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In Bitter Chill
In 1978, a small town in Derbyshire, England is traumatised by the kidnapping of two young schoolgirls. One girl, Rachel, is later found unharmed but unable to remember anything except that her abductor was a woman.
Over thirty years later the mother of the still missing Sophie commits suicide. Superintendent Llewellyn, who was a young constable on the 1978 case, asks DI Francis Sadler and DC Connie Childs to look again at the kidnapping to see if modern police methods can discover something that the original team missed. However, Sadler is convinced that a more recent event triggered Yvonne Jenkins’s suicide.
Rachel, with the help of her formidable mother and grandmother, recovered from the kidnapping and has become a family genealogist. She remembers nothing of the abduction and is concerned that, after Yvonne Jenkins’s suicide, the national media will be pursuing her for a story once more. Days later, the discovery of one of her former teachers’ strangled body suggested a chain of events is being unleashed.
Rachel and the police must unpick the clues to discover what really happened all those years ago. But in doing so, they discover that the darkest secrets can be the ones closest to you.
Over thirty years later the mother of the still missing Sophie commits suicide. Superintendent Llewellyn, who was a young constable on the 1978 case, asks DI Francis Sadler and DC Connie Childs to look again at the kidnapping to see if modern police methods can discover something that the original team missed. However, Sadler is convinced that a more recent event triggered Yvonne Jenkins’s suicide.
Rachel, with the help of her formidable mother and grandmother, recovered from the kidnapping and has become a family genealogist. She remembers nothing of the abduction and is concerned that, after Yvonne Jenkins’s suicide, the national media will be pursuing her for a story once more. Days later, the discovery of one of her former teachers’ strangled body suggested a chain of events is being unleashed.
Rachel and the police must unpick the clues to discover what really happened all those years ago. But in doing so, they discover that the darkest secrets can be the ones closest to you.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2015
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4972 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 454 reviews
July 15, 2015
“In Bitter Chill” is one of the type of novels I love when done really well, where the past invades the present and old secrets come to light – in the case of this, Sarah Ward’s debut – it was really beautifully atmospheric, with some well drawn characters and a terribly compelling story.
Mostly I identified with Rachel, she has a sharp edgy feel to her as a character, I connected to her emotionally very quickly. She also provided a fascinating theme running through the narrative – that of family tree, family background. Creating history for other people makes her consider her own, as current events take over the past watching how Rachel handles things is one of the more intriguing portions of the story as a whole.
Sarah Ward has managed to blend police prodedural, psychological thriller and family drama SO well here – there are elements of all of those things that make the tale utterly riveting throughout – developing the characters and the background to give a really authentic edge to the whole thing and she knows how to keep you reading. The reveal moments are cleverly placed, a real page turner.
One of the best things is it is all so completely believable. No suspension of disbelief required here, things unfold with perfect pacing, you get completely caught up in these peoples lives, there is a gorgeous emotional kick to proceedings that give you plenty to relate to and think about as you go.
Some really terrific writing, great use of language and a truly captivating story makes “In Bitter Chill” one of the standout debut’s that I’ve read so far this year.
Highly Recommended.
Mostly I identified with Rachel, she has a sharp edgy feel to her as a character, I connected to her emotionally very quickly. She also provided a fascinating theme running through the narrative – that of family tree, family background. Creating history for other people makes her consider her own, as current events take over the past watching how Rachel handles things is one of the more intriguing portions of the story as a whole.
Sarah Ward has managed to blend police prodedural, psychological thriller and family drama SO well here – there are elements of all of those things that make the tale utterly riveting throughout – developing the characters and the background to give a really authentic edge to the whole thing and she knows how to keep you reading. The reveal moments are cleverly placed, a real page turner.
One of the best things is it is all so completely believable. No suspension of disbelief required here, things unfold with perfect pacing, you get completely caught up in these peoples lives, there is a gorgeous emotional kick to proceedings that give you plenty to relate to and think about as you go.
Some really terrific writing, great use of language and a truly captivating story makes “In Bitter Chill” one of the standout debut’s that I’ve read so far this year.
Highly Recommended.
February 17, 2023
Hooked from the start hope to see more crime books from this author will be on my list to read, one of the crimes wasn't solved was the cases connected?brilliant writing.if you like a good crime book give this book a read will recommend this book.
November 3, 2015
This is Sarah Ward's debut novel, you wouldn't believe it if you read it, its so well written.
I found the first bit hard going, but that isn't any reflection on the author because sometimes the very best of the best books I have come across have been slow picking up and then WHAM this one is the same.
Two girls kidnapped, one escapes.
The one that escaped is now many years older, but she still reflects on what happened and wonder where her friend was, no one knew, did she live? did she die?
The mother of the missing child takes her own life.
There are the best hidden secrets within the pages of this book that will leave you flicking page after page into the early hours trying to solve what happened.
Its an excellent first book and I am looking forward to many more from the great author in the making.
*My thanks go to Faber and Faber Ltd via Net Galley for my copy *
October 31, 2015
Two eight year old girls go missing one morning on their way to school. One returns, while the other is never seen again. This book held such great potential, but it never quite measured up. I was 100-150 pages in and still wondering when things were going to start happening. It's only a 311-page book, and it isn't until the last 30-40 pages that things start to come together, but by then, I was so confused, I didn't really care anymore, and the grand reveal did not have the jaw-dropping effect I'm sure the author intended.
With the exception of the main character, the others were not well developed. Throughout the entire book, I found myself confusing the characters into three blurry lumps—the three male detectives got muddled together in one group; I couldn't remember which was which of the main character's mother/grandmother/great-grandmother (which turned out to be kind of crucial); and the teacher/teacher's sister-in-law/teacher's daughter/missing girl's mother were the third group. Sure, I've confused a couple of characters in other books here and there, but they're usually background characters...but never in my life have so many characters been so indistinctly written that I confused almost all of them!
This is a debut novel from this author and I really did try to be forgiving as a result, but I really struggled with keeping one character from another straight in my head, which was frustrating and overall, interfered with the flow and enjoyment of the book. It also had quite a few grammatical errors that became rather distracting. Hopefully, her sophomore attempt will be better.
With the exception of the main character, the others were not well developed. Throughout the entire book, I found myself confusing the characters into three blurry lumps—the three male detectives got muddled together in one group; I couldn't remember which was which of the main character's mother/grandmother/great-grandmother (which turned out to be kind of crucial); and the teacher/teacher's sister-in-law/teacher's daughter/missing girl's mother were the third group. Sure, I've confused a couple of characters in other books here and there, but they're usually background characters...but never in my life have so many characters been so indistinctly written that I confused almost all of them!
This is a debut novel from this author and I really did try to be forgiving as a result, but I really struggled with keeping one character from another straight in my head, which was frustrating and overall, interfered with the flow and enjoyment of the book. It also had quite a few grammatical errors that became rather distracting. Hopefully, her sophomore attempt will be better.
October 28, 2015
Two young girls are kidnapped, one returns unharmed, the other presumed dead. I found the beginning a little slow but once it got going it is an incredible read. The main characters Sandler and Connie were very believable and had a great working relationship and complemented each other. There are many family secrets contained in this book and this just adds to the suspense, a very good psychological thriller.
March 25, 2017
Two young children are kidnapped, only one comes home. Many years later the mother of the missing child is found dead and the police try to find what happened not only to the mother but by using different techniques take another crack at solving the abduction.
