#BlogTour - The Pact by Sharon Bolton

 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 . . .

THE PACT is a twisty, and twisted, thriller about a careless, thoughtless crime and its long-lasting impact on the lives of those who perpetrate it. It takes a really talented author to produce a novel as enthralling and entertaining as this one with protagonists so thoroughly unlikeable. The teenagers, whose late night thrill ride the wrong way down the A40 ends in the deaths of a young family, are spoiled and entitled; the adults they become twenty years later are, despite the apparent successes they have made of their lives, just as nasty. The exception, at least in terms of her success, is Megan, who for some reason takes full responsibility for the crash that has the potential to ruin all their lives; she is however no more likeable than the others.

That Sharon Bolton not only keeps these people interesting but makes the reader care about what happens to them is astounding. The novel rattles along at a fast pace, told from the viewpoints of each of the group, so willing to accept Megan’s offer yet so anxious to avoid the consequences of the pact they agree to. The real pleasure is in watching the relationships unravel as the group start to become suspicious each other. It is frantic and fun.

Thanks to Tracey Fenton of Compulsive Readers @Tr4cyF3nt0n and Trapeze Books @TrapezeBooks for the invitation to the BlogTour.