The Heatwave by Kate Riordan arrived on my doorstep at just the right time. I was looking for an immersive summer read – and this one promised an eerie, sun-drenched story.

After an accidental fire occurs, a woman and her daughter return to their family home in the south of France after years of living in London. But from the moment they arrive, a sense of dread begins to take hold.

The cottage holds secrets from the past – like what happened to their family, including the woman’s older daughter, before they left. And those secrets won’t stay hidden for long.

I loved how atmospheric this book was! It will transport you to the sun-baked French countryside, and you’ll never want to leave. (Well, aside from the growing sense of foreboding – it is a mystery/thriller, after all!).

This story is full of tense emotion and fascinating characters. It’s got crumbling country cottages, back and forth timelines, family secrets, and all the tasty French food you can imagine. Slowly, the family’s ominous past is unraveled before us as a forest fire rages on in the distance.

This is a slow-burn (in the best way), so I definitely recommend picking it up when you’re in the mood for that! Perfect for reading in the summer breeze.

Rating: 4.25 (out of 5) stars

Sylvie and her daughter are back in southern France to sell the family’s house now owned by Sylvie and her sister Camille. The house has been abandoned for ten long years. Something has happened in the house in the past. A fire, perhaps? A child’s death? Has The Heatwave passed or is the past catching up with Sylvie and her innocent daughter Emma?

I really wanted to love this book. When I didn’t, I tried to figure out why. The setting, especially the old abandoned house, was enchanting. The pace was slow but that fit into the dream quality of the plot. I’ve got it. I didn’t enjoy Sylvie’s first person narrative. It sounds simple but I spent some time trying to figure out who was talking when Sylvie was speaking to a group. I also felt more empathy for Emma and wanted her perspective on various events. Most of all, I hated the constant references to fire. I can’t explain why without revealing a major spoiler. Other reviewers loved The Heatwave so you might too. For me, it was a 3 star read.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

When I saw this cover I knew I needed to read it, and I’ve been absolutely craving a swim ever since—though, naturally, dark, terrible things happen in the pool pictured here.

When Sylvie receives a letter informing her of a fire at her childhood home in the south of France, she returns with her teenaged daughter to check out the damage and, afterwards, attempt to sell it. But the house is brimming with the memory of her daughter—the other one, who caused Sylvie great pain that she can’t admit to her younger child. It seems, however, that the ghosts who haunt the halls of the old house might be real, and Sylvie must contend with the possibility of family secrets being laid bare and destroying the small family she has left.

This was a truly fascinating book that got me thinking a lot about psychopathy, how we understand and fail to understand that condition, and the way mental illness can harm other people in the orbit of the person struggling with it. It asks, what is forgivable? What is possible to heal from? Are the scars from some crimes so deep, the victim will never truly recover?

This is theoretically a beach read, but it simmers instead of boils, and the topics discussed here are unsettling and thought provoking—this is no run-of-the-mill dead girl thriller. Occasionally I found myself annoyed with Sylvie’s transparent proclamations at the ends of chapters (an issue I’ve been having a lot lately with books?!?), but that ultimately didn’t detract from my appreciation for this disturbing story.

Absolutely recommend for anyone who loves thrillers and mysteries, especially those with tension and grit you won’t be able to fully leave behind when you’re finished. I also really enjoyed reading it as a fan of true crime—it caused me to think deeply about what psychopathy really is, and how much psychopaths can recover from their illness.

Sylvie and her daughter, Emma, receive a letter and return to their former home in the South of France they left behind. The familial drama and the well developed characters made this an excellent read.

Heatwave has a strange sense of foreboding throughout. Riordan lets the reader know that something is going to happen, leaving us uneasy with each page turned. Filled with family secrets and drama, this book is a slow burn that draws you in little by little until you are engulfed in the flames gasping for air.

The Heatwave is a well written family drama/psychological thriller by Kate Riordan. I really enjoyed this book as it is written with substance, character development and the deeper and darker undertones.

The story is told through two timelines, the past and the present. These are my favourite kind of books. We learn of Elodie's childhood and young adulthood...can you say demon child!? The tension builds and merges in both time lines becoming more harrowing and twisted. As with the best suspense novels there are mysteries within mysteries.

The juxtaposition between the past and present gives us a compelling look at how the shocking spiral of events from Elodie's childhood affected the characters in different ways.

While The Heatwave certainly centers on survival there is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel, as familiar bonds reconnect and the human spirit attempts to prevail in the face of evil.

Set in a beautiful small French Village, a grand house with a pool, beautiful weather, but this whole scenario is something that brings dread to Sylvie. The home belonged to her mother and she raised her two daughters there with her ex husband Greg, and this home brings back so many bad memories.