An interesting start to what is hopefully a long-lived series.
An interesting start to what is hopefully a long-lived series.
October 9, 2015
In Bitter Chill turned out to be a terrific debut from Sarah Ward.
Based on a kidnapping that took place in 1978 it flips between present day and 1978 which was easy to follow. A kidnapping of two young girls on their way to school, one was discovered walking the road sometime after, the other disappeared.
Cut to present day, a suicide takes place which then triggers an investigation into the events of 1978. How are the cases linked, indeed, are they? And that really sums up the premise of the story. It sounds simple, but it's not and that is down to clever plotting and great pacing as events are brought to light ever so slowly. We meet Rachel in present day, (one of the girl's kidnapped), where she is now and the effects of what happened on that fateful day. We're introduced do some great protagonists in the shape of DI Francis Sadler and DC Connie Stevens. Her's was the character I think I liked the most. Sounds weird but there were actually some touches of lightness in this thriller that had me laughing out loud!
The story really is partly police procedural, psychological twisty turny storytelling and family drama with lots of secrets. Ohhhh so many secrets that are tightly woven together like a family history tree that has you spinning in on yourself. So much so, I picked up the book late one night and 24 hours later (with breaks in between I hasten to add!) I was done. Only coming up for air when a child was shouting at me for attention! The parts set in 1978 were especially enjoyable with references that I could relate to. I won't say a lot here ..... just that I had a pair of socks just like the pair in the book!
It's written very well, I loved the pacing, the characters, the settings, and thinking about it the book had a scandinavian 'feel' about it with it's touches of bracing wind and icy conditions. In short, there's some great story telling here that really captures the different moods well. I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to and would recommend highly. A well earned because 'I couldn't put it down' 5 star read!
Thanks go to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.
Based on a kidnapping that took place in 1978 it flips between present day and 1978 which was easy to follow. A kidnapping of two young girls on their way to school, one was discovered walking the road sometime after, the other disappeared.
Cut to present day, a suicide takes place which then triggers an investigation into the events of 1978. How are the cases linked, indeed, are they? And that really sums up the premise of the story. It sounds simple, but it's not and that is down to clever plotting and great pacing as events are brought to light ever so slowly. We meet Rachel in present day, (one of the girl's kidnapped), where she is now and the effects of what happened on that fateful day. We're introduced do some great protagonists in the shape of DI Francis Sadler and DC Connie Stevens. Her's was the character I think I liked the most. Sounds weird but there were actually some touches of lightness in this thriller that had me laughing out loud!
The story really is partly police procedural, psychological twisty turny storytelling and family drama with lots of secrets. Ohhhh so many secrets that are tightly woven together like a family history tree that has you spinning in on yourself. So much so, I picked up the book late one night and 24 hours later (with breaks in between I hasten to add!) I was done. Only coming up for air when a child was shouting at me for attention! The parts set in 1978 were especially enjoyable with references that I could relate to. I won't say a lot here ..... just that I had a pair of socks just like the pair in the book!
It's written very well, I loved the pacing, the characters, the settings, and thinking about it the book had a scandinavian 'feel' about it with it's touches of bracing wind and icy conditions. In short, there's some great story telling here that really captures the different moods well. I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to and would recommend highly. A well earned because 'I couldn't put it down' 5 star read!
Thanks go to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.
March 26, 2018
The story is set in the dead of winter in Derbyshire. Two girls were kidnapped thirty years ago. One was returned and one wasn’t. Then the mother of the missing girl commits suicide.
I love the characters in this book who all feel real and three dimensional. The only downside was that I found myself mixing characters up. Perhaps their names were too similar? There’s the police team with their personal lives and interactions, and the surviving girl, now a woman and a genealogical researcher. I’m a sucker for a genealogy story and this one is most convincing. Tangled lives. If this excites you too, you’re in for a treat. An unusual story and well told.
I love the characters in this book who all feel real and three dimensional. The only downside was that I found myself mixing characters up. Perhaps their names were too similar? There’s the police team with their personal lives and interactions, and the surviving girl, now a woman and a genealogical researcher. I’m a sucker for a genealogy story and this one is most convincing. Tangled lives. If this excites you too, you’re in for a treat. An unusual story and well told.
August 1, 2015
With a thought-provoking and atmospheric blend of police procedural and psychological thriller, Sarah Ward will quickly establish herself as a name to watch in the crime fiction genre. Drawing on her experience as a seasoned crime reviewer, Ward has carefully crafted a thriller that will appeal to fans of the British and Scandinavian crime genre, with an extremely character driven novel, that pivots between an historic child abduction case in the 70’s, and the ramifications of this thirty years on…
In terms of the police procedural, Ward has created a trio of extremely strong police protagonists, and the underlying tensions that lay between them. DCI Francis Sadler is a seasoned police officer tasked with the case, but the book focuses as strongly on his two young police cohorts DS Damien Palmer, and DC Connie Childs and the petty rivalry and professional jealousies that lay between them in their attempts to court the affections of their much respected boss. In truth, it was this aspect of the book that engaged me the most throughout, and I was particularly taken with Connie who was a well-crafted and utterly believable character. It was great when she went slightly off-piste, so to speak, in her attempts to impress the boss, and gain ground on the floundering Palmer, whose private life and tribulations seemed to impact greatly on his professional performance. Tempered by the natural stoicism of Sadler, and the domestic trials of Palmer, Connie consistently shone through the book. The whiff of sexual tension between Connie and her boss was also beautifully played, but by the same token did not feel ham-fisted or out of kilter with the way that we saw their relationship as readers, and will stoke the fire in future books I’m sure.
In Bitter Chill blog tourWith the emotive subject of child abduction, and the subsequent suspicious deaths as a result of the initial case, Ward carefully manipulates the reader as to how the past cannot help but impact on the present. As much as the book works as a police procedural, it is in her rendering of Rachel’s character, that we fully appreciate the balance Ward achieves in the book between police and victim, with Rachel’s fears and development as a person in the light of her traumatic childhood experience beautifully and sensitively depicted. There is no question that is a strong feel of underlying emotional damage to Rachel, but when deaths occur linked to her own experience, she steels herself to confront the past, and revisit those dark areas that are impacting on those around her. With her chosen career as a genealogist, she is more than used to filling in other people’s histories, but investigating her own is a far darker proposition. To be truthful, I did get a little bogged down in the more factual emphasis on the genealogy, as it is not a subject that I am overly interested in, but Ward does reign it in as the book progresses to get us back on track with the central plot.
Set in Derbyshire, the book is underscored by a strong depiction of the surrounding locale and mercurial weather conditions of this most picturesque area of Britain. Equally, and with a nod to the Scandinavian genre, Ward builds up a strong sense of the claustrophobic and suspicious nature of a small community rooted in a totally rural setting, and the close connections and inter-relations between its inhabitants. This helps to grow the tension of the plot, and equally allows us to identify the possible links between Rachel and others in the hunt for a killer, and the cause of her childhood friend’s unresolved disappearance. Enhanced by the strong characterisation throughout, and an intriguing plot with its shifting time-line, In Bitter Chill, proves itself a solid and intriguing debut, and a good addition to the British crime fiction genre. Well worth a read.
