Tora Hamilton and her husband, Duncan are living at Shetland Islands, located in Scotland. Tora is an outsider but Duncan is coming back home to Shetland Islands. Life is good, till Tora goes to bury her horse and instead finds a mutilated woman's body in her own backyard. From this point on things start getting interesting for Tora. The woman has weird foreign symbols carved into her back. As Tora investigates more ino this mystery woman and why she was buried in Tora's backyard. Tora stumbles upon a secret that the people of Shetland Islands have been keeping hidden for centuries. A secret so horrible that you couldn't imagine it even in your wildest of dreams. If it was to be uncovered Shetland Islands would never be the same again.



What an amazing, wonderful first novel for S. J. Bolton. Sacrifice brought all the winning moves with suspense, intrigue, and spine-tingling thrills and chills. Tora was such a strong character who also had a good personality. By incorporating these two elements into a character like Tora it made reading Sacrifice very enjoyable and before I knew it I was done with the book. Also really loved the concept of the story as well as picking a location like Scotland which helped bring he chills. I read that S.J. Bolton will be releasing another book. So glad to hear this as S.J. Bolton has quite a splendid story telling quality about her and I know if her next novel is half as good as Sacrifice it is going to be a winner. Sacrifice has got to be one of the best books I have read so far in 2008.

Mystery, murder, intrigue, folklore, secret societies...a deep, dark, spooky and mysterious thriller with unexpected twists and turns based on some peculiar old myths and legends.

Beth could say "I told you so". She's the friend who recommended Sacrifice by S.J. Bolton to me some time ago. Who knows why I didn't pick it up immediately as Beth and I have like tastes in fiction; not just in thrillers but across the board. Beth told me I'd like this one and she was right!

Tora Hamilton is having a bad day. Her beloved horse Jamie has died and Tora plans to illegally bury him on her Shetland property. Her husband's away so she'll need to do this alone, no easy task for this inexperienced woman using a digger in muddy ground with heavy rain in the forecast. Just when Tora thinks she is making headway with the hole, the bucket catches. Getting out, Tora peers into the hole and sees some linen. Gingerly investigating further, which means dropping into a hole she may not be able to get out of she realizes the peat bog is concealing a dead body. After freeing herself from the grave, the police are called and Tora is questioned extensively, not only about the body, but harassed about the illegal burial of her horse. To make matters worse, she is informed one of her patients has gone into labor and she is needed at the hospital. Tora is not Dr. Hamilton but Ms. Hamilton as she a consultant surgeon at the local hospital. If that’s not enough after delivering the baby, her patient is in jeopardy of hemorrhaging and decisions need to be made. All this in the first 25 pages. A bad day indeed!

Sacrifice hooked me immediately with this opening scenario and continued its fast pace throughout. Consider I read this in two sittings. Besides a good "grab you" opening, all characters, and there are many, are interesting in themselves, not all likeable, but people I want to know more about. I loved the character DS Tulloch, female investigator, who starts off as a real thorn in Tora's side and eventually evolves into a strong relationship. I liked Bolton's descriptive passages of her locale, The Shetland Islands, and her blend of legend, folklore, runes and Trows. What are Trows? You'll need to read to book to find out. Bolton did extensive research to conjure up this tale of good and evil and the writing is sound, the plot, good.

Sacrifice was Bolton's debut in 2008 and since she has written three others. I'm definitely adding her to my list of must read authors, becoming a GoodReads fan and checking out her blog.

Not my usual thing but decent. Ended better than I expected.

Nothing like a hysterical female being right to set the tone for a mystery.

I still read this without stopping. It felt a little, well, a lot unrealistic, but at the same time, I kind of ask that of my fiction. It is an escape from reality, a form of entertainment. Ok, so I usually like to pick up some new knowledge, but here it was a bit too esoteric for me. Perhaps the setting? I should travel more in real life.

A first novel that was quite suspenseful and used the Shetland Islands setting and local legends to good effect.

Really unsure how to rate this.
Loved that it was a difference pace to normal thriller books, gorgeous setting, but it was too long for me.
It was a little bit too pro-life, which made me feel icky.
Also, why the hell was it written in American English when it’s set in Scotland with an English main character?!