Blood Harvest by Sharon Bolton
Blood Harvest
Sharon Bolton
Gillian is haunted by the disappearance of her little girl two years ago. A devastating fire burned down their home, but she remains convinced her daughter survived.
Ten-year-old Tom lives by a neglected church. Is he the only one who sees the strange, solitary child playing there? And what is she trying to tell him?
There’s a new vicar in town — Harry. But menacing events suggest he isn’t welcome. What terrible secret is this town hiding?
review
Blood Harvest is the third Sharon Bolton book I’ve read over the past weeks but I just didn’t enjoy this one as much, although it may be down to the multiple narrators. Bolton’s previous books had one narrator, a female, whereas Blood Harvest has multiple viewpoints, including Evi, a psychiatrist, Harry, a vicar, and Tom, a ten year old boy who tell the story from different angles. The problem was I never felt like I particularly got to know any of them really well, even though they were perfectly likeable, I just didn’t feel as emotionally invested in them as I should have been.
For me, one of the most annoying things about the book was the budding relationship between Harry and Evi which just seemed to be going nowhere despite the obvious attraction. Of course, the timing of the relationship is all wrong, and there could be serious career implications for Evi but she just seemed too self-absorbed with her own problems to reach out to anyone. The romance is a complete non-starter and I just found it such a waste of time which is a shame since Harry is such a great guy.
The crime plot follows the familiar pattern of the previous two books in that there is a possible touch of the supernatural mixed in and the appearances of the “ghost girl” are genuinely scary, especially seen through the eyes of young Tom. There are also a lot of pagan events in the village that are described in a sinister manner by Harry and Evi, both outsiders, which is unsettling. All this is in addition to the mysterious disappearance of young girls in the area, a plot that is quite harrowing as you would imagine.
The plot is slow moving, taking a while to get going but I never felt that desperate urge to get to the next chapter like I did with the others.
