The Pact: A dark and compulsive thriller about secrets, privilege and revenge

Product Information

This book has everything - a terrible event, years of guilt and lies, toxic friendships and a cast of characters which leaves you trusting no one. Horrifying and addictive." - Catherine Cooper Talitha, Amber,Megan,Felix,Daniel &Xav were all friends who were sitting their A level exams at All Souls School in Oxford. My son thinks Felix is based on him ( which is a little worrying ) . They look alike, I guess , and they share a passion for chemistry ; m aybe there was something going on sub consciously. Cons: just missing that lil je ne sais quoi to make it bangerlicious, the plot wasn't anything new and quite predictable (esp for a Bolton book - she usually leaves my jaw dropped with her twisties) Ever since reading Donna Tartt's The Secret History, my favourite theme has remained a guilty secret amongst school or uni friends. Here we have Xavier, Felix, David, Amber, Talitha, and Megan, prefects at an independent school in Oxford who have sat their GCSEs and are awaiting starting university. Megan is the outlier; though Head Girl at the school, she is a scholarship student. Bored, they are seeking thrills on the motorway, taking turns driving fast in the oncoming carriageway for a couple of miles till they reach the next exit slipway. When it's Dan's turn, disaster strikes, an oncomig Vauxhall Astra goes off the road avoiding them, catches fire and explodes. It appears their golden futures are ruined. But Megan offers to take the blame. She will admit to having been the lone driver, but in exchange the rest of them will promise to fulfil one request from each when she has served her term. They accept this bargain but when it turns out that the victims were a mother and two small children and CCTV evidence makes it appear that Megan had been habitually driving dangerously on the motorway, she is sentenced to a life tariff, with a minimum of twenty years in prison. And now she's out again, with her list of demands and overflowing with anger at their neglect of her whilst she was in stir.

stars for characterisation. The characters, whilst not deeply drawn, are most certainly brilliantly casted in this twisty game of consequences, survival, and allegiance, where loyalty is tested to the full. One of the book’s quotes sums up the characters and situation perfectly...Stunned and scared, the group see their plans and dreams slipping away. They will lose everything, become pariahs, spend years in prison. Unless…

The Pact has a pacy and very intriguing storyline, one that could be all too real. It has plenty of twists and turns along the way– some predictable and some not, but then some have to be for the story to work and it does. Whilst I did guess the outcome long before it was revealed, there were enough twists and turn to just keep me never being quite 100% sure and second guessing. Six friends are throwing themselves an early celebration. It’s the night before their final grades are released and college life is just one step away. Time for them to play their favorite game. Each one takes turn at the wheel going the wrong way down the highway. (Brilliant.) It’s the predawn hours and virtually no one else is on the road. But when the final friend takes the wheel for his turn…not surprisingly, the game turns deadly. I love Sharon Bolton’s writing and books, especially the Lacey Flint series, but The Pact has to my favourite of hers to date. A thriller that keeps a very good pace, with some nice twists and turns along the way, a cast of interesting characters and an intriguing storyline of secrets and self-preservation.

I particularly liked the way that right from the start, we knew the awful secret that bound the friends together. So often in a story like this, you have to guess at what’s gone on. Yet, there’s still plenty mystery to intrigue the reader, not least the question of why Megan is so willing to take the blame The final reveal on this only adds to the drama as the friendship falls apart and the previously tight-knit group begin to turn on each other. The Pact by Sharon Bolton is another outstanding psychological thriller with a devilish plot that is full of tension, mystery, and the ultimate consequences of making a pact that someday needs to be honoured. Their joyride(s) end with the death of a woman and her two young children. Life isn't so fun anymore. Scrambling, worried about their futures, eighteen-year-old, Megan steps up to take the blame for all of them. Is she their best friend ever or is she a naïve young girl who wants their friendship? That terrible, tragic night, after Megan steps up, she tells them that they will owe her a 'favour' when all is said and done. Lastly, I didn't like the ending and I didn't really understand it. The big reveal was so out of left field that I was left scratching my head. Why that person? What had happened to them to make them this way? What in the story led to that ending? None of this was explained. Everything just became totally over the top and very unlikely, and to be honest, the ending didn't seem to tie up to anything that had happened in the early stages of the book. Absolutely demolished The Pact by Sharon Bolton. What a killer premise! It's a terrifying exploration of toxic friendship and how bad decisions you make when you're young can haunt you forever." - Robin Morgan-Bentley

The premise of The Pact is brilliant. The night before they are to receive their A level test results, a close-knit group of 6 friends decides to play a dangerous game which ends with the death of a woman and her 2 young children. Rather than all of them going to jail, Megan takes the blame leaving the others off the hook, but in return they all owe her a favor once she is released from prison. Once she is released from prison 20 years later, that's when things really get interesting. This is an unbelievable act of friendship or stupidity, but written so enticingly tense I could not get enough of it. Brilliantly paced with building tension throughout, never once slowing down. I am amazed with this twisty thriller! With a number of the friends dying under very suspicious circumstances, nerves, tension and blame builds as some fight to suppress the truth from events twenty years ago, and others want to be free from the burden of the lies they told and lives that were shattered.I’ve devoured every single book by Sharon Bolton and I just love the way her mind works. She is not called the Queen of Gothic for nothing! When I read the synopsis for her latest book, THE PACT, I knew I would be in for another treat. I’m intrigued, and disturbed, by the idea that even the most perfect life can be upturned in an instant. Life turns on a dime, to coin a phrase. At the start of The Pact , six talented 18 – year – olds are waiting for their A level results. They all have places at top universities, all have golden futures ahead . As I was writing, my son and his friends (young people I’d learned to know and love over the preceding years) were in exactly that position. The ir future looked bright . What could possibly go wrong? H ugely. A book without a strong sense of place is incomplete to my mind, and I can never start work on a book until I know where it will be set. Often, the location comes first. I get a real buzz out of finding a place that appears beautiful, even idyllic, on the surface and being able to see the darkness lurking beneath.

Sharon Bolton brilliantly skewers a group of over-privileged rich kids. It's a pleasure to watch them discover that actions have consequences as the plot unfolds. Fast-moving, addictive and thoroughly satisfying, this is another winner from one of my favourite crime writers." - Jane Casey A golden summer, the most prestigious school in the country and a group of six teenage friends waiting for their exam results. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? Possibly the start of a teenage romantic comedy? Not really, it is something else that is much more enjoyable. The six friends have gathered together the night before final exam results, doing what a lot of 18 year olds will do: drinking and having fun. That is until the fun takes a much more sinister turn and an ill-conceived game of dare and a driving accident leaves a family dead and six teenagers who face their lives being ruined forever. Twenty years later, Megan is released from prison. Her friends have gone on to complete college, have jobs, most have married, one has chidden, basically they have moved on. While Megan has health issues and a desire to reconnect. How will the others react? I'm always happy to reconnect with old friends, but this lot, well....

Games

A highly original premise delivered with considerable panache and visceral tension— Irish Independent But when the release date comes, can the former friends be trusted to adhere to their promise? We shall see. They all were horrified at what they had done so they made a pact to never reveal anything to anyone , until Megan decides to take the blame & she spends Twenty years in Jail for her crime. years ago, 6 friends made a pact to let one of them take the fall for a fatal accident. And now that the fall girl is out, the nightmare is starting again. This book has everything - a terrible event, years of guilt and lies, toxic friendships and a cast of characters which leaves you trusting no one. Horrifying and addictive.— Catherine Cooper, author of THE CHALET