For a long time I did not now at all where this was going and the first third of it I found not particularly captivating. And then it got going and turned into something I really did not expect. The ending is what makes this book worth reading but it is twisted and sinister so not for the fainthearted. An enjoyable summer read.

‘You really never know what’s going on inside people.  Even when you think you know them they turn out to be someone else.’

The story is about Felicity who hears about a teenage girl missing from Felicity’s hometown of Sidmouth.  This incident dredges up bad memories for Felicity and she feels the need to go back as she thinks she might hold the key to what has happened.  The story then unfolds through 2 timelines – the present day and Felicity’s teenage years.  Through her past we learn about her family life and that of her best friend Jasmine.  And then there is the mysterious Tim who has been employed by her parents to do odd jobs around their home but there is something about him which unsettles Felicity.
 
This is a very gripping storyline set during a heatwave which made the story feel more intense.  The character development was brilliant and just as you think you have sussed them out, something else happens which changes your opinion.
 
I would never have guessed the ending!!  I felt a bit smug thinking I had figured out the guilty party but the final twist was brilliant.  It left me in shock!!  Totally recommend this book.  Thank you to @netgalley for my #gifted eARC.

I have previously read Katerina Diamonds books and enjoyed them. This book was no different.



I was a bit confused to begin with on where this was going, but it all explained soon enough. It flipped between the past and the present. It was all very well set out, it didn't just jump for no reason.



I did have a idea about the characters but I wasn't sure. It became clearer later on in the story.



There are some great characters in the book, you couldn't help but feel like you were friends with them. I enjoyed reading about them and imagining all the scenery that was described as well.



I don't think any review i write for this book will do it justice.



This book certainly lives up to the hype.

The Heatwave is a gripping psychological thriller split into two different timelines.
Felicity Is married with two children and lives in the Lake District, whilst watching the news she sees a young girl has gone missing in Sidmouth, Devon. Felicity feels she can find out where this girl is as the circumstances sound very familiar to what happened when she was a young girl and lived there.
The story is told by felicity, now and Jasmine, then. This is a very twisty read, it left me for a while at the beginning what could possibly make you leave your family and head back to where you grew up and a place you haven’t been back to since?
Felicity and Jasmine were school friends but came from very different backgrounds but they were the best friends until Tim arrived. Tim was homeless and in return for doing odd jobs Jasmine’s parents put him up but he’s not who he makes out to be and causes the girls to fall out.
This thriller drew me in and I loved the twists along the way.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading The Heatwave but unfortunately guessed one of the main plot twists early on. The ending does pick up quite a bit as we reach the climactic ending but I couldn't get on board with certain aspects of the book.

The Heatwave is a good summer read. It is primarily set on the English coast and happens during a heatwave that heightens feelings and tensions over the course of the summer. The "then" and "now" accounts of Jasmine and Felicity reveal to us what happened "then" and how it is affecting what is happening in the present day.

I didn't really like Jasmine or Felicity's characters which meant I wasn't fully invested in the book. It was a quick, easy read which no doubt will be exactly right for some readers out there, especially over the coming summer months.

Unfortunately, once I'd guess the plot twist, I spent the rest of the book looking for clues to see if I was right. The book has plenty of red herrings which means that for some readers there will be a few good shocks along the way. And I was genuinely surprised when I found out who the culprit really was. But the ending was a bit too far for me; without spoiling it for anyone, I just don't think it was believable the way things were wrapped up and resolved.

Recommended for anyone looking for a quick, easy summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Katerina Diamond and Avon Books UK for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A summer sizzler!

I've been a fan of Katerina Diamond her since readying her first book and she has yet to disappoint me.

another unsettling, tense psychological thriller with twists and turns aplenty that I couldn't put down had me gripped from beginning to end!

I absolutely love Katerina Diamond's DS Imogen Grey series so I was very excited to read her new standalone novel, The Heatwave. Stepping away from a police procedural into a psychological thriller, Katerina Diamond's slow burning thriller The Heatwave absolutely blew me away. It is THE book to read this summer!

Felicity is a very intriguing main character; there's definitely a lot more going on under the surface than it first appears. When she leaves her husband and family behind to return to her hometown in the wake of a missing teenager, you just know that this is not the reaction of a normal person. As we delve into Felicity's teenage past and the summer when a stranger comes to town and a teenager goes missing, Katerina Diamond turns the temperature up to boiling point in this scorching novel.