In terms of the police procedural, Ward has created a trio of extremely strong police protagonists, and the underlying tensions that lay between them. DCI Francis Sadler is a seasoned police officer tasked with the case, but the book focuses as strongly on his two young police cohorts DS Damien Palmer, and DC Connie Childs and the petty rivalry and professional jealousies that lay between them in their attempts to court the affections of their much respected boss. In truth, it was this aspect of the book that engaged me the most throughout, and I was particularly taken with Connie who was a well-crafted and utterly believable character. It was great when she went slightly off-piste, so to speak, in her attempts to impress the boss, and gain ground on the floundering Palmer, whose private life and tribulations seemed to impact greatly on his professional performance. Tempered by the natural stoicism of Sadler, and the domestic trials of Palmer, Connie consistently shone through the book. The whiff of sexual tension between Connie and her boss was also beautifully played, but by the same token did not feel ham-fisted or out of kilter with the way that we saw their relationship as readers, and will stoke the fire in future books I’m sure.
In Bitter Chill blog tourWith the emotive subject of child abduction, and the subsequent suspicious deaths as a result of the initial case, Ward carefully manipulates the reader as to how the past cannot help but impact on the present. As much as the book works as a police procedural, it is in her rendering of Rachel’s character, that we fully appreciate the balance Ward achieves in the book between police and victim, with Rachel’s fears and development as a person in the light of her traumatic childhood experience beautifully and sensitively depicted. There is no question that is a strong feel of underlying emotional damage to Rachel, but when deaths occur linked to her own experience, she steels herself to confront the past, and revisit those dark areas that are impacting on those around her. With her chosen career as a genealogist, she is more than used to filling in other people’s histories, but investigating her own is a far darker proposition. To be truthful, I did get a little bogged down in the more factual emphasis on the genealogy, as it is not a subject that I am overly interested in, but Ward does reign it in as the book progresses to get us back on track with the central plot.
Set in Derbyshire, the book is underscored by a strong depiction of the surrounding locale and mercurial weather conditions of this most picturesque area of Britain. Equally, and with a nod to the Scandinavian genre, Ward builds up a strong sense of the claustrophobic and suspicious nature of a small community rooted in a totally rural setting, and the close connections and inter-relations between its inhabitants. This helps to grow the tension of the plot, and equally allows us to identify the possible links between Rachel and others in the hunt for a killer, and the cause of her childhood friend’s unresolved disappearance. Enhanced by the strong characterisation throughout, and an intriguing plot with its shifting time-line, In Bitter Chill, proves itself a solid and intriguing debut, and a good addition to the British crime fiction genre. Well worth a read.
November 7, 2015
Two young girls are abducted in 1978 – one returns, the other remains missing. Rachel Jones, the one who came back, still bears the psychological scars from her ordeal over 30 years before. She doesn’t trust people and doesn’t let anyone get too close. When a suicide and then a murder follow in quick succession, it doesn’t take long before there is speculation as to whether these events are connected to the abduction.
The present day story is set in a cold and wintry Derbyshire village, the snow and ice adding to the atmospheric feel. The suicide of Yvonne Jenkins, mother of the missing Sophie, prompts the police to not exactly re-open the case - budgets won’t allow that, but to loosely review it, without going through all the previous paperwork, to see if anything obvious had been missed. This is where we are introduced to the officers investigating. DI Francis Sadler is in charge of the investigation with colleagues DS Damian Palmer and DC Connie Childs doing the legwork. Although we get to know these characters, they don’t overwhelm the story and it doesn’t become all about them.
Rachel’s interest in genealogy and in her own family history are a big part of the story. When she feels particularly stressed, she re-draws her own family tree, however there is one glaring omission – the absence of any menfolk. She still can't remember hardly anything from that event and with very few members of her family left to answer her questions, she has to undertake her own investigations and long held secrets are gradually disclosed which could place her in danger.
There seem to be many crime thrillers lately with a theme of missing children, however this debut from Sarah Ward is a little different. It is a quietly understated crime story, but is no less compelling, relying on expertly drawn characterisation and an intricate plot rather than an action packed storyline. I really enjoyed In Bitter Chill; the pacing was just right, there were enough twists and turns in the plot to keep me wanting to come back to the book and whilst I didn’t always like the older Rachel, (I thought she could be too unnecessarily prickly with people), I could understand that having suffered such a traumatic childhood ordeal would affect you and how you perceived others. Whilst DS Palmer was distracted by his forthcoming wedding and didn’t really feature too much, Sadler and Connie Childs seemed to understand each other and this pairing worked well. Connie may have been small in stature but she had a big attitude and didn't always follow the rules.
I'm very pleased to see that there will be a further book - 'A Fragile Spring' released next year with these characters - another to look forward to. In the meantime, In Bitter Chill is definitely one I would recommend.
The present day story is set in a cold and wintry Derbyshire village, the snow and ice adding to the atmospheric feel. The suicide of Yvonne Jenkins, mother of the missing Sophie, prompts the police to not exactly re-open the case - budgets won’t allow that, but to loosely review it, without going through all the previous paperwork, to see if anything obvious had been missed. This is where we are introduced to the officers investigating. DI Francis Sadler is in charge of the investigation with colleagues DS Damian Palmer and DC Connie Childs doing the legwork. Although we get to know these characters, they don’t overwhelm the story and it doesn’t become all about them.
Rachel’s interest in genealogy and in her own family history are a big part of the story. When she feels particularly stressed, she re-draws her own family tree, however there is one glaring omission – the absence of any menfolk. She still can't remember hardly anything from that event and with very few members of her family left to answer her questions, she has to undertake her own investigations and long held secrets are gradually disclosed which could place her in danger.
There seem to be many crime thrillers lately with a theme of missing children, however this debut from Sarah Ward is a little different. It is a quietly understated crime story, but is no less compelling, relying on expertly drawn characterisation and an intricate plot rather than an action packed storyline. I really enjoyed In Bitter Chill; the pacing was just right, there were enough twists and turns in the plot to keep me wanting to come back to the book and whilst I didn’t always like the older Rachel, (I thought she could be too unnecessarily prickly with people), I could understand that having suffered such a traumatic childhood ordeal would affect you and how you perceived others. Whilst DS Palmer was distracted by his forthcoming wedding and didn’t really feature too much, Sadler and Connie Childs seemed to understand each other and this pairing worked well. Connie may have been small in stature but she had a big attitude and didn't always follow the rules.
I'm very pleased to see that there will be a further book - 'A Fragile Spring' released next year with these characters - another to look forward to. In the meantime, In Bitter Chill is definitely one I would recommend.
December 12, 2015
In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward is a 2015 publication. This review is the copyrighted property of Night Owl Reviews.
I love British mysteries, cold cases, and dark family secrets, so this book is just my kind of read. There is nothing here, however, that follows the familiar police procedural formula. In fact, the story sucked me in very quietly, hypnotically pulling me into the tangled web so expertly and intricately woven over time. I was so utterly absorbed in this story, I was shocked to discover I had nearly read the entire book in one sitting!
The plot is very cleverly crafted and the writing is simply spellbinding. The pacing is spot on, and the story relies, not on shootouts, explosions, car chases, or grisly forensic details, but instead, forces the reader to concentrate on fascinating and connecting details, dialogue, and curious revelations in order to piece together the true story. I absolutely loved it!
I highly recommend this book to all mystery lovers. 4.5 stars
To read this review in full click this link: https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Re...