The story jumps between the past and their present, explaining little by little everything up until now, and even though it was a slow burn, which is a book that slowly gets to the point lol, I actually enjoyed it. The story of Elodie was CRAZY!

My heart was breaking every time Sylvie speaks about Elodie. Their relationship was just so different, she loved her first born but she also feared her, she was her world but then she was also dreading her existence, it was just a lot.

Imagine coming back to your hometown that you ran away from over ten years ago with your younger daughter, and that younger daughter thinks that her older sister is dead, and the people in town know everything about you and your family, and that older daughter who was the town terror???? Sounds great right? I read this book in one day, I had to get to the end, the drama was right up my alley.

Aside from that, I loved the tone of the book, it was like Sylvie was writing a letter to her younger daughter Emma, or like she’s reading to her or something, I felt Sylvie’s love, despair, and even the heartbreak. I loved the strength that even after everything she went through even towards the end was just amazing.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher Grand Central Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing me with an ARC of The HeatWave by Kate Riordan. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

Like a slow feverish dream this book simmers and sizzles with intensity and heat. Sylvie once fled her childhood home and now ten years later she’s called back to settle the estate. With her young daughter in tow, Sylvie returns to a spooky old house filled with ghosts and demons from her past. As a heatwave and forest fires engulf the area, Sylvie is trapped in sorting old secrets, lies and betrayals.

This was a satisfying sultry read. Perfect for hot summer days and breezy balmy nights.

It took me awhile to finish this one. Not because it was boring or poorly written. No, it is far from that. It took me awhile to read this one because it is so beautifully written that I needed time to digest it. The plot is so thick and intense that I needed time to think it through and speculate. I wouldn’t consider this a thriller. Rather, an intense slow-burning tale of a mother-daughter relationship that is so gripping, creepy, and chilling.

What would you do if your firstborn child is evil to their core? Would you love them no matter what? Would you try to teach them good vs evil? Would you protect your other children from this evil? These are just a few of the situations that are touched upon in this book. And boy, it is intense.

Kate, your writing is untouchable. It is truly a piece of art. I felt like I was in a crumbling stone mansion in the south of France. In the refreshing pool amidst the oleander trees and lavender garden. In the unimaginable scenario of having to choose between family and safety.

Unsettling and atmospheric, this story of a broken family set during an oppressive heatwave, had me gripped from the very start. I loved the slow reveals, alternating timelines and the ominous pacing. There is a return to a neglected home in southern France, where something bad has happened, a family has fractured, and secrets have been kept.... until now. With hints of Shriver’s Kevin, the more the story and the characters unravel, the more I couldn’t tear myself away.....
A sultry, edge-of-your-seat page turner perfect to throw in your beach bag.

Looking at the cover, I couldn't wait to dive in. Just like hitting the water of the pool, this was refreshing. One day at the beach was all it took cover-to-cover - this was that gripping and seductive!

It's too hard to write a review withing giving anything away, so I'll leave it at that!

Thank you Netgalley and Grand Central for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion!

Set against the backdrop of the beautiful French Provence in the midst of a heatwave, The Heatwave is narrated in the first person by Sylvie whose return to her family home La Réverie (daydreaming) in the south of France forces her to confront the events of a decade earlier that left her young family shattered. From the moment Sylvie and her teenage daughter Emma arrive, they feel the eerie presence of Sylvie’s firstborn daughter Élodie. Sylvie has never told Emma what happed to her older sister - through dual timelines, alternating back and forth, we find out what led Sylvie to leave France with Emma and divorce her husband Greg.

This genre isn’t my typical go-to but I thoroughly enjoyed this one and couldn’t put it down. I think the author did a phenomenal job at portraying Sylvie’s conflicting emotions about Élodie. From a young age, Élodie is a troubled child whose disturbing and manipulative behaviour proves to be a danger to everyone around her. I found myself constantly on edge reading about Élodie’s chilling behaviour. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a parent to a child you love but also equally fear.

The author also does an amazing job at conjuring up vivid images of the French heat - the cicadas, the sweltering afternoons by the pool, the sweaty and restless nights (without AC) and the smoke and heat from nearby forest fires. It really gives the story about Sylvie’s family’s fate a fitting claustrophobic feel.

I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a suspenseful summer read.

