The Split by Sharon Bolton

"The ends of the Earth. That's how far she ran this time. Not far enough."

Dr. Felicity Lloyd, age 27, is a glaciologist and has spent the last couple of months on the remote island of South Georgia in the Antarctic Circle where she, along with other scientists, works for the British Antarctic Survey studying the formation and movement of glaciers there. A plum assignment doing what she loves, but the most important aspect is that the island is so remote and is unreachable during the long winter months. She's safe there -- or at least she thought so -- until the last ship of the summer is docking and she sees his name on the manifest. He's found her. As soon as she sees Freddie get into the lunch to head for the island's dock, Felicity jumps into an RIB and heads out to hide away elsewhere on the island in Husvik, a dangerous, abandoned settlement that is forbidden to the tourists. Why is Felicity so afraid of Freddie? NO SPOILERS.

And this is where the story really takes off as Part Two begins and it is 9 months earlier in Cambridge, England. Felicity begins therapy with Dr. Joe Grant after she's found severely injured and incoherent with torn clothes and bleeding limbs. And no memory of what happened. Although she's recovered physically, she needs to have a psychiatric assessment before being allowed to return to work for the BAS and be considered fit for a job she knows is the chance of a lifetime. But there is a lot going on in Felicity's life and Joe senses that work with her isn't going to be as easy as she hopes. Felicity is keeping a lot of secrets and Joe becomes very concerned about her safety as events spiral out of control.  No more details on the plot.

This was fascinating and absorbing on so many levels. The first thing I did was pull up a detailed map of South Georgia noting the locations of the settlements. The setting was incredible and so well-described that I could almost visualize myself there as the satellite images depict the abandoned whaling stations. Bolton's writing is excellent and the narrative flips between several different characters identified by their first names as the story progresses. We learn more about Felicity in starts and stops with me guessing and wondering all the while. It's really quite masterful how it all unfolds with some great twists and turns along the way. I could not put this down so read it all this evening in a single sitting. The characters are unique and memorable, some I liked a lot more than others! This is definitely a thriller that I won't soon forget and I think all of us who read extensively in this genre appreciate the uniqueness of a novel that doesn't quite go in the expected direction. Enjoy! I certainly did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - thriller, psychological