I love British mysteries, cold cases, and dark family secrets, so this book is just my kind of read. There is nothing here, however, that follows the familiar police procedural formula. In fact, the story sucked me in very quietly, hypnotically pulling me into the tangled web so expertly and intricately woven over time. I was so utterly absorbed in this story, I was shocked to discover I had nearly read the entire book in one sitting!
The plot is very cleverly crafted and the writing is simply spellbinding. The pacing is spot on, and the story relies, not on shootouts, explosions, car chases, or grisly forensic details, but instead, forces the reader to concentrate on fascinating and connecting details, dialogue, and curious revelations in order to piece together the true story. I absolutely loved it!
I highly recommend this book to all mystery lovers. 4.5 stars
To read this review in full click this link: https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Re...
July 13, 2015
In Bitter Chill – A Superb Debut
Sarah Ward has written one of the best debuts novels in the thriller genre of 2015 that delivers on all levels for the reader. The feeling that you get from In Bitter Chill is that if it were not based in Derbyshire it could easily pass as Nordic Noir, there are certainly influences there.
In Bitter Chill is dark with a mixture of disturbing love, loss as well as a personal trauma , the characterisation is sympathetic but there is a stunning mix of suspense, mystery and good old fashioned gum shoe work . All this is set in the dark and cold winter in the Derbyshire peeks, the foothills of the Pennines, somewhere Sarah Ward knows well.
In 1978 two young girls walking to school were Kidnapped on their way to school one is found later that day and the other girl has never been found. Rachel Jones has lived with being the surviving child all her life, someone people stare at, but with the suicide of the mother of Sophie, who was never found, she is forced to finally face what happened nearly forty years before.
DI Frank Sadler and DC Connie Childs are the main investigators in to the suicide and when a school teacher from Rachel and Sophie’s school is murdered, someone who was teaching at their school at that time more questions are raised. The national press are clearly interested that a suicide and a murder cannot be a coincidence, all revolving around Rachel Jones, and the Police certain do not believe in any coincidence.
So begins an old fashioned investigation in to the murder, suicide and the abduction from the decades before. There is no space age wizardry used, no flashy technology just good investigative work from the Police and Rachel, the race is who is going to discover the truth first and what will happen once or if the truth is revealed.
Sarah Ward has written a fantastic crime thriller that hooks you in from the first and with the mixture of loss and family secrets we learn it does not matter how dark the secret the truth will out eventually, whether you want it to or not. The book also reminds me of the ‘stranger danger’ we kids of the 70s and 80s were often taught by parents and teachers.
Sarah Ward has brought all her reading and judging skills as a reviewer of Crime Thrillers in to this book, and she has certainly taken the advice of Stephen King to heart that all writers need too “read and read”.
For a debut thriller In Bitter Chill will keep you riveted, Sarah Ward uses all her knowledge to deliver a knockout book that will stand out this year as a superb debut.
Read this you will not regret it.
Sarah Ward has written one of the best debuts novels in the thriller genre of 2015 that delivers on all levels for the reader. The feeling that you get from In Bitter Chill is that if it were not based in Derbyshire it could easily pass as Nordic Noir, there are certainly influences there.
In Bitter Chill is dark with a mixture of disturbing love, loss as well as a personal trauma , the characterisation is sympathetic but there is a stunning mix of suspense, mystery and good old fashioned gum shoe work . All this is set in the dark and cold winter in the Derbyshire peeks, the foothills of the Pennines, somewhere Sarah Ward knows well.
In 1978 two young girls walking to school were Kidnapped on their way to school one is found later that day and the other girl has never been found. Rachel Jones has lived with being the surviving child all her life, someone people stare at, but with the suicide of the mother of Sophie, who was never found, she is forced to finally face what happened nearly forty years before.
DI Frank Sadler and DC Connie Childs are the main investigators in to the suicide and when a school teacher from Rachel and Sophie’s school is murdered, someone who was teaching at their school at that time more questions are raised. The national press are clearly interested that a suicide and a murder cannot be a coincidence, all revolving around Rachel Jones, and the Police certain do not believe in any coincidence.
So begins an old fashioned investigation in to the murder, suicide and the abduction from the decades before. There is no space age wizardry used, no flashy technology just good investigative work from the Police and Rachel, the race is who is going to discover the truth first and what will happen once or if the truth is revealed.
Sarah Ward has written a fantastic crime thriller that hooks you in from the first and with the mixture of loss and family secrets we learn it does not matter how dark the secret the truth will out eventually, whether you want it to or not. The book also reminds me of the ‘stranger danger’ we kids of the 70s and 80s were often taught by parents and teachers.
Sarah Ward has brought all her reading and judging skills as a reviewer of Crime Thrillers in to this book, and she has certainly taken the advice of Stephen King to heart that all writers need too “read and read”.
For a debut thriller In Bitter Chill will keep you riveted, Sarah Ward uses all her knowledge to deliver a knockout book that will stand out this year as a superb debut.
Read this you will not regret it.
June 7, 2016
Many thanks to NetGalley and publisher for advancing me a copy of “In Bitter Chill” by Sarah Ward in exchange for an honest review.
Is it possible to like the plot and characters, yet find same to be mundane?
This is a novel that took me a while to get into as it was a bit slow. I love a good mystery and this one definitely intrigued me. From the start when a body is discovered in a hotel, a plethora of events begin to unravel with a slew of characters emerging that are all interwoven. While I thought the mystery to be one that captured my attention, it came across as…..dry. Yeah, dry. Bizarre word to describe the plot but it’s the only one that comes to mind. There were no thrills or chills to be found. The mystery plot just moved along at a pace, that while still interesting, was average with no blip on the radar. Even the characters, from Rachel who survived her kidnapping, to the Lieutenant, Serge, and two detectives, to the friends and family of the deceased, there was nothing special about any of them. Again, dry would be the word to describe each of them. The novel, like Rachel, is full of names, date of births, date of deaths, etc. strewn throughout. While the story is easy to follow, it became redundant. Still it did lead me to the conclusion of how one kidnapping, one suicide, and one murder is tied together. Yes, I figured it out because, honestly, the author included so many references to names, date of births, date of deaths, etc., what other conclusion was I to think?
What I actually found interesting were the little mundane facts interwoven with the plot making the characters a little more real. We have Sergeant Sandler who’s sleeping with a married woman, one detective working hard to make a name for herself, the other detective becoming more and more miserable as the date of his impending nuptials comes closer, Rachel who lives a mundane life with a great career as a genealogist, helping others follow their own ancestral descent, yet never delves into her own past with respect to her kidnapping. As much as I liked the story, there was nothing amazing about it.
Is it possible to like the plot and characters, yet find same to be mundane?
This is a novel that took me a while to get into as it was a bit slow. I love a good mystery and this one definitely intrigued me. From the start when a body is discovered in a hotel, a plethora of events begin to unravel with a slew of characters emerging that are all interwoven. While I thought the mystery to be one that captured my attention, it came across as…..dry. Yeah, dry. Bizarre word to describe the plot but it’s the only one that comes to mind. There were no thrills or chills to be found. The mystery plot just moved along at a pace, that while still interesting, was average with no blip on the radar. Even the characters, from Rachel who survived her kidnapping, to the Lieutenant, Serge, and two detectives, to the friends and family of the deceased, there was nothing special about any of them. Again, dry would be the word to describe each of them. The novel, like Rachel, is full of names, date of births, date of deaths, etc. strewn throughout. While the story is easy to follow, it became redundant. Still it did lead me to the conclusion of how one kidnapping, one suicide, and one murder is tied together. Yes, I figured it out because, honestly, the author included so many references to names, date of births, date of deaths, etc., what other conclusion was I to think?
