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.

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.

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.

Felicity lives in the Lake District with her husband and two children. One day she sees a story on the news about a girl in a seaside town who has gone missing. It's the same seaside town where Felicity grew up, where 16 years ago another girl went missing. Back then, Felicity fled, knowing more than she let on.
Seeing the news story causes Felicity to travel back to her home town to face the truth of what happened all those years ago.

I have a feeling this book is going to be really popular when it's released this summer!

This is a dark psychological thriller with plenty of twists. I guessed some of them in advance, but it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment.

The story switches back and forth between Felicity in the present, and Jasmine (who was Felicity's best friend) in the past.

The beginning felt a little confusing, and I couldn't understand why Felicity would drop everything to head back to her hometown. However, there were a couple of interesting twists in the middle which kept me engaged. Then the last quarter was incredible! Really fast-paced with plenty of tension.

As a lot of you know, my TBR list is made up mainly of authors that I want to read rather than books, and Kat was on that list.
With this being the first Katerina Diamond book I have read, I didn’t know what to expect, but I can safely say this will NOT be the last one I read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I really enjoy books with a dual time line feature and the way this comes together at the crux of the story is brilliantly done. I found this book very easy to get into and instantly got a feel, (good or bad) for the characters.
Although I did guess who the culprits were it wasn’t until I was about 60% in, but, I think that’s just because I read a lot of thrillers. This did not take away the enjoyment of this book at all though because the speed really picks up at this point and the way the book is written makes it feel so tense, and full of suspense. I also have to say there were many times I gasped as the twists were unexpected.

Really, really pleased I’ve now read one of Kat’s book and will definitely be reading more

Felicity is happily married and has two children. But she keeps secrets from them.
One day, when she hears that a teenage girl has gone missing in her home town; a town where 16 years earlier another girl had disappeared, she immediately heads there, confident that she holds the answer to everything.

The story alternates between Felicity's perspective and her friend Jasmine's recap of past events.
It was a good entertaining read that kept me steadily interested. However, I found it short of suspense and a bit slow to get going.
I also felt that Felicity's "investigation" was far fetched, the way everybody spoke to her without questioning her motives was implausible.
Also, the tile was a bit misleading as it had nothing to do with the story apart from a heatwave being mentioned a couple of times.
All through, I was considering giving it 3 stars, but there were some good twists at the end that had me hesitating.
However, after a lot of thought, I decided to settle on 3 stars.
The conclusion was pretty shocking, but since the rest of the book wasn't suspense-packed, it couldn't warrant the raised rating.
It was, however, an easy and quick read, and if that's what you're looking for, then you should give it a go.

Review
The Heatwave by Katerina Diamond
’One summer. One stranger. One killer.’
Felicity fled her hometown after a crime rocked the community. Now sixteen years on, she hears news of a similar crime occurring again in her hometown, and feels compelled to return. It is time she faced the truth about what really happened all those years ago, and confront those demons from her past.
You can always count on Diamond to give you a page turning thriller! This is well written, lending itself to be an easy read. It started a little slowly but picked up pace, building the suspense nicely along the way. The story unraveled well, confirming or negating my many various suspicions as it did. I gradually found myself reading quicker and quicker just to know what the ending would bring!
A few twists are thrown in along the way. Some I guessed at, but some I truly didn’t, which made for an exciting climax to the book. I will say though I did have a few unanswered questions at the end.
Diamond fans will not be disappointed, and if you like quick read thrillers, with a bit of excitement and bag loads of suspicion, pick this one up!
Thank you @netgalley for this early review copy.

I really enjoyed this book is was a nice quick read for me however I do feel like the ending was a bit rushed for me.

I’m a huge fan of Katerina Diamond’s series and even though I didn’t enjoy this standalone as much as I was hoping to, I’m definitely still going to read her future books and I won’t let this one put me off. There’s a few things that I didn’t like about this one. I struggled to get into it as I felt like it took a while for anything to happen, and I wasn’t too keen on the ending. The ending seemed uneventful and it made me dislike the main character. When I became gripped by the storyline I loved it and didn’t want to stop reading. It’s a great storyline and really got me thinking and trying to guess what was going to happen. However I did predict the ending and not much surprised me. I really liked the main character for most of the storyline, but the ending made me dislike her and I found myself getting annoyed at her. I’ve also been left with a few questions about the ending and about what happens next. This book was really easy to read and I got through it quite quickly. I loved that the chapters were from both past and present. Whilst I was reading I was sure that this would be a 4 star read for me, but unfortunately the ending has really effected my opinion of the book. It was still a great read and I will definitely recommend it to people. I can’t wait to read the next book from Katerina Diamond!

Katerina Diamond is an auto buy author for me, I love her Grey and Miles series, so although this wasn't a part of that it was equally as good!

Thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher #Avon Books UK for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. This is an amazing standalone psychological thriller which I could not put down. The story of Felicity and Jasmine set in Sidmouth Devon. The twists and turn in this story where amazing and I highly recommend this book.