Title: The Pact

Author: Sharon Bolton

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Trapeze

Publication Date: 27th May 2021

Rating: 5/5

Cover:

Summary:

A golden summer, and six talented friends are looking forward to the brightest of futures – until a daredevil game goes horribly wrong, and a woman and two children are killed.

18-year-old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives. In return, they each agree to a ‘favour’, payable on her release from prison.

Twenty years later Megan is free.
Let the games begin . . .

Review:

I read The Split by Sharon Bolton last year and I absolutely loved it so I was extremely excited to get my hands on The Pact and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest! It is brilliant. The story follows a group of friends who make a reckless and fatal mistake which costs a woman and her two children their lives. One of the friends, Megan, agrees to fully take the blame on the condition that the others will owe her a massive favour when she is released. Twenty years later she returns to their lives to collect and everything spirals from there.

I found the premise of The Pact so enticing – it is such an interesting situation and I had to find out what Megan would demand of her so-called friends. The first section focuses on the events that lead to these 6 teenagers making the pact and the second jumps forward twenty years to follow the devastating fallout of Megan’s return. I absolutely flew through the book – once Megan started to enact her plans for retribution I couldn’t put the book down. It is such a gripping and compelling read. The characters are definitely not all likeable but they are so fascinating and Megan especially is terrifyingly enigmatic and intelligent. The pace barrels along and I had no idea where it would end up. There was a twist which I hadn’t seen coming and several fantastic red herrings! I cannot recommend The Pact highly enough to anyone who loves a tense and satisfying thriller. Sharon Bolton is fast becoming an auto-buy author for me.

I kindly received a copy of the book from the publisher. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.