The Split

February 3, 2020
British glaciologist Felicity Lloyd, the protagonist of this tightly plotted spellbinder from Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Bolton (The Craftsman), has come to South Georgia, a remote island off Antarctica, to escape her husband, Freddie, who has been pursuing her since leaving prison, where he’d been serving time for murder. Flash back nine months to Cambridge, England, where Felicity is seeing therapist Joe Grant, who’s reeling from a divorce and a recent violent attack by a homeless woman. Joe strives to piece together the exact nature of Felicity’s relationship with the imprisoned Freddie. Frightening notes left in her desk, break-ins at her home, and fugue states with disastrous consequences for Felicity lead Joe to question his patient’s sanity. Eventually, Joe sets out for South Georgia to help Felicity, motivated in large part by the strong feelings he’s developed for her. Employing multiple narratives and complex character histories, Bolton keeps the reader guessing to the end. Psychological thriller fans will be satisfied. Agent: Anne-Marie Doulton, Ampersand Agency (U.K.).

February 15, 2020
A glaciologist seeks refuge in Antarctica. A nearly two-year stint at the British Antarctic Survey's base on South Georgia Island, halfway between the Antarctic mainland and the Falklands, seems like the perfect job for Cambridge graduate Felicity Lloyd. The landscape is breathtaking, the wildlife like no other in the world, and ever changing glaciers provide vital opportunities to investigate the effects of climate change on humankind's future. But Felicity has another secret reason for choosing to pursue her professional passion in what may be the most remote place on Earth. She hopes that Freddie, who's stalked her nearly her whole adult life, will never find her there. The trouble is, she can't remember much about Freddie or the reason for his obsession with her; her memories are jumbled and distorted, with chunks of time missing from her consciousness the size of the icebergs she studies. Dr. Joe Grant, the psychologist she sees in Cambridge, tries to help her recover her lost moments, but just when he seems to be getting close, Felicity shuts him down, preferring to work out her problems alone in the frigid south. Leaving Felicity to handle her issues on her own, however, may no longer be an option for Joe once his mother, DI Delilah Jones, begins to connect the deaths of some of Cambridge's homeless to Felicity's blackouts. Bolton (The Craftsman, 2018, etc.) provides her readers with shivers worthy of her setting, although true aficionados of the psychological thriller may find the secret of Felicity's illness a bit too easy to recognize. Chilling.

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March 1, 2020
Here's another fine effort from an award-winning author known for her strong and resourceful female characters. This time, however, she offers a badly damaged protagonist with a psyche that is far beyond the split of the title, a woman who exists within a chasm of confusion and fear. Glaciologist Felicity Lloyd is stationed on the remote island of South Georgia, near Antarctica: The ends of the Earth. That's how far she ran this time. Unfortunately, still not far enough. Felicity's ex-husband, Freddie, is out of prison and headed her way. Felicity's backstory is revealed in a riveting prequel set in Cambridge, where Joe Grant, a doctor living somewhat on the edge himself, struggles to understand her erratic and paranoid behavior. He also heads to South Georgia, and an adrenaline-fueled adventure across the unforgiving Antarctic terrain ensues. Readers will think they have it all figured out, but, no matter how fast they race against Freddie and Joe, they won't get it until the very end. And, bundle up. Felicity's tale chills to the bone.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2020

British scientist Felicity Lloyd studies icebergs on South Georgia Island, off the coast of Antarctica. She lives in fear that her husband, Freddie, will find her, and when she sees his name on the passenger manifest of an incoming ship, she heads to a remote outpost of the island. The story then moves to Cambridge, nine months earlier, where Felicity meets with a therapist, Joe Grant. She needs a clean bill of mental health in order to take her dream job, but he's concerned about what she describes as episodes of missing time and her fear that someone is stalking her. Dr. Grant does outreach with the local homeless population and something about Felicity's stalker sounds familiar. Homeless people are disappearing, being attacked, and, in some cases, killed. Back in the present, Felicity is fighting for her life, pursued by Freddie on an unstable glacier as Joe and his police officer mother give chase. VERDICT Readers will tear through Bolton's (The Craftsman) latest to find out how the disparate threads connect. While the plot resolves tidily, some readers may be unsettled by the fact that Felicity and Joe are romantically involved after she is his patient. [See Prepub Alert, 9/30/19.]--Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2019

Felicity Lloyd has found the perfect place to hide from former husband Freddie: she works as a glaciologist on the Antarctic island of South Georgia. But it appears that back in Cambridge, England, Felicity was always a little nervily out there, and a string of murders in town have put police on alert. A stand-alone from the Mary Higgins Clark Award winner.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.