Book Review: The Pact

Sharon Bolton cooks up a feverish psychological thriller in her latest outing The Pact, serving a scrumptious tale of friendship and betrayal that's at once devilishly twisty and entertaining. When a close knit group of six teenagers, awaiting their A-level results, indulge in a game of chicken on the motorway into early hours of the morning, the crazy dare proves reckless when it results in a fatal car accident, killing a woman and her two young daughters. With hopes of a bright future crumbling into pieces right before their eyes, Megan, the scholarship student in the group, decides to take the fall, leaving the others to fulfil their dreams, in return for a non-negotiable favour from each of them on her release from prison. A sharp take on privilege and entitlement, Bolton dials up the chills and cranks up tension to the breaking point, skillfully building a house of cards, demolishing it, reshuffling the deck, and dealing an even stronger hand, while keeping a few cards up her sleeve. An expert ticking-clock suspenser best consumed in one prodigious gulp.