DEAD WOMAN WALKING

5 stars out of 5

Bloody well done, I say!

Without the shocking surprises, this would have been a good book. With them, well, it's out of the ball park. My proof? I had one eye on the pages of my Kindle Fire while I watched our Ohio State Buckeyes roll over Indiana University in their season-opening game. After that - and I hasten to add I'm not trying to make a political statement here - the same thing happened the next evening during my never-miss The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC (well, okay, I admit Rachel was off that night, but I also like her fill-in, Joy-Ann Reid). That never happens unless I'm so engrossed in a book that I just don't want to put it down.

I can't, of course, reveal any of those surprises, but I can tell you a little about what's going on. Jessica Lane has taken her sister Bella, a Carmelite nun, for a hot-air balloon ride over Northumberland National Park near England's border with Scotland as a birthday surprise. While the pilot is flying low, they watch in horror as a young woman is murdered. Not long thereafter, the balloon crashes spectacularly, leaving just one survivor - the one who saw the killer's face. Unfortunately, he saw hers as well, and he's not about to let her get away.

Meanwhile, the local police have identified the survivor as Jessica, but neither they nor the killer are able to find her. She could be badly injured or so confused that she doesn't know what happened or where she is, but now the police and the killer share the same purpose: Finding her. But could it be that they share the same end game?

Using a mix of flashbacks beginning 28 years earlier, the story begins to take shape as we learn bits and pieces of the sisters' childhood years. The flashbacks are minimal, each bringing the reader closer to the current time period and offering more clues with regard to the real reason behind the balloon crash (I've gone on record with my distaste for the over-used flashback technique, but tell you what: If it's ever been done really well, it's in this book, so you'll get no complaints from me this time out).

The race to find the missing woman is filled with tension that just kept building - and just when I was on my next-to-last fingernail, bam! The first twist hit the fan. OMG, did I really read that, I asked myself, flipping back a couple of pages to be sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. But wait, there's more!

For that, though, you'll just have to read the book for yourself. As for me, I'm, just gonna sit here for a day or two and let the whole thing sink in. Lest I forget, many thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. My conclusion? Wow!

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton (Minotaur Books, September 2017); 368 pp.