There are so many twists and turns in The Heatwave that you think you know where the story is going and then Katerina Diamond plants a landmine and you're off on a completely different tangent. With a dual timeline set in past and present, Felicity's friendship with Jasmine during the summer heatwave is the focus of the 'past' storyline. With teenage hormones in full flow and temperatures rising, the mysterious Tim (Jasmine's parents' lodger) becomes the focus of the girls' attention and their friendship comes under pressure. When a teenager goes missing, Felicity leaves her hometown and Jasmine behind. So why on earth does a missing teenager 16 years later make Felicity go back?

The Heatwave is a completely masterful novel showing that Katerina Diamond is at the top of her game. She is such an accomplished and talented writer that I'm sure Katerina Diamond could turn her venomous pen to any genre. Make sure to grab a copy of The Heatwave; you don't want to miss what is sure to be the hottest book of the year.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

All I have to say is l want to read more by this author!

Well written, well developed storyline, interesting and captivating from the start. Good characters, good pace, not boring.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC of this book. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Another new author to me Katerina Diamond and not bad, not my usual type of thriller it's more mystery but engaging none the less Felicity hears about a girl gone missing where she grew up and get an urge to go back to her roots and needs to face her demons. 16yrs ago another girl went missing and by the time you have finished, this book goes back in time and also in the present, but I did find it engaging but at the same time I would have thought Felicity would have needed to get rid of her demons the 16yrs ago. Very different from the usual crime style but good writing and well defined, well balanced. I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for giving me a copy to read and review I would certainly read another by this author.

Buckle in for the ride of your life because this book is so twisty it'll girl you around and around as you try to figure out what's going on and you won't. Want to read a well written thriller tense and full of suspense pick this up. Happy reading!

Well well well what have we here? The first stand-alone by Katerina Diamond and it’s criminally good (pun intended).

Told by dual narration and dual timeline we first get to know Felicity now married and a mum and living away from where she grew up. Seeing a news report of a girl who has gone missing there, she obviously knows more than she lets on and makes the rash decision to leave her husband with the children to go back and figure it out.

Then it goes back to sixteen years ago and is narrated by Jasmine who has just moved to the area with her parents and a new lodger has moved in to help them. Jasmine and Felicity become best friends, each secretly envious of the other’s life and each have their own demons. Felicity’s mum drinks too much and has a parade of men through the door and Felicity seems to be following in her footsteps. Coveting Jasmine’s loving parents and the normality of family. Jasmine’s parents travel extensively doing charity work and Jasmine is for a change spending the first summer at home. Then a girl goes missing…

This book has some really good sub plots, enough red herrings to set up a fish shop and some terrific characters. Out of the two timelines Jasmine’s had me hooked the most which was surprising as I normally struggle with teenage girl narration. But these two as teenagers had real depth and there was so much more going on. The creepy lodger, the even creepier teacher, errant parents and raging hormones everywhere.

The pace of this book is slower than the normal thriller but don’t let that put you off. It’s all to build the suspense and character development. The last few chapters the pace intensified and my jaw hit the floor when all was revealed. I’m really hoping the author writes more stand alone thrillers if this is anything to go by.

I really liked the Heatwave, although at times I felt it dragged in the middle, it picked up the pace and gave a cracking ending!
I did spot that SPOILER.................,,,,............

Felicity was Jasmine but it added to the mystery as to why as at that point it was a gut feeling rather than made sense. That said when you do find out why, it’s worth it and the secrets of Jasmine’s family and lodger make it a better book than originally thought. I’d read it again, just to see what I missed!!

I’ve read a few books by Katerina Diamond now (all from her DS Imogen Grey series), and I’ve come to realise that when I pick up a new book of hers I’m always in for a treat – and The Heatwave, although a standalone novel, is no exception!

This book tells a gripping tale of secrets, set in a town in Devon and revolving around two narrative timeframes – one 16 years ago, and one in the present day. I won’t give too much away about the storyline but there’s missing a missing girl, creepy lodgers and people who are definely not who they say they are… plus plenty of intrigue and twists.

I raced through this novel, not wanting to put it down as the intrigue built up. For me it was the perfect thriller: interesting, convincing characters; multiple timeframes; deceptive appearances; and a twisty plot involving disappearances.