What I actually found interesting were the little mundane facts interwoven with the plot making the characters a little more real. We have Sergeant Sandler who’s sleeping with a married woman, one detective working hard to make a name for herself, the other detective becoming more and more miserable as the date of his impending nuptials comes closer, Rachel who lives a mundane life with a great career as a genealogist, helping others follow their own ancestral descent, yet never delves into her own past with respect to her kidnapping. As much as I liked the story, there was nothing amazing about it.
July 2, 2022
4.5 stars rounded up
Brilliant start to a police procedural series.
Back when I was posting polls on my blog, this series was recommended highly to me by my fellow bookbloggers. Once again, it seems they've chosen wisely. This debut novel was an extremely well plotted police procedural. The joys of starting a series late is that you can read the next one without having to wait a year for the sequel to be written. So far, this series is comprised of four novels. Personally, I can't wait to read the next three.
Set in the Derbyshire Peak District, this was crime fiction with an intriguing plot that features long-held family secrets and the linking of current crimes with a cold case crime in 1978. The police team were personable and made real by their astute rendering by the author. I really liked Connie Childs with the exception of the fact that she despises cats. Her one major flaw in my opinion. LOL
Compelling in its execution, I can highly recommend this novel to all fans of mysteries, family secrets, and character-rich police procedurals.
Brilliant start to a police procedural series.
Back when I was posting polls on my blog, this series was recommended highly to me by my fellow bookbloggers. Once again, it seems they've chosen wisely. This debut novel was an extremely well plotted police procedural. The joys of starting a series late is that you can read the next one without having to wait a year for the sequel to be written. So far, this series is comprised of four novels. Personally, I can't wait to read the next three.
Set in the Derbyshire Peak District, this was crime fiction with an intriguing plot that features long-held family secrets and the linking of current crimes with a cold case crime in 1978. The police team were personable and made real by their astute rendering by the author. I really liked Connie Childs with the exception of the fact that she despises cats. Her one major flaw in my opinion. LOL
Compelling in its execution, I can highly recommend this novel to all fans of mysteries, family secrets, and character-rich police procedurals.
September 8, 2015
n Bitter Chill is the debut novel of crime blogger Sarah Ward. She runs the very active Crimepieces blog where she reviews crime novels. She is also one of the judges for the Petrona Award for the best Scandinavian Crime Novel. All this gives her a very good grounding to write her own novel, and it has.
In Bitter Chill is a solid Debut. It is set in two timelines, the here and now and back in 1978 when the two girls were abducted.
What I liked about reading the 1978 timeline was (should I say this?!) remembering that time and smiling at some of the descriptions, for instance, one of the girls had a pair of long white socks where the elastic around the top was loose and they kept falling down and she had to keep pulling them up. I remember a pair of socks exactly like that! It was the small things like that in the book that made it very real and drew you in.
The story is set in rural Derbyshire and the setting is a character all of its own. It’s a beautiful place. You can picture it and feel it, the cold that Ward seeps in, the isolation. It’s really well done and it’s where you can really see she has taken note of all the books she has been reading.
The two timelines weave together brilliantly and with Rachel, the girl who got away, having grown up to work as a genealogist the theme of family secrets and the past work well.
I imagine this is going to be a series because the police officers Sadler and Connie Childs had more to give and would definitely suit a series.
With thanks to the author and publisher for my copy of the book.
In Bitter Chill is a solid Debut. It is set in two timelines, the here and now and back in 1978 when the two girls were abducted.
What I liked about reading the 1978 timeline was (should I say this?!) remembering that time and smiling at some of the descriptions, for instance, one of the girls had a pair of long white socks where the elastic around the top was loose and they kept falling down and she had to keep pulling them up. I remember a pair of socks exactly like that! It was the small things like that in the book that made it very real and drew you in.
The story is set in rural Derbyshire and the setting is a character all of its own. It’s a beautiful place. You can picture it and feel it, the cold that Ward seeps in, the isolation. It’s really well done and it’s where you can really see she has taken note of all the books she has been reading.
The two timelines weave together brilliantly and with Rachel, the girl who got away, having grown up to work as a genealogist the theme of family secrets and the past work well.
I imagine this is going to be a series because the police officers Sadler and Connie Childs had more to give and would definitely suit a series.
With thanks to the author and publisher for my copy of the book.
March 7, 2016
Although I did finish this one, it was a bit of a forced march! There was a mystery, but one of an intellectual variety, where the reading sleuth was to untangle the bodies and the motives. However I was comfortably detached, and found I didn’t really care a whole lot. Perhaps my preference tends toward mysteries that are compelling, and somewhat character driven, where urgency is in play. Favorites include Sister, by Rosamund Lipton, Whatever you Love, by Louise Doughty, I Let you Go, by Claire Mackintosh, What Lies Within, by Tim Vowler. Oh, and I mustn’t forget the Tana French books, excluding her most recent. All of them were such well written page turners! Two stars for In Bitter Chill, barely.
November 23, 2018
Absolutely loved this book packed with secrets
June 29, 2015
What a cracking debut from Sarah Ward. This is a really engrossing read that cleverly draws you into the lives of the main characters. You are soon absorbed in their investigations to solve the puzzle of what really took place. This is an easy book to recommend if you love a good British police crime investigation.
We are in Bampton a small town in Derbyshire. In the cold of January 1978 two eight year old schoolgirls were kidnapped by a stranger in a car. Rachel escapes and is found a few hours later although she remembers almost nothing of what occurred. Sophie was never found. No arrests for the abduction were ever made.
Thirty years later Sophie’s mother commits suicide and Detective Inspector Francis Sadler and DC Connie Childs are the main investigators into the case. The death brings it all back to Rachel who still lives locally and is now a genealogist. Prompted by the suicide Rachel becomes determined to try and discover what really happened back then, when she was the young kidnap victim. Another current death and DI Sadler, DC Childs and Rachel are beginning to believe there is a link back to the abduction in 1978.
This thriller is beautifully paced to keep you hooked with some chapters ended nicely with those OMG lines that guarantee you’ll be diving straight into the next chapter to see where it's going to lead. The plot is quite complex, played out in the bitter chill of winter with plenty of potential suspects. As new information and long buried family secrets come to light the author guides us through some twists and turns to a satisfying conclusion. I read this over a couple of days and found it a rather excellent book and I’m sure if you choose to read it, you definitely will too.
July 19, 2015
This book is a wonderfully intelligent and intricately detailed debut novel by Sarah Ward set in Derbyshire. It tells the story of Rachel who was kidnapped with her fellow schoolgirl and friend Sophie when she was 8 years old. Rachel was returned unharmed but with no memories of her ordeal but Sophie was never seen again. Years later, the suicide of Sophies mother sets in motion a chain of events that may lead Rachel to the truth about what happened that day but will also put her in grave danger once more.
I absolutely love this book and can't believe it was a debut! It took me a few more days than usual to read it as I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a thing! The descriptions of the Derbyshire setting and the character of Rachel were so intensely worded that I really felt I was there living this with her. I loved the relationship between Connie and Sadler,the police officers involved, which worked well and felt like a real partnership.
One of the main reasons I loved this so much was that up until about 80% I really had no idea where this was heading and that is so refreshing especially with a new crime drama. I am really looking forward to what comes next from Sarah and recommend this book to fellow crime lovers.
