This is my first read from this author and it took me only 24hrs from start to finish. The book skips between ‘then’ and ‘now’ which I enjoyed and I also liked the relatively short chapters. There are quite afew twists, mostly at the end, I did guess one but I still enjoyed it. A great book for the hot weather with plenty of weird and wonderful characters and moments of suspense.

When Felicity hears that a girl has gone missing from her home town in Devon she has to confront her past. She leaves her husband behind in the lake district and drives south to try to find out what happened. The story is told from two points of view, hers and that of her friend, Jasmine. It goes between two times also, present day and sixteen years previously.

On the whole I didn't particularly like this book. Felicity, the main character, is rather annoying and spends most of her time drunk and reflecting on the past and the terrible things she has done. There are endless hints and allusions to this and it all gets very tiresome. Jasmine, her friend is slightly better though she too has the unfortunate ability to ruminate endlessly on people's motives especially that of her parent's lodger, Tim. I was surprised by the ending though and feel that there is a much better book in there if only the pace was upped a bit and the two main characters just stopped asking themselves questions.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I’m a huge Katerina Diamond fan and I’ve been loving her Miles and Grey series which I have followed religiously since The Teacher. So I was thrilled to see that she had written her first standalone psychological but also worried that it wouldn’t live up to the series I love. But if you feel the same then please don’t worry-The Heatwave is a brilliant read that grabs you from the very first page-rather like the fate of the girl we first meet as she is drugged and abducted by an unknown assailant.

The Heatwave is a duel timeline thriller set in the present, when a missing girl forces Felicity to confront her past by returning to her hometown, and in the past where Felicity and her best friend make a shocking discovery. Felicity was a difficult character to take to initially especially as I found her sudden departure from her home in the Lake District a very strange decision to make! Her family are left in the lurch as she rushes back to her hometown the moment she hears a girl has gone missing in similar circumstances to a disappearance that happened 16 years previously. It’s obvious that something personal has dragged her back but who or what was the real puzzle for me here. Looking back there were clues sprinkled throughout the storyline but I hadn’t connected all the dots before the big final reveal so what a shocker it was! Katerina Diamond leads her readers through a maze of intrigue before distancing herself and leaving us to find our own way out of the tangled mess she left in her wake.

I read this in one sitting whilst spending an afternoon reading in the beautiful sunshine. It was the perfect setting for a book set in a heatwave and so I just couldn’t stop until I got to the last page! The Heatwave is a gripping thriller, stylishly plotted with a setting that rang true. The teenage characters especially felt authentic and were well developed, their actions may not have been the right ones but it made for realistic choices being made…and possibly regretted!

I absolutely loved this book and hope Katerina Diamond writes more standalones in the future.

#Theheatwave runs two parralel stories at the same time- then and now. A girl disappears and Flick seems to know the answer, because there are too many similarities between this case and what happened 16 years ago. She doesn't quite know all the details and she is shocked to discover them.

This is the best thriller I have read in a long time. It grabbed me from the very first word and didn't let me go until I finished it.

As soon as I thought I cracked it, there was a twist. Kept me guessing right until the last pages and it was shocking to discover the whole truth at the end.
Thanks #netgalley and Avon publishers for this book. I highly recommend it.

I’ve read several of Katerina Diamond’s books and they are all without exception truly brilliant! This is a stand-alone book.
I read this in a couple of days, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t know at all where this was going and loved that! I was completely immersed and I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s dark, full of twists and an ending that I did not see coming!

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon Books UK and the Author Katerina Diamond for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A slightly slow start but very soon I could not put it down. A wonderful psychological thriller with some surprising twists; most especially at the end. I did not see that coming.
My first read by this Author and certainly won't be my last! I highly recommend this book.

Another fantastic read from Katrina Diamond

We meet Felicity who upon seeing a news report of a young girl going missing embarks on a journey into her own past as she tries to discover what has happened to Mandy. What connects them
She leaves her family and travels back to her childhood hometown.
This story is told from 2 perspectives. Then, in the voice of Jasmine and now,as Felicity.
It is cleverly put together and at times I couldn’t put it down

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review

As expected from Katerina Diamond, this book was another brilliant read. As if the title and cover didn't already give you a clue, this is the perfect summer read, a book to take to the beach with you and get completely lost in.

