Awakening

A terrifying, heart-racing, up-all-night thriller from Richard & Judy bestseller Sharon Bolton

By: Sharon Bolton

Narrated by: Alison Reid

A past master at playing with your mind, Richard & Judy million-copy bestselling author Sharon Bolton has penned a menacing and gripping thrill ride that will keep you gripped. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Cara Hunter and Karin Slaughter.

'Bolton is a gripping storyteller, with fine, haunted characters' - PETER JAMES
'This book writhes and glides and slithers its way into the readers psyche... [Bolton] knows precisely how to ratchet up the tension and tell a cracking story' -- Guardian
'An original and atmospheric chiller' -- Daily Mail
'A book you won't want to put down' -- ***** Reader reviews
'Cracking good read' -- ***** Reader reviews
'Brilliant! Well plotted, original and fast moving' -- ***** Reader reviews
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THE TRUTH DOESN'T HURT. IT KILLS.

You know that feeling? The one that makes you want to glance over your shoulder?

All Clara Benning wants is a peaceful life as a wildlife vet, and to hide her disfigurement from the world.

But now she doesn't have a choice.

Because a man has died from a suspicious snake bite, and Clara's concern leads her to the abandoned house at the end of the lane, and an unspeakable tragedy that occurred half a century ago.

What is it exactly that lies in store...?

Critic reviews

A clever, intricately plotted thriller, full of characters far from the conventional mould of the genre...S.J. Bolton has elevated herself to the High Priestess of English Rural Gothic. If she carries on like this she will have worshippers in their millions (Peter Millar)

Assured and original. Sacrifice was good: Awakening is even better

A tour de force - totally grips from beginning to end

Loved it

This was recommended to me by a fellow audible listener. Its pretty well non-stop action from the word go. Although there are a few details about Australian snakes which aren't quite right, and she does go into a bit of detail about them in a couple of section, the story is good. It keeps going in a fast paced way and I kind of liked the heroine of the piece as well. I will listen to this again at some point.

Good Story, Irritating Protagonist

Awakening is another good suspense offering by S.J. Bolton.

The protagonist, Clara Benning, is a vet who has severe facial scarring and who prefers the company of animals to people. When people in her village start being bitten by poisonous snakes, she becomes involved by virtue of her experience as a vet, and things snowball from there.

The plot is full of interesting twists and turns. Trying to keep the family members straight is a little difficult, but that's part of the mystery. Bolton manages to deftly weave aspects of charismatic US snake-handling religious sects into small rural English village life. Most small villages have their idiots, and the unnamed village (which for no ascertainable reason is not identified by name) has more than its share of offerings.

As with her other work, Bolton manages to cast doubt on several characters who appear to be the bad guys. But as with her other books, the endings and the characters are surprising.

It's a good book and an interesting read. Clara Benning's experience and education don't seem to tally with her stated age in the story. She's also an irritating character in some ways, as she vacillates between dithering and refusing to take action and then taking completely unrealistic and uncharacteristic risks. The story behind her facial disfigurement is only revealed toward the end of the book, but there's no reason for it to have been kept hidden and secret for so long.

The tension and history between Clara and her alcoholic mother (who dies shortly after the book opens) isn't well developed. It's clear that Clara has serious issues about her mother, but there's not enough of that back story developed to justify the odd emphasis placed on the mother/daughter relationship in the book.

At first it was refreshing to see a book where the female lead isn't beautiful, but that doesn't last long. Clara is described as being beautiful despite the scarring, and she does indeed seem to end up having two potential romantic interests.

The narration by Alison Reid is not as good as the narration by Lisa Coleman. She tends to mispronounce words ("vetinary" as opposed to "veterinary", for example) and her American accent is not well done at all and detracts from the performance.

Audible has just started to add the S.J. Bolton works, and this is a good solid offering, even if it isn't the best example of her writing. It's a solid 4-star book, with a 3.5 star performance.

Awakening

The story is absolutely riveting from beginning to end and the narration suberb. Worth every second.