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The Pact

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The Pact

By: Sharon Bolton
Narrated by: Hanako Footman
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About this listen

A golden summer, and six talented teenagers are looking forward to the brightest of futures—until a daredevil game goes horribly wrong, leaving three strangers dead.

18-year-old Megan takes the blame for the crime, leaving her friends 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.

It is payback time.

And her friends start disappearing, one by one . . .

Richard & Judy bestseller Sharon Bolton is back, with her twistiest thriller yet.

©2021 Sharon Bolton (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group Crime Fiction Mystery Police Procedurals Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Fiction Crime Exciting Scary

Critic reviews

"Deliciously compelling." (Daily Mirror)

"Delightfully dark." (The Times)

"Addictive and thoroughly satisfying." (Jane Casey)
All stars
Most relevant
I gave this 4* overall as it did keep me listening right to the end and Sharon Bolton’s plot is full of twists and interesting reveals throughout. The premise is a great one- six, bright young things in Oxford caught up in a terrible deed that leads to a lifetime of regret, revenge and vengeance.

At times, I found Hanako Footman’s narration over-bearing and she mis-pronounces some key words-‘Magdalen’, the Oxford college, should be ‘Maudlin’…pedantic, I know, but it bugged me.

Fascinating idea for a story-a little let-down by narrator

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Slow beginning. Fabulous middle which kept me guessing and hooked. The protagonist is likeable and I really rooted for her.
The ending seemed quick and a bit disappointing but it didn’t spoil the book too much.

Original story line

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Beautifully narrated without that annoying trend to imitate a male voice or attempt a regional accent.
Great story with some interesting twists and will look out for more of this author’s work and this narrator.
Recommended

Gripping until the end.

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Never written a review before but this was one of the best audio books I’ve listened to. Really well narrated and a gripping story.

Excellent

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As others have noted, the start was a bit slow, not helped by the narrator rather glossing over the main characters' names somewhat, such that they all became an amorphous glob of Hooray Henrys (and Henriettas). But once it got going it zipped along quite nicely with some deft twists and turns on the way. But the ending! My oh my. Did the author run out of paper and was forced to squeeze in the last paragraph in small writing in the margin? Or did she write it on twitter and was down to her last 140 characters? After so much drawn out detail in the rest of the book, the final denouement was dashed off in as few words as possible, leaving this listener, at least, feeling disappointed and let down. "Is that it?" I heard myself saying as the credits began to roll. Oh well, next book please.

A good listen until the disappointing end

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