Title: Dead Scared (Lacey Flint #2)
Author: S.J. Bolton
Publication date: April 26, 2012
Publisher: Bantam Press (Transworld Publishers)
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9780593064153
Length: 378 pages
Genre: Thriller
Age group: Adult
Source: Purchased
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Buy it: Amazon | Awesome Books | The Book Depository

Synopsis

When a Cambridge student dramatically attempts to take her own life, DI Mark Joesbury realizes that the university has developed an unhealthy record of young people committing suicide in extraordinary ways. Despite huge personal misgivings, Joesbury sends young policewoman DC Lacey Flint to Cambridge with a brief to work undercover, posing as a vulnerable, depression-prone student.

Psychiatrist Evi Oliver is the only person in Cambridge who knows who Lacey really is – or so they both hope. But as the two women dig deeper into the darker side of university life, they discover a terrifying trend… And when Lacey starts experiencing the same disturbing nightmares reported by the dead girls, she knows that she is next.

My thoughts

Christ, why is it that every time I try to write about S.J. Bolton’s books I’m at a loss for words (and then end up writing a whole novella)? There are so many things I’d love to say, yet, I don’t want to give anything, not even a tiny hint, away in the hope that you’ll pick them up and read them. Because what I can’t possibly emphasize more is that they are brilliant, unputdownable and are guaranteed to chill you to the bone.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series and an accompanying e-book short story, I couldn’t wait to pick up Dead Scared and find out how Lacey Flint’s story continues. While I’m normally quite wary of sequels and am often disappointed by them after a brilliant first book, this one was just as twisted, haunting and well-written as Now You See Me and If Snow Hadn’t Fallen were and completely lived up to my expectations.

A good story, for me, is made up of three things. Firstly, and most importantly, I have to feel safe in the knowledge that I’m in the hands of a great writer. In these cases, the writing is so effortless and so engaging that I know for certain that nothing can and will go wrong, that it will all be neatly wrapped up in the end, it won’t leave me feeling puzzled or wanting more. A good book also needs to leave a lasting impression. These are the books that, once I finish them, I don’t feel like reading anything for a couple of days or even a week, purely because the characters are still with me long after I finished the last chapter and I’m still reliving what I’ve been reading in the past couple of days.  Thirdly, an exceptionally good book for me is so intriguing, so full of twists and turns that it makes me want to keep on reading despite the fact that it’s half past three in the morning and I have to get up in just a few hours. Dead Scared ticks all these boxes. If there’s an author who knows how to keep you reading long after your bedtime and – sorry for putting it like this – scare you shitless with such ease and without excessive violence, it’s definitely S.J. Bolton. And I mean this in the best possible way.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this particular book (and the whole series, for that matter) is the fact that it keeps you on the edge from start to finish. There are no dull moments in the story, no unnecessary facts or background information that is unnecessary for solving the mystery. There are a great deal of red herrings to make sure that you’re taken by surprise when the case is solved and the killers’/killers’ identity is revealed and an even greater amount of foreshadowing which makes it an unputdownable white-knuckle ride. And a terrifying one at that. Despite the fact that many people claim its opposite, it’s definitely not a character-driven book, if you ask me. The appeal of this novel lies not with its intricate background stories and complex characters but its twisty, edgy, unpredictable plot. Mind you, it doesn’t mean the characters are shallow or one dimensional. Quite the opposite, actually. They still remain absolutely believable, common, everyday people we can all relate to – which makes the story itself feel so much more creepier and much more real. Another thing I’ve already mentioned in my review of the first book and something I particularly like about Bolton’s books is the fact that you can feel how much research went into writing these stories which, again, makes them a lot more real and frightening. While we had detailed descriptions of the Jack the Ripper myth and all his/her victims in Now You See Me, the author gives a thoroughly detailed account of how these suicides (or murders?) are committed in Dead Scared. And this is where I’m going to be very vague because revealing how people are killing themselves (or are being killed) would mean revealing the whole mystery behind the book, but let’s just say all these details and the fact that it’s all so well-researched makes it so much harder for us to separate fiction from reality.

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