I received a copy of this book via netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
I absolutely love this book and can't believe it was a debut! It took me a few more days than usual to read it as I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a thing! The descriptions of the Derbyshire setting and the character of Rachel were so intensely worded that I really felt I was there living this with her. I loved the relationship between Connie and Sadler,the police officers involved, which worked well and felt like a real partnership.
One of the main reasons I loved this so much was that up until about 80% I really had no idea where this was heading and that is so refreshing especially with a new crime drama. I am really looking forward to what comes next from Sarah and recommend this book to fellow crime lovers.
I received a copy of this book via netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
March 21, 2025
A very powerful story.
May 6, 2016
Flawlessly combining the best elements of a police procedural with a psychological thriller, Sarah Ward has pulled off a stunning achievement with her debut novel In Bitter Chill. Managing to seamlessly combine an initial investigation left unsolved in 1978 with the events of the present day, Ward delivers a clever portrayal of just how the secrets and lies that families hold dear can impact upon the present day.
When DI Francis Sadler of Derbyshire CID is called to the apparent suicide of a woman in her sixties with the forensic team specifying only "that there's something they want him to take a look at", he has little idea of the ramifications upon the Derbyshire community of rural Bampton. The woman is Yvonne Jenkins, the mother of eight year old Sophie, who was kidnapped never to return in 1978. On the anniversary of the abduction some thirty years later, Yvonne has taken her own life. Has something pushed her over the edge all these years later? And what of Rachel Jones, the other child kidnapped along with Sophie in 1978, only to return unharmed - where does this leave her?
The investigation into the kidnapping was never concluded and there was no closure for either Yvonne Jenkins or Rachel Jones. With resources limited, Superintendent Llewellyn who was himself a junior PC on the original case, instructs DI Francis Sadler to conduct a "strategic review" of the 1978 case. When just days later a former teacher at the school where Sophie and Rachel were pupils is murdered, this is a coincidence too far for both the police and Rachel. Sadler and his team keep digging in the belief that if the two deaths are connected then the answers are still very much buried in the secrets of the past.
For Rachel, now a genealogist and still resident in the local area, this triggers a search for answers. In 1978 Rachel's mother moved away from the area, refused to discuss the incident and for Rachel, survival meant forgetting. A complex character, Rachel is beautifully drawn out and what is clear is that she needs some resolution to move on with her life regardless of what secrets must be faced. Despite her fears the reader has to admire her dogged determination to unravel the secrets which lie buried at the heart of her kidnapping.
With a team consisting of DS Damian Palmer who can spot a fault in a theory a mile off, and the intuition and impetuosity of DC Connie Childs, DI Francis Sadler is well aware of their strengths and shortcomings. All with their own individual idiosyncrasies as opposed to fatally flawed, they are a refreshingly normal team. As a local, it is DC Connie Childs who combines superbly with DI Francis Sadler to prove her worth of home territory taking up the slack left by DS Palmer who is temporarily preoccupied by his forthcoming nuptials. This adds a real believability to the proceedings and Ward cleverly portrays the dynamics within a team environment complete with petty one-upmanship and sexual chemistry all featuring.
Winter in Derbyshire may seem a world away from the bleakness of the Scandinavian regions, but make no mistake, it is a landscape equally at the mercy of the elements as the very darkest Nordic Noir fiction. From the biting wind and slushy snow, the weather in area dictates the tone of the day for the local inhabitants and hangs over this novel with an ominous presence. Ward's clear familiarity with the landscape and conditions of Derbyshire is a striking attribute of this novel and a sense of place is never far away. The fact that the monstrous crimes of Myra Hindley and Rose West are so closely associated with the area adds extra significance to the brutal reality of this hard hitting debut.
A truly remarkable debut of astonishing scope, Sarah Ward has marked herself out as a name to watch in the world of crime fiction. Marvellously pulling together two timelines which emphasises the race for answers, this is a wonderful portrayal of 1970s life in a rural community complete with all the associated memories of the era. With clever placing of red herrings along the way, the reader becomes as determined to discover the truth as Rachel. Admittedly I had some idea where this was headed before the eventual denouement but it did not lessen the gravitas upon the moment of impact. An absorbing and haunting novel which stays with the reader long after.
A debut which is so adept in so many ways with a brilliant CID department at the fore, I am eagerly awaiting the follow up and the brilliant team of DI Sadler and DC Connie Childs have a very bright future together in the crime fiction domain. In conclusion I would certainly mark this down as one of my favourite debut novels of 2015.
When DI Francis Sadler of Derbyshire CID is called to the apparent suicide of a woman in her sixties with the forensic team specifying only "that there's something they want him to take a look at", he has little idea of the ramifications upon the Derbyshire community of rural Bampton. The woman is Yvonne Jenkins, the mother of eight year old Sophie, who was kidnapped never to return in 1978. On the anniversary of the abduction some thirty years later, Yvonne has taken her own life. Has something pushed her over the edge all these years later? And what of Rachel Jones, the other child kidnapped along with Sophie in 1978, only to return unharmed - where does this leave her?
The investigation into the kidnapping was never concluded and there was no closure for either Yvonne Jenkins or Rachel Jones. With resources limited, Superintendent Llewellyn who was himself a junior PC on the original case, instructs DI Francis Sadler to conduct a "strategic review" of the 1978 case. When just days later a former teacher at the school where Sophie and Rachel were pupils is murdered, this is a coincidence too far for both the police and Rachel. Sadler and his team keep digging in the belief that if the two deaths are connected then the answers are still very much buried in the secrets of the past.
For Rachel, now a genealogist and still resident in the local area, this triggers a search for answers. In 1978 Rachel's mother moved away from the area, refused to discuss the incident and for Rachel, survival meant forgetting. A complex character, Rachel is beautifully drawn out and what is clear is that she needs some resolution to move on with her life regardless of what secrets must be faced. Despite her fears the reader has to admire her dogged determination to unravel the secrets which lie buried at the heart of her kidnapping.
With a team consisting of DS Damian Palmer who can spot a fault in a theory a mile off, and the intuition and impetuosity of DC Connie Childs, DI Francis Sadler is well aware of their strengths and shortcomings. All with their own individual idiosyncrasies as opposed to fatally flawed, they are a refreshingly normal team. As a local, it is DC Connie Childs who combines superbly with DI Francis Sadler to prove her worth of home territory taking up the slack left by DS Palmer who is temporarily preoccupied by his forthcoming nuptials. This adds a real believability to the proceedings and Ward cleverly portrays the dynamics within a team environment complete with petty one-upmanship and sexual chemistry all featuring.
Winter in Derbyshire may seem a world away from the bleakness of the Scandinavian regions, but make no mistake, it is a landscape equally at the mercy of the elements as the very darkest Nordic Noir fiction. From the biting wind and slushy snow, the weather in area dictates the tone of the day for the local inhabitants and hangs over this novel with an ominous presence. Ward's clear familiarity with the landscape and conditions of Derbyshire is a striking attribute of this novel and a sense of place is never far away. The fact that the monstrous crimes of Myra Hindley and Rose West are so closely associated with the area adds extra significance to the brutal reality of this hard hitting debut.