Straight from the first page there was an air of mystery about Felicity and her life, the latest kidnapping in her home town bringing back images of the past and compelling her to travel home to see if her suspicions are true. 

Full of twists and turns, this book kept me guessing right up to the end, with regular flashbacks to the first disappearance rounding the story out nicely, and giving me plenty of suspects to turn my attention to! It was impossible to put this book down, I think I devoured it almost in one sitting.

My favourite read of 2020 so far! The sad tale of Felicity and Jasmine’s adolescent friendship that had tragic and stomach turning events. I really connected with this book, the small seaside town setting, characters, adolescent emotional and friendships all resonated with me. I’d never have guessed the main twist and some of the smaller ones were well thought out! I can not recommend this book highly enough! Thank you Katerina Diamond!

I love Katerina Diamond and devoured her previous books with the Miles and Grey partnership. I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this one, but it was a slow burner. Flick has moved away from her childhood home, like many before her, but when she hears of a young local girl’s disappearance is compelled to return to her former town, leaving her stable and loving family life behind.
The novel teases with suggestions of why she has returned and it becomes apparent she is connected to another disappearance, just before she moved away. Just how much does she know and why does she feel she can solve the mystery of the young girl’s vanishing before it is too late.
This book really comes together at the end when the twist is revealed and everything Flick thought she knew is altered.
Thanks to Avon books and #netgalley for the chance to read it.

Wow! I was blown away with this book. I thought it was going to be good but didn’t realise how good. It is slow building but as it gathers pace and the intensity increases you won’t be able to put this book down. And it really does keep going with plots twists and turns right to the end, It was a real bonus that I used to live near Sidmouth where the events take place so I could picture the story so vividly. The story is told through a series of flashbacks and real time action.

Felicity sees on the news that young girl has gone missing from the town where she grew up, but this isn’t the first time this has happened, a girl went missing under similar circumstances 16 years ago. Felicity decides it is time to go back to her home town and try and face the truth of what happened all those years ago.

Wow, I really enjoyed this book, it had a slightly different feel to others that I’ve read as it had underlying tensions set all the way through. As the title suggests you can feel the heat all through the book which adds to the story, it was brilliant. I haven’t read any of Katrina Diamon’s books before but I will in future if they are as good as this one was.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

"There is a tiny part of me that hopes I am wrong, a part of me that hopes there is no connection between the two disappearances. The news report has forced me to remember that summer when everything changed. I try not to think about that time and I have never spoken about it since, especially not to Chris. It's a secret I have kept locked away. But there is no hiding from it anymore. I have to go back."

When Felicity hears of a missing teenage girl in her hometown of Sidmouth in Devon, she leaves her husband and children and makes the journey from her home in The Lake District to tackle what she ran away from all those years ago.

It is summertime again, like it was when she was a teenager and another school girl went missing, someone from her class. Felicity (from a disadvantaged background with an alcoholic and drug-dependent mother, Caroline) and best friend Jasmine (from a wealthy background, living with parents Frank and Lisa), spend their summers together. When a formerly homeless man, Tim, comes into Jasmine's life, as a handyman, she is immediately suspicious of his attentions. When a girl from their class, Hannah, goes missing Jasmine wonders if Tim is involved.

Split into chapters told by Felicity (now) and Jasmine (then), this enables the gradual piecing together of what happened during the heatwave when the first girl went missing and what is happening now Felicity has returned, during the heatwave now. Part nostalgia, from the teenagers' perspectives and part coming-of-age for Jasmine, there are red herrings interspersed with clues to unravel who is responsible, whilst Felicity tries to put right past wrongs. Some I was beginning to guess, but the culprit caught me (and the other characters) by surprise and is shocking and horrifying. A twisty, now and then mystery, great summer reading for fans of psychological thrillers.

