“The Heatwave” is written by the very popular author Katerina Diamond and is a stand-alone thriller set within a dual timeline. Although most recent reviewers of this book praise it highly, I’m afraid I must be the loner on this one, as for me it just didn’t work.
“One summer. One stranger. One killer…Two bad things happened that summer: A stranger arrived. And the first girl disappeared”
Basically that is it. ‘Flick’ returns to her hometown after sixteen years when she discovers a second girl has gone missing. The ‘now’ part of the story involving Flick returning home was a non starter for me and it was literally the last ten per cent of the book that we are privy to why she had to return home. She’s flawed, cliched and totally unrealistic and a character I just couldn’t relate to at all. I did however enjoy the ‘then’ story and was interested in what happened all those years ago but the denouement and revelation of the killer for me was just too far fetched and utterly implausible.
A few inconsistencies for me including a brown car and the sound it made that Flick recognised after sixteen years, spoilt it for me. I’m sure readers who love slow burn stories with flawed characters will like “The Heatwave” and although I would read more by this author again I can’t give this book more than 2.5 stars.
2.5 stars
“One summer. One stranger. One killer…Two bad things happened that summer: A stranger arrived. And the first girl disappeared”
Basically that is it. ‘Flick’ returns to her hometown after sixteen years when she discovers a second girl has gone missing. The ‘now’ part of the story involving Flick returning home was a non starter for me and it was literally the last ten per cent of the book that we are privy to why she had to return home. She’s flawed, cliched and totally unrealistic and a character I just couldn’t relate to at all. I did however enjoy the ‘then’ story and was interested in what happened all those years ago but the denouement and revelation of the killer for me was just too far fetched and utterly implausible.
A few inconsistencies for me including a brown car and the sound it made that Flick recognised after sixteen years, spoilt it for me. I’m sure readers who love slow burn stories with flawed characters will like “The Heatwave” and although I would read more by this author again I can’t give this book more than 2.5 stars.
2.5 stars