A truly remarkable debut of astonishing scope, Sarah Ward has marked herself out as a name to watch in the world of crime fiction. Marvellously pulling together two timelines which emphasises the race for answers, this is a wonderful portrayal of 1970s life in a rural community complete with all the associated memories of the era. With clever placing of red herrings along the way, the reader becomes as determined to discover the truth as Rachel. Admittedly I had some idea where this was headed before the eventual denouement but it did not lessen the gravitas upon the moment of impact. An absorbing and haunting novel which stays with the reader long after.
A debut which is so adept in so many ways with a brilliant CID department at the fore, I am eagerly awaiting the follow up and the brilliant team of DI Sadler and DC Connie Childs have a very bright future together in the crime fiction domain. In conclusion I would certainly mark this down as one of my favourite debut novels of 2015.
February 8, 2019
An absolutely riveting thriller. Rachel and Sophie are 2 friends who often walk to their primary school and one day they are kidnapped and only Rachel returns safely with no memory of the incidents that has traumatized her. Almost 30 years later, Sophie's mother commits suicide and then a teacher from their school is found strangled. Sadler and Childs are the 2 detectives who are charged to investigate the possible connection of the 3 incidents and find the truth about Sophie. Sarah Ward has done wonders with the story of the past lies and hidden family truths and it's only towards the end the different threads start connecting together cohesively. I loved the characters of Sadler and Connie and am hoping for more dynamics in their relationship in the other books of the series.
December 5, 2015
This was a decent English police procedural debut set in Derbyshire but not without some problems. The plot was actually quite compelling up until the end which was marred a bit by some actions that were not very bright. The characters though were a bit hit and miss with the women being better drawn and interesting while the men police officers were fairly bland and hard to differentiate.
January 3, 2018
I can't praise this enough, a hugely accomplished and thoroughly successful debut novel from Sarah Ward. A corker!
October 24, 2017
This author has serious weight issues. All of the characters in this book—weather before the murder or after—are all described, and then defined by their weight throughout the novel. good luck.
July 7, 2018
A very good debut novel with a strong mystery. Likeable characters who I look forward to learning more about as the series progresses.
August 23, 2015
Over thirty years ago, the small town of Bampton in Derbyshire (in the English Midlands) was shocked by the abduction of two small girls, Rachel and Sophie, on their way to school. Rachel was discovered by the roadside a few hours later, unharmed, but Sophie never reappeared. All the traumatized Rachel could remember was that their abductor was a woman.
In the present, for no apparent reason, Sophie's mother has booked herself a room in a local hotel and there committed suicide.
Can the two cases be related? Is the latter even a case at all? Detective Inspector Francis Sadler, with his sergeants, the ambitious Damian Palmer and the idiosyncratic Connie Childs, are instructed to investigate -- although not to waste too much operational time on what could very well be a wild-goose chase. They're helped, in a sort of haphazard manner, by Rachel herself, now a well regarded professional genealogist. Although Palmer displays little interest in the proceedings -- there seems no immediate advantage to him in the case and, besides, his mind's more on his imminent and possibly misconceived marriage -- Sadler and especially Childs become convinced that there's more here than meets the eye, and that it's their duty to unravel the twisted strands of both past and present. Another murder, this time of a teacher at the two girls' school, persuades them that they're right . . .
Outwardly this novel bears all the symptoms of a police procedural, but as I was reading In Bitter Chill it seemed to me to be something rather different -- something more interesting, in fact. This is because Detective Sergeant Childs -- universally known as Connie, thanks to one of Palmer's nasty little schemes to undermine her -- who starts off almost as a secondary character behind Sadler, very soon comes to occupy center stage, and stays there. Again perhaps surprisingly, Rachel, whom we thought at the outset was almost peripheral, proves to be far more important, contributing much to both the tale and the solution of the case. So, unlike the standard police procedural, where the focus is on a department at work, here we have two very different detectives driving the narrative, both female, one a cop (albeit a somewhat unorthodox one) and the other something more of an academic, at least in terms of her intellectual worldview.
Connie is a superb creation -- one of those rare fictional characters who, whenever you put the book down, you have to remind yourself doesn't exist in the real world. The enigma that she has to solve, with Rachel's and Sadler's help, is one deserving of her talents: the plot is really quite tortuous, although never for one moment dull, and the resolution comes as a real surprise -- or, at least, it did to me.
The opening few chapters have a slight feel of firstnovelitis to them, as if Ward is slightly unsure of herself, but thereafter she finds her voice -- and in no uncertain terms: this is a strongly told tale, and kept me reading later into the night than I'd intended. I gather there's another Connie Childs novel on the way and I'm very much looking forward to it. Ward is a real discovery.
In the present, for no apparent reason, Sophie's mother has booked herself a room in a local hotel and there committed suicide.
Can the two cases be related? Is the latter even a case at all? Detective Inspector Francis Sadler, with his sergeants, the ambitious Damian Palmer and the idiosyncratic Connie Childs, are instructed to investigate -- although not to waste too much operational time on what could very well be a wild-goose chase. They're helped, in a sort of haphazard manner, by Rachel herself, now a well regarded professional genealogist. Although Palmer displays little interest in the proceedings -- there seems no immediate advantage to him in the case and, besides, his mind's more on his imminent and possibly misconceived marriage -- Sadler and especially Childs become convinced that there's more here than meets the eye, and that it's their duty to unravel the twisted strands of both past and present. Another murder, this time of a teacher at the two girls' school, persuades them that they're right . . .
Outwardly this novel bears all the symptoms of a police procedural, but as I was reading In Bitter Chill it seemed to me to be something rather different -- something more interesting, in fact. This is because Detective Sergeant Childs -- universally known as Connie, thanks to one of Palmer's nasty little schemes to undermine her -- who starts off almost as a secondary character behind Sadler, very soon comes to occupy center stage, and stays there. Again perhaps surprisingly, Rachel, whom we thought at the outset was almost peripheral, proves to be far more important, contributing much to both the tale and the solution of the case. So, unlike the standard police procedural, where the focus is on a department at work, here we have two very different detectives driving the narrative, both female, one a cop (albeit a somewhat unorthodox one) and the other something more of an academic, at least in terms of her intellectual worldview.
Connie is a superb creation -- one of those rare fictional characters who, whenever you put the book down, you have to remind yourself doesn't exist in the real world. The enigma that she has to solve, with Rachel's and Sadler's help, is one deserving of her talents: the plot is really quite tortuous, although never for one moment dull, and the resolution comes as a real surprise -- or, at least, it did to me.
The opening few chapters have a slight feel of firstnovelitis to them, as if Ward is slightly unsure of herself, but thereafter she finds her voice -- and in no uncertain terms: this is a strongly told tale, and kept me reading later into the night than I'd intended. I gather there's another Connie Childs novel on the way and I'm very much looking forward to it. Ward is a real discovery.
April 9, 2016
In 1978, Rachel Jones and Sophie Jenkins were abducted. The girls were 8 years old - Rachel came home, Sophie didn't.
In the present day, Rachel, now a family historian, is still living in her home town of Bampton and is trying to get on with her life. This proves fairly easy until the body of someone connected to the kidnapping case turns up - twice.
DI Francis Sadler and DC Connie Childs are assigned to the investigation, they must look at the 1978 case again and try to figure out why the deaths occurred now and how they're connected.
