Book Review: Sacrifice

Sacrifice by S.J. Bolton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


SJ Bolton has just been added to my list of favorite authors!



Sacrifice was my second novel by Bolton; I first discovered this British author with her second novel Awakening—a unique and sharply-written mystery focused around a unexplained exotic snake epidemic in a small Dorset community. Sacrifice, her debut novel, is every bit as dark and compelling with a page-turning plot combining local Scottish lore with the accidental discovery of a murdered woman possessing Norse runes carved into her flesh.



Bolton has a real gift for creating strong, intelligent, courageous and gutsy female protagonists like Tora Hamilton, an obstetrician recently relocated to her husband’s family home in the Shetland Islands. During the burial of her horse, Tora accidentally digs up the body of a woman on her land. The gruesome evidence of torture and later discovery of the victim’s pregnancy and subsequent missing baby prompt Tora’s obsession with tracking down the woman’s identity. Despite caution from family, friends and coworkers, Tora stubbornly involves herself in the police investigation, bringing her to the forefront of Shetland Islands’ dark legacy of secrets. What follows is a suspenseful and carefully-crafted mystery layered with clues that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. As Tora perseveres despite an attempt on her life, the mystery delves into the chilling discovery of a three-year recurrence of murdered pregnant women and their missing babies.



The story does an excellent job of blending Scottish legend with modern criminal procedure as Tora uses her medical knowledge to unveil a twisted conspiracy that will keep readers guessing until the very end. Secondary characters include Tora’s new boss and Medical Director Kenn Gifford whose attraction to Tora and mysterious background creates tension with her husband Duncan Guthrie, while Inspectors Dana Tulloch and Andy Dunn round out the strong cast and feature heavily into this fast-paced psychological thriller. Vibrant descriptions of Shetland Islands landscape make for a particularly lush setting that is almost a character in and of itself.



If you are a fan of tightly-woven, suspenseful mysterious then don’t miss this remarkable novel. After finishing Sacrifice, I immediately went online to order Bolton’s next novel and am eagerly looking forward to diving into another of her worlds.



Note to American readers: This novel is written in British English, but if you don't mind the alternative spelling and use of Britishisms, you are in for an exciting read.



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Book Review: Beaglemania (A Pet Rescue Mystery)

Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The Publisher’s Weekly review of Beaglemania says it all in a nutshell with its description: “less than engaging first in a new series.” The story is a fairly predictable cozy mystery set in an animal shelter with little focus on character development. Not terrible, just not terribly exciting.



I have not read the author’s Pet-Sitter series, from which Beaglemania is apparently a spinoff book. Beaglemania’s heroine, Lauren Vancouver, is the administrator at HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter and unwittingly becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her employee, Efram Kiley, an animal abuser employed at HotRescues as part of a legal settlement. Though it is clear the author’s knowledge of animals comes into play with the setting of the book in an animal shelter, the plot suffers from an overabundance of narration delivered by Lauren as opposed to dialogue and character interaction.



Predictably, and seemingly with total disregard for how her actions will be perceived by police, Lauren decides to do some amateur sleuthing to find the real killer and prove her innocence. In pursuit of this goal, she confronts family and friends of the deceased at their work place(s) and questions them, agrees to do a TV interview with NewsShakers, a tabloid television program who unsurprisingly misrepresents her on air—then grants a follow-up quote to the same reporter!—and calls Detective Garciana who is investigating her to ask his opinion on how best to conduct her own investigation of the case.

I was somewhat irritated by a few of the seemingly dumb decisions Lauren makes during the course of her investigation. A grown woman who has been divorced, raised two college-aged kids, and holds a position of administrator to a rescue shelter almost certainly has to be more intelligent than to exacerbate herself as a murder suspect by antagonizing the detective investigating her. Lauren’s actions did not create the impression she felt any real fear that she might end up in prison despite her innocence.



However, if you are a fan of “cozy mysteries” – gentle mysteries in which a likeable small-town heroine with a particular skill-set (in this case knowledge of animals) that will be utilized to further her amateur sleuthing – then you may enjoy this story. I would hope that future novels in this series focus more heavily on the characters and developing their relationships with each other. Most of the secondary characters in Beaglemania are non-entities, with only two real suspects provided for readers to guess whodunit. I was disappointed in the lack of attention devoted to the love interest—Capt. Matt Kingston of Animal Services, particularly when Lauren cites him as a suspect in the murder. I would have preferred to “see” Lauren’s relationship develop on the pages rather than read summaries of most of their conversations.



All in all, not a bad read if you are a fan of this genre, but if you prefer more exciting, thought-provoking mysteries, you may want to look elsewhere.





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