I normally read books based upon recommendations from friends, or lists of ‘books to read’ etc – but there is a whole different story as to why I went for this one!  Basically the goddess who is Marian Keyes had tried to request it off NetGalley and was refused!!  So I tried and was immediately accepted.  Sometimes trying a different author for a random reason is worth the risk?!?

Here is the blurb that I hadn’t even looked at before requesting it:

“One summer. One stranger. One killer…
Two bad things happened that summer:
A stranger arrived. And the first girl disappeared.
In the wake of the crime that rocked her community, Felicity fled, knowing more than she let on.
But sixteen years later, her new life is shattered by the news that a second girl has gone missing in her hometown.
Now Felicity must go back, to face the truth about what happened all those years ago.
Only she holds the answers – and they’re more shocking than anyone could imagine.
The heatwave is back. And so is the killer.”

The book is set in 2 time periods – from Jasmine’s point of view – where her and Felicity were teenage friends – and then 16 years later from Felicity’s point of view in the present day.  Back in the day a girl went missing – and the same thing has happened again – and Felicity believes she is the only one who can solve this crime, and so leaves her husband and kids in the Lake District and heads back to her hometown in Devon.

Now there are some MASSIVE twists and turns.  I have to say I guessed a few of them very early on.  I felt quite smug and ‘I’m just so bloody clever’ – which I wasn’t disappointed in – however when I read other NetGalley reviews, others said the same – so maybe I wasn’t as smart as I thought!! However, even guessing these twists, it didn’t ruin the book for me – and there were plenty of other twists I didn’t get so I was still keen to keep reading. and find out what had happened then and now.

I found present day Felicity quite annoying, and it seemed ridiculous that she wouldn’t share with anyone what was going on – although as the story progressed you kind of realised why.  I felt quite nervous with her back in her old stomping ground – and sad that she didn’t appear to have any support from family or friends at all.

Back 16 years ago Jasmine and Felicity were both quite annoying – but they were 16 years olds so just perfectly written I suspect!  Their relationships with Tim ‘the stranger’ were complex and teenage and cleverly written – the teenage angst levels were high.

Overall I really enjoyed the twisty, turny story – and devoured it really quickly – and was suitably shocked by the time I got to the end.

I’m not sure ‘The Heatwave’ was really a vital component of the storyline – especially in the present day stuff – not that that detracted, but it’s the second book I’ve read recently where the title wasn’t really that relevant.

Having stumbled across Ms Diamond due to weird circumstances – I would definitely read books by her again – and it looks like there’s a chunky back catalogue series to get my teeth into.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my advance review copy – it’s out on 25 June 2020 so just a few hours to wait!