I could almost feel the tension emenating from its pages, in both timeframes, but partcularly the one following Jasmine and Felicity all those years ago. You know something is going to happen, to someone, but you just don’t know what…

I didn’t see the big surprise coming at all in The Heatwave, and I loved every page.

I really enjoyed this. I like the way it moved between past and present and revealed layers of the story slowly. The twist at the end was brilliant - I really didn't see it coming.

Felicity lives in the Lake District with her husband & two children. When she hears on the radio that a girl has gone missing in Sydmouth she feels compelled to return to the place she left in a hurry many years ago. Driving through the eat she remembers the heatwave of the Summer she left & why she did so. Told from the past & present Felicity's story is revealed.

I am a big fan of Katerina Diamond. I have really enjoyed her previous books but this one just didn't do it for me. Maybe because I never really connected with Felicity, but for whatever reason this was a struggle of a read for most of the time. The last quarter was much more engaging & surprising. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

A thriller with a fast-moving plot, but towards the end it was getting rather far-fetched, which detracted from the enjoyment of reading it.

Felicity returns to her hometown that she left 16 years ago after learning of the disappearance of a local girl. Can it be just coincidence that this disappearance is eerily similar to one her life was intertwined with 16 years ago? A life her family knows nothing about. A life she has tried so hard to keep in the past. A life she knows if uncovered could change her future.
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A gripping thriller that keeps you in the dark until the end. One I could not stop reading. One I highly recommend.

Felicity left her home town suddenly years ago.
Now she is watching a news report about a 16 year old who has gone missing in her home town this has a great resemblance to a girl who went missing when Felicity was a teenager. This report brings it all back for her she hasn’t even told her husband about what happened. So she decides to go on her own and look into the missing girl. Things are not as they seem . This grips you from the start to the finish.
Thanks NetGalley

Two girls go missing sixteen years apart, after the first girl Felicity leaves town but she knows more than she is saying, when the second girl goes missing Felicity or Flick as she is known has some decisions to make. Is the missing girl alive?
I particularly enjoyed this book, it was a gripping story set during a heatwave in Devon. It is told from different points of view which gives the story an added dimension. The story is compelling and a great read. I found it to be a page turner.

I would happily recommend this book and read more by the author in the future.

Heatwave is the latest book from the pen of the fabulous Katerina Diamond and it is her first standalone novel sitting alongside her DS Imogen Grey series. A dark psychological thriller which is cleverly crafted and leads to a very disturbing finale.

Unlike Katerina Diamond’s other novels where the action takes place on the trail of a gruesome serial killer, this book is a slow build sinister threat that searches back into the past. The abduction of a young woman, Mandy Green from the Devon coastal town of Sidmouth, stirs something deep in Felicity Musgrave and without delay, she leaves her husband Chris and two children in their home in the Lake District to travel to Devon. The family are left bewildered with Felicity only explaining that she knows something similar happened when she was sixteen when she and her best friend Jasmine lived in Sidmouth. There is a great pang of guilt surrounding Felicity and being in Sidmouth after all these years she wonders if she is doing the right thing.

“This was all a big mistake and I feel like I am on the brink of destroying myself by being here. I am putting everything and everyone I love in danger because I couldn’t stay away. I was gone, I was free. But the pull was too much. Curiosity killed the cat. I just hope it doesn’t kill me.”

The story is told over two time periods, and the mechanism of telling the past in the third person from the perspective of Jasmine and the present in the first person from Felicity is a brilliant choice. You’ll realise how clever this choice is when you get to the end and the two storylines converge. In Jasmine’s story, a lodger Tim takes up residence in a garden guest house and he reflects mysterious deep anger that makes Jasmine uneasy, yet her mother and father, Frank and Lisa, seem fond of him. Jasmine is a very pretty girl and has encountered advances from a teacher, who was sacked and shamed as a result and now with Tim, there is a disquieting attraction. In revisiting Sidmouth, Felicity meets some old acquaintances although she is ultimately drawn to her old home and secrets that may be revealed.

As a style of gradually building psychological tension, it was always going to be a slow build but this distracted me at times. The pace of the story seemed very pedestrian and quite unlike Katerina Diamond, particularly building the narrative around Felicity. I spotted early on a particular twist and there are little clues to solving this particular mystery as you go along, however, it doesn’t spoil the main plot and the reasons behind the course of events. The pace picks up in the final 20% and the ending is shocking and caught me by surprise.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy slow-burn psychological thrillers. I would like to thank Avon Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for an honest review.