Wow! Another great read, with lots of shocks, thrills, twists and turns, and chills! I found myself fully emerged in this book, yearning to find out what was going to happen and when! I found myself getting a bit of a whip lash with all the twists and turns! I highly, highly recommend even if you are new to thrillers or Diamond, as this is definitely one heck of a great read!
Will make sure to buzz this book up on the different platforms and use low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

I couldn't stop reading this. I loved the synopsis. The story is told by 2 different characters. Its great how the story is told by two different characters and how the story merged altogether. It had me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't stop reading it. Twists and turns galore . You will not see the twist at the end coming !!

A scorcher of a read with more twists than a corkscrew!

The Heatwave is my first Katerina Diamond book and it most certainly won’t be my last!

One hot summer in Sidmouth, a local girl Hannah goes missing from the fair. 16 years later history repeats itself, when another local girl, Mandy, mysteriously disappears too!

Sidmouth was once Felicity’s hometown, but she is now living in the Lake District happily married with two children. As the news reaches her about missing Mandy, Felicity’s memories of the past come tumbling back. Realising she may be able to help find Mandy, she packs her bags and returns to the place she once lived.

The chapters switch perfectly between Felicity in the present and her best friend Jasmine in the past. I was hooked from the beginning and flabbergasted come the end. Even though I partially guessed the outcome, I still found it utterly shocking and brilliant.

I really like the way Katerina only provides tasters of revealing information initially. It helps keep the reader guessing and makes for a more suspenseful read. I found I was more gripped to Jasmine’s story from the past than Felicity’s in the present, but I think that is purely because that is where the main part of the story lies.

Well, I read The Heatwave during a heatwave and all I can say is that this will definitely be a must-read this summer, for any lovers of a mystery/suspense thriller.

My reason for 4 stars rather than 5 is only because I felt I still had a couple of unanswered questions come the end.

I can’t finish my review without mentioning the front cover of this book. I found it so eye-catching and it’s totally the kind of cover that would make me want to read the book without even knowing what it’s about!!

Thank you so much to Katerina Diamond, Avon Books UK and NetGalley for my ARC of this book.

I'm more a fan of Diamond's Imogen Grey series. I didn't realise this was a standalone when I requested. I'll stick with the series in future.

I was intrigued to read this stand alone novel by Katerina Diamond as I had only ever read her DS Imogen Grey series of books before.

I was not disappointed!! This book is full of twists and turns and told from the prospective of the main character and when she was a teenager.

There were so many twists and unpredictable twists at that! In fact I never could of predicted the final twist. It totally shocked me, especially I had thought I had it all worked several times before, only for there to be another turn.

I'd most definitely recommend reading this book to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers with more twists and turns than a roller-coaster. Make sure you have plenty of time to read the book as I could not put it down and I was reading it at every chance I got!

Can;t Wait for the next book!

This is one of my favourite books this year - and I was slightly worried beforehand as Katerina Diamond deviated from her usual series with this one... but it worked and this standalone thriller was an excellent read!

I really enjoy books that carry an equal weighting of past and current times and getting to know the history of the main characters was entertaining throughout this. Mainly because Katerina does what she does best and keeps her cards close to her chest as she writes - dropping in little nuggets of information that mean you absolutely have to keep on reading to find out more.

This was full of twists and turns and plenty of darkness, which is what Katerina is known best for I think. There’s something about her series that will always have me rushing out to buy the latest book but equally it’s nice to know that if that ever comes to an end Katerina will not let us down!

3.5 stars.
Told from the perspective of Felicity in the present and Jasmine in the past, I found Jasmine's POV and story to be far more interesting than Felicity's. And I was actively looking forward to when it would switch back to Jasmine.
I just couldn't warm to Felicity as much and as a result, I didn't feel the same level of relatability to her.
Sadly, overall, it was too much of a slow burner, with not a great deal happening until probably the last 20% of the book.
And then when the final twists and ending happened, it felt rushed and a real let down.
There are some good twists and turns that I didn't expect and I would be interested in reading more from this author, particularly if written in the same way that Jasmine's parts were. But in the end this book was above average but quite a few things didn't work as well as they could have, for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.