Thank you so much Netgalley, Kate Riordan and Grand Central Publishing for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Does this cover feel like summer or what? I love it.
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There’s something about time before we all had a phone in our hand with the ability to google or browse social media and see what everyone we know is doing. In The Heatwave, the novel is set in 1993 while flashing back to various points in time during the fifteen years prior. The time setting lends an extra layer of mystery to Sylvie’s dilapidated long time family home in the south of France.
Sylvia and her daughter Emma return to France after living in London for several years when a fire draws her attention to her former home. She realizes it’s time to sell, so she heads back to clean and get it ready to put on the market. Memories of the life she had with her ex-husband and their first daughter, Elodie, have haunted her and she has to face her past.
This atmospheric thriller is written with Sylvie telling the story to Emma. This family has some serious issues and I enjoyed seeing how their dark, mysterious past played out. I would have loved to read it from a third person POV or even Elodie or Emma’s alternating with Sylvie’s, but I enjoyed this book. It was a good, suspenseful family drama, and it let me work on my limited French language skills a bit, un petit peu.
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I liken this novel to a French We Need to Talk About Kevin. Highly unsettling and unputdownable. The plot was fever paced. I finished this novel in one setting!

Well written, suspenseful and ever so atmospheric. The complex female characters are so well rendered. I thought Sylvie was truly memorable as
opposed to the be all do all have all women that so often populate fiction. This was my book of the pandemic so to speak and my attention wandered to news and I did a lot of daydreaming and online ordering between pages so I took way to long to read it. Plans to reread again as the twists got a bit muddled for me. I really dislike a dual timeline
and usually I read each period separately, I read this linearly and for me that was a drawback. i truly loved Sanditon and looking forward to
what Kate Riordan writes next.

A true page-turner! I thoroughly enjoyed this compulsive family story, and found myself racing to the end. Really enjoyed the French setting, and the claustrophobic environment that Riordan creates here.

Thank you Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for a review copy to give my sassy review on this book.

Oooo all the things I want to say about this book but cannot so that I do not give away any spoilers.

This book had me on the edge of my seat, in my head thinking up what-ifs, what would I do if I had a daughter like Elodie, how I would react to my husband when everything happened and he chose to be aloof!!!! And that freaking ending!!!! WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK!

This book brings up so many hard questions/what-ifs for parents… What would you do if your child was diagnosed with a missing amygdala making them have psychopath tendencies?! Also - that 20% chance that they could or could not grow out of it!!!!

What an intense novel reminiscent of the bad seed motif! Sylvie and her youngest daughter, Emma, travels back to their old home in France. Emma is enchanted, but Sylvie reluctant - she remains haunted by the memory of her eldest daughter, and what happened in that house years before.

Overall, I really enjoyed this suspenseful novel! Oldest daughter Elodie is a mesmerizing character who draws through the narrative, and I truly empathized with Sylvie's conflicting emotions. I did wish the twist at the end was a little, well, twistier.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This is slow burn mystery and claustrophobic family drama with great premise took us to the South of France, a dilapidated, rambling house located on the outskirts. Just like the characters left the place because their old lives were drifting apart and slowly breaking into pieces, the house seemed like to collapse in any second, like barely breathing organism not functioning properly.

The dark and eerie place mysteries and haunted by past stories, dysfunctional family dramas always work well with me and they’re giving us enough material to hook up and give our full focus to those stories. However this book’s big jumps between present and past and one person narration and story’s aimless direction made me lose my concentration and disappointed me a little bit.

We learned at the beginning Sylvie and her daughter Emma reluctantly returned to the house where they escaped nearly a decade ago. Then with the help of flashbacks we’re introduced to Sylvie’s other daughter Elodie and her husband. I wish we had narrations of those two daughters because they were remarkable characters and interestingly we learn more about the emotional depth and inner motives of Sylvie by reading the chapters about Elodie.

In my opinion, if we could know more about daughters’ feelings, it would be more helpful for us to empathize with the characters and gather the missing pieces of their family story.

There are some predictable twists and ending was a little bit light and haphazard for me. I was expecting something more gripping, emotional and meaningful.

Overall: The premise and the characterization of the story were delightful but I wish it may be told with more narrations because this story belongs to a family! So reading everything from Sylvie’s perspective was not enough for me and in the middle I got a little lost with the story’s direction as well.

So I’m gonna give solid three stars. It was not a bad reading. I mostly enjoyed high tension, slow building family mystery and most of the characters’ back stories but the flat ending and confusing time jumps made me cut my points.

But I still want to read other books of the author because she can create well-developed characters and family dynamics which reflect her true writings skills.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

Taking place in the 1990’s this story centers around a mother and her daughters, one alive and one dead. Sylvie Durand returns to her family home in France with her daughter Emma as the area is swept by heat and devastating fires. Sylvie can’t help but remember her daughter Elodie, a girl so different, so unusual, that the villagers were in awe and fear of her. Elodie, who only lived to the age of fourteen. This is an atmospheric and deeply felt story about the terrible pain of losing a child