years, and we meet the main character, Lacey Flint, out on the Thames in a Kayak. Quickly, the action and drama ramp up again, and the reader is taken on a wild ride to discover the multiple who-dunnits and become embroiled in a fight to stop even worse events from unfolding.

The plot, pacing, characterisation, and world building were all excellently done. I found the premise, of men terrifying women back into the not-too-long-ago-dark-ages, wholly believable and pretty scary. All the reasons were both compelling and all too possible.

Here are some lines I loved ... "Driving the eighty miles from South London, with nothing but her own thoughts and the recriminations of a corpse beside her, had been harder than she'd expected." 

And ... "Tears were for bearable pain, for lighter sorrows; this pain couldn't possibly be released by tiny drops of water." 

And ... "The most important journey of Lacey's life was taken in a heartbeat."

This book kept me guessing all the way, and the pacing stayed racy, and the suspense up there, right until the end. I enjoyed this read immensely, and The Dark gets a solid five stars from me.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

Absolutely brilliant! Such a clever plot line, always one step ahead and chilling possibility in today’s world. I am sad it is over and wish I could read it again for the first time. More please!

A one sitting book that i found impossible to put down. One of the scariest books i have ever read and in my opinion the best book i have ever read by this author. The story delves into the dark web and the story of ' incels ' which i knew very little about. Full of disturbing scenes which left me speechless and constantly holding my breath but i just had to know the truth. Sharia law comes to the UK. This book deserves more than five stars and is a MUST READ!!!!!!
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.