Synopsis from Good Reads:
Sharon Bolton returns with her creepiest standalone yet, following a young cop trying to trace the disappearances of a small town’s teenagers.
Florence Lovelady’s career was made when she convicted coffin-maker Larry Grassbrook of a series of child murders 30 years ago in a small village in Lancashire. Like something out of a nightmare, the victims were buried alive. Florence was able to solve the mystery and get a confession out of Larry before more children were murdered., and he spent the rest of his life in prison.
But now, decades later, he’s dead, and events from the past start to repeat themselves. Is someone copying the original murders? Or did she get it wrong all those years ago? When her own son goes missing under similar circumstances, the case not only gets reopened… it gets personal.
In master of suspense Sharon Bolton’s latest thriller, readers will find a page-turner to confirm their deepest fears and the only protagonist who can face them.
I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.
The Craftsman will be available October 16, 2018.
Sharon Bolton has written some of my favorite books and I have been eagerly anticipating The Craftsman for quite awhile. Like I have come to expect from Bolton’s books, it was a well done, suspenseful mystery. It was even a little creepy at times. But it definitely took a departure into the supernatural that I was not expecting.
I have to say I was not a fan of the whole witch angle. It would have been one thing to have groups that fancy themselves witches, but Bolton makes the characters credible witches who perform magic. Now, I’ve read a good deal of paranormal books that included witches and been fine with it because there were also things like vampires and werewolves and what-not, and those books were always solidly in the fantasy column. I don’t feel this book is supposed to be considered paranormal at all, though, and that kind of made the conclusions a little hard to take seriously. However, I don’t feel this theme was made really prevalent until the last part of the book, so it didn’t ruin the rest of the book for me, it just made me a little more dissatisfied than I hoped.
The book is broken up into three parts. It starts in 1999 with Florence at the funeral of the serial killer she helped put away thirty years ago. The bulk of the book is the second part, which flashes back 30 years to the investigation. I really have to hand it to Bolton for keeping the suspense high during this time. We already know how the case ended, what atrocities Florence faced, and how her romantic life turned out. But none of that kept me from turning the pages as fast as I could to see what happened next and kind of loving the guy that I knew I shouldn’t be shipping her with. The third part goes back to the “present” (1999) where I felt the events of the synopsis finally kicked in. I thought it was a little bit rushed at the ending, but everything was tied up well enough.
Overall, I enjoyed The Craftsman, but it’s not my favorite of Bolton’s books. I appreciate that she took a chance to write something a little different than normal, but the whole witch thing isn’t really my cup of tea. There were some small twists and turns that surprised me, but most of the reveals I guessed well before they were revealed and one made me super sad (but would be too spoilery to expand upon). However, I do love Bolton’s writing style, the alternating timeline, and the characters. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from Bolton in the future.
Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars
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