A while back, I got really into Geneology. My Mum got involved and we ended up making a pretty big family tree on both her Mother and Father's sides. Often, I would end up with a headache after completely confusing my Mother's Great Great Aunt Bridget on her Mother's side with my Mother's Great Great Aunt Bridget on her Father's side, I'd go off on a tangent and end up totally mixed up. This is what I felt reading this book - I could have actually really used a graphic of Rachel's family tree. By the conclusion, I was so utterly confused that I didn't have a clue what was going on, I had to go back and start again, skimming until I was able to write down notes as to which of her relations was which. This really took away from my enjoyment of the book.
There were two things I could have done without:
1. The constant reminders that Rachel was "thick", "heavy", "solid", "overweight", "two stone heavier", "a size fourteen" etc. A UK size fourteen is not enormous (it's a US 10), so I don't know why the author felt like we had to constantly be reminded that Rachel was heavy. That alienates anyone above a size fourteen - I felt like an elephant.
2. The nervous groom storyline. It served no purpose, it made the character look unprofessional, and it was unnecessary.
Apart from those, I felt that the story took a while to start going - when it did, I enjoyed it, and I liked the writing style. There's another book coming in September - A Deadly Thaw - and I look forward to it.
In the present day, Rachel, now a family historian, is still living in her home town of Bampton and is trying to get on with her life. This proves fairly easy until the body of someone connected to the kidnapping case turns up - twice.
DI Francis Sadler and DC Connie Childs are assigned to the investigation, they must look at the 1978 case again and try to figure out why the deaths occurred now and how they're connected.
A while back, I got really into Geneology. My Mum got involved and we ended up making a pretty big family tree on both her Mother and Father's sides. Often, I would end up with a headache after completely confusing my Mother's Great Great Aunt Bridget on her Mother's side with my Mother's Great Great Aunt Bridget on her Father's side, I'd go off on a tangent and end up totally mixed up. This is what I felt reading this book - I could have actually really used a graphic of Rachel's family tree. By the conclusion, I was so utterly confused that I didn't have a clue what was going on, I had to go back and start again, skimming until I was able to write down notes as to which of her relations was which. This really took away from my enjoyment of the book.
There were two things I could have done without:
1. The constant reminders that Rachel was "thick", "heavy", "solid", "overweight", "two stone heavier", "a size fourteen" etc. A UK size fourteen is not enormous (it's a US 10), so I don't know why the author felt like we had to constantly be reminded that Rachel was heavy. That alienates anyone above a size fourteen - I felt like an elephant.
2. The nervous groom storyline. It served no purpose, it made the character look unprofessional, and it was unnecessary.
Apart from those, I felt that the story took a while to start going - when it did, I enjoyed it, and I liked the writing style. There's another book coming in September - A Deadly Thaw - and I look forward to it.
November 11, 2015
I loved everything about this book. The setting of Bampton in Derbyshire is vividly drawn, in the grip of cold weather that almost freezes your fingers to the pages as you read. The characterisation is quite superb - the police team at its centre are wonderfully real, and I'm looking forward immensely to getting to know them further. (Because there will be more. won't there Sarah? Please?). I loved the sharing of thoughts and feelings with the reader - Connie's feelings about Palmer and Sadler, Sadler's thoughts about Connie, and Sadler's terror as his wedding approaches. Rachel too is wonderfully drawn - complex and fascinating, researching family histories while trying to uncover the secrets at the heart of her own.
I'm not really a Scandi-crime reader, but there was much here I recognised in terms of style and content - and other comparisons with the work of Ian Rankin, Elizabeth George and Ann Cleeves have been equally well made. The merging of the 70s and present day timelines is totally seamless: but the author also incredibly skilfully weaves together the police investigation with Rachel's own, both slowly homing in on the same conclusion. This is incredibly clever writing from a debut novelist, and quite breath-taking to read. The base story line - who abducted the two girls, why did only Rachel return, how (if at all) was the abduction linked to a suicide thirty years later - is complex, clever, and something very, very different. And, perhaps most importantly of all, it's a really great read - one of those books constantly in your thoughts when the book isn't in your hands.
Sarah's background might be in reviewing the best of crime fiction on her blog Crimepieces, and she's certainly learned her craft from the best of the best. But her voice is unique, her style and content immensely accomplished, and I'm absolutely dying to see what she comes up with next. Sarah Ward - remember the name, because you'll be seeing so much more of her as she takes up her own rightful place among the "best of the best".
I'm not really a Scandi-crime reader, but there was much here I recognised in terms of style and content - and other comparisons with the work of Ian Rankin, Elizabeth George and Ann Cleeves have been equally well made. The merging of the 70s and present day timelines is totally seamless: but the author also incredibly skilfully weaves together the police investigation with Rachel's own, both slowly homing in on the same conclusion. This is incredibly clever writing from a debut novelist, and quite breath-taking to read. The base story line - who abducted the two girls, why did only Rachel return, how (if at all) was the abduction linked to a suicide thirty years later - is complex, clever, and something very, very different. And, perhaps most importantly of all, it's a really great read - one of those books constantly in your thoughts when the book isn't in your hands.
Sarah's background might be in reviewing the best of crime fiction on her blog Crimepieces, and she's certainly learned her craft from the best of the best. But her voice is unique, her style and content immensely accomplished, and I'm absolutely dying to see what she comes up with next. Sarah Ward - remember the name, because you'll be seeing so much more of her as she takes up her own rightful place among the "best of the best".
February 7, 2017
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In Bitter Chill engaged me from the beginning. I don't usually enjoy crime novels because I either don't have the patience for the procedural aspect or find it lacking, but in this case there was a great balance between story, procedure and characters. I actually found myself shivering when reading this because the cold truly travelled across the pages and I enjoyed meeting all characters. They each had their particularities and they were obviously much better constructed and developed than my previous experiences on the genre.
It was pleasant to see a variety of female characters. Not only were their personalities quite different but there were both big and small ones, which was a very welcome change. Almost overweight women still had appeal and that was amazing.
I felt the book dragged on a bit around the middle and there were a bit too many characters. Also, I could not understand certain characters' actions, like why to keep some things from the police. It felt like it was done to drag the plot.
Still, things wrapped up very nicely towards the end culminating in a thrilling conclusion. The parallel narrative of 1978 and current day was so nicely done, as well as both stories' development - there were enough clues laid out to be satisfied everything would fit in if I chose to reread everything, but not too many that I would guess the conclusion.
For the most part, In Bitter Chill enthralled me, and I am looking forward to beginning the sequel, A Deadly Thaw.
In Bitter Chill engaged me from the beginning. I don't usually enjoy crime novels because I either don't have the patience for the procedural aspect or find it lacking, but in this case there was a great balance between story, procedure and characters. I actually found myself shivering when reading this because the cold truly travelled across the pages and I enjoyed meeting all characters. They each had their particularities and they were obviously much better constructed and developed than my previous experiences on the genre.
It was pleasant to see a variety of female characters. Not only were their personalities quite different but there were both big and small ones, which was a very welcome change. Almost overweight women still had appeal and that was amazing.
I felt the book dragged on a bit around the middle and there were a bit too many characters. Also, I could not understand certain characters' actions, like why to keep some things from the police. It felt like it was done to drag the plot.
Still, things wrapped up very nicely towards the end culminating in a thrilling conclusion. The parallel narrative of 1978 and current day was so nicely done, as well as both stories' development - there were enough clues laid out to be satisfied everything would fit in if I chose to reread everything, but not too many that I would guess the conclusion.
For the most part, In Bitter Chill enthralled me, and I am looking forward to beginning the sequel, A Deadly Thaw.
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