Saturday, October 17, 2020

10.17.2020 - The Heatwave

The Heatwave by Kate Riordan

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a digital ARC for Kate Riordan's new novel - 4.5 stars for a very Gothic-feel mystery.

Sylvie lives in London with her youngest daughter, Emma, but has to make a sudden trip to France and her family home when she receives word that a fire has been set.  Sylvie grew up in this home and lived there with her husband, Greg, and older daughter, Elodie, as well as young Emma, but hasn't been back in over 10 years since something happened to Elodie.  Sylvie has never told Emma the specifics of what happened to Elodie and she is afraid that being back will trigger memories for Emma.  But things start happening that leave all of them shaken.

This book has an eerie, ghost-story type feeling - what happened to Elodie?  Why is everything such a secret?  Told in alternating chapters in the past (beginning in late 1960s) and present (1993), the book is written from Sylvie's point of view as she is addressing Emma.  That took a bit of getting used to but I soon found myself enthralled with this story of a dysfunctional family with bad seed vibes.  I was a tad disappointed with the ending but really enjoyed this story.

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