Bogged Down in the Shetlands

Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton (SSB F BOL Main)

Reviewed by Jeanne

What would you do if you discovered a body? Would you check for a pulse? Faint? Run? Call the police? Tora Hamilton has said she didn’t know what she would do.

She gets the chance to find out.

It’s already been a dreadful day. Rainy, which isn’t unusual in the Shetland Islands, but also the day she has to bury Jamie, her beloved horse. She could wait, but she can’t bear the idea of what the scavengers will do to his body.So she gets on the mini-excavator and starts digging down through the peat when she sees a linen wrapped bundle. . . and a human foot. The local police chief thinks they’ve found another one of those ancient burial sites in which the peat has preserved the victim.Certainly the whole site has that feel to it, especially when it’s discovered that the victim’s heart has been removed from her chest and three runic symbols have been carved into the body.He’s all for calling in the archaeologists.

Tora begs to differ.It’s not based on her training as a consultant surgeon.It’s just that she doesn’t believe ancient peoples wore lacquer nail polish.

Thus begins one of the better thrillers I’ve read lately, filled with twists and turns that builds to a stunning conclusion.Along with Tora, I wasn’t sure who was to be trusted: just when I thought I knew I was proven wrong.

The setting is extremely well done; Bolton manages to make you feel you really are in the Shetlands, describing the people, the place and the history in painless bites. You can almost see the wild beauty of the Islands along with a sense of the glorious and somewhat frightening isolation, feel the waves pounding against the shorelines and see the puffins and Arctic Skua.

The characters are also well developed, especially Tora who isn’t your standard beautiful damsel in distress type so beloved of most thrillers. She is one of those prickly, no nonsense sorts whom you might not like at all in real life, though to her credit she realizes she’s not exactly a “people person.” She’s just not certain what to do about it. How do other people manage to create an instant rapport? She also has a strong sense of justice and objects to it being subverted, making her prone to challenging authority. She does take some risks, but she does so with a full realization of the danger involved—a refreshing change from some characters who rush in where angels fear to tread and then wonder how they ended up in such a precarious situation. Other interesting characters; Kenn, Tora’s boss who can charm people and horses with equal ease; Duncan, Tora’s handsome and adored but often absent husband, who was born and raised in the Islands;and the equally prickly Dana Tulloch, one of the police investigators who seems to suspect that Tora knows more than she’s telling.

I was fascinated by the folklore of the area, when I wasn’t hastily turning pages to find out what happened next. The fact that it’s a first novel makes it all the more impressive. I’m already anxious to read her next book, Awakening (F BOL Main).