I would thoroughly recommend this as a holiday read - a well developed plot, an intriguing main character in the persona of Felicity and a tense mystery which keeps you guessing right to the end. One of those books where you want to read a little bit more and don't really want to put it down, because the narrative keeps moving and there is plenty to keep the reader interested. I enjoyed this and would read more by this author.

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.
I have loved every single one of Katerina Diamond's novels before and must admit, I was slightly disappointed when this was not another installment in the Grey series.
However, this book had me hooked from the very first chapter. The author made the characters so real and I felt as though they were actually part of my life.
The chapters are very short and the author reveals a little something, but not too much in each one, making you want to read more and more.
The book was full of twists and it comes highly recommended.
Katerina Diamond is becoming a go to author for me!

The beginning of this book will have the reader wondering why Felicity is so compelled to return to her hometown when she learns about a girl who has gone missing. What happened in Felicity's early years that has her almost to the point of agoraphobia when it comes to going outside in the town where she grew up?

We see the teen years of best friends Felicity and Jasmine as told through the eyes of Jasmine, who has the life Felicity always wanted. Until a stranger takes up residency in her parents guesthouse...then things start to go sideways.

The other half of the story is told by Felicity as an adult, and her investigation into the past and present missing persons. Slowly her story is revealed through a series of twists (somewhat predictable, but enjoyable nonetheless!).

This is very different from Woman in the Water, but a great summer read!

Thanks to NetGalley and AvonBooksUK for an advance reader's copy for review.

I’ve loved the Imogen Grey series so far, so was keen to read this standalone by Diamond. It’s a tricky one to review, as there is a lot going on.
Our main character is someone with something to hide. She catches a news report of a girl going missing in Sidmouth, and though she lives in the Lake District she says she has to travel down to sort out things from her past that she thinks are connected to this disappearance. We know no more than that, but we definitely want answers.
Once she arrives in this picturesque town we get a real sense of something hidden, though not enough to help us piece things together with any certainty. I found it odd that people were so keen to spill details of this missing girl to someone they either didn’t know or only vaguely recollected.
While it offered us insight into the narrator, it felt weird to have the split narrative talking about her time in the town as a teenager. We learnt about her friendship with Felicity, the strange events surrounding her teacher and the mysterious Tim who was befriended by her parents though the reasons for this aren’t clear.
As the story progresses it’s apparent that the events of the past are the ones we should be concerned with. If we learn what happened, then the links to the present day will be clearer. When we eventually reach this point it did feel rather abrupt, which jarred a little. It offered some resolution but not quite as I’d hoped for.
The book itself is a read I’d recommend, and I’m grateful to the publishers for letting me read it in advance of publication, but I was hoping for something a little different.

I am a massive fan of the authors Grey and Miles series. Which is dark and twisted. So I couldn’t wait to see what the authors first standalone was like.

The author brings us something rather different with The Heatwave. Which I have to say is utterly brilliant. Having listened to this on audio, once I started I was only mesmerised and couldn’t stop listening to it.

I totally loved the narrator who brings the character’s to life. She was perfect for this story. The more I listened to it the more I wanted to know. I was totally addicted.

Without giving to much away. I loved everything about it….from the setting to the writing style. And not forgetting the ending! I have to say I wasn’t expecting that.

The Heatwave is a stunning crime thriller, full of twists and turns. Which I cannot recommend enough.

Massive thank you to Ellie at Avon for a copy and for the blog tour invite.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I am a big fan of Katerina Diamond’s books and even though I do prefer the Imogen Grey series it was good to read a different style of book but with the usual thriller element which really was a page turner as I read it in just over a day. It was fast paced, intriguing and kept me guessing until the very end (even though I did guess parts of it!). Thank you NetGalley for this copy.

Wow. A gripping thriller with a fantastic twist you won't see coming. Drew me in from the first page and I could not put it down.

A slow burner at the start that keeps you interested as the pace hots up leading to a fascinating conclusion. Definitely recommended to those readers who enjoy reading a good mystery.

Oh my, what an absolute cracker of a book, absolutely loved it.

The story is told from 2 view points and 2 characters, essentially based in Sidmouth.

Jasmine and Felicity, teenage best friends, beginning to experiment with boys and booze. Jasmine comes from a loving set of parents who do a lot of charity work in foreign countries. They accept Tim, a homeless chap, as their guest in their guest house in return for odd jobs.
Felicity is from a broken home and a mother who abuses alcohol.
During the summer one of their friends goes missing and is never found. Tim has a very peculiar nature and appears to be hiding secrets. He seems to be stalking Jasmine and she is very wary of him.

16 years later another girl goes missing in the same town. Felicity now living in the lake district is pulled back to see if these disappearances are in some way linked.

These 2 story lines converge into a shocking finale. This book is fast paced, twisty with an uncomfortable ending that I would never have guessed.

Highly recommend.

A gripping, twisty read. A girl goes missing and another girl needs to go back to her hometown to find out what happened. Is she the link to this new case. A cleverly written drama with some good twists and turns you do not see coming.

I love a book that leads me by the nose giving me all the clues, telling me a story. Then turning it round and presenting me with an ending I was supposed at. I also love a girl comes home book and this is that book. With sweltering heat!

Excellent thriller. Lots of twists and turns that you won’t see coming. I’d definitely recommend anything by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon Books and Katerina Diamond for this ARC in return for my honest review. My first book by Katerina Diamond but will definitely be a big hit.

I am very undecided about this story. There were elements of the book that were great and what I love about thrillers.

I love the Now and Then narrative, this way the story slowly unfolds and our knowledge and understanding of what has happened is given to us in little nuggets.

We know that a local girl has gone missing, and for some reason Felicity believes this is linked to her past. Something that happened 16 years ago. What is this link? That's something we slowly discover.

My main issue was that I could not stand the main character, I felt she was very self centred and believed the world revolved around her. She deserts her husband and kids just to swan off on a journey to play detective. And, because I couldn't develop a connection with the main character then this made me want to rush to the end of the story.

But, the storyline itself was great. I loved the little twists and turns. It's just Felicity I didn't like 🙈

Thank you to the publishers for my gifted digital copy

This one kept me up all night! Creepy and atmospheric right from the beginning, the tension kept building and building. I had to know what happened to Jasmine all those years ago and the suspense kept me hooked.
Sinister, twisty and fast-paced; this thriller hits all the marks!
For audiobook lovers, you won't be disappointed in this production. The narrator really gets the tone of the book right and her performance helps in building the tension and suspense. A difficult book to put down!

Wow, this is such an atmospheric and chilling thriller!

There’s a totally gripping prologue, and then the story begins..

Felicity is the main character in the book, and she’s a difficult one to figure out. She’s clearly got some pretty big secrets in her past, and has stayed away from the town where she grew up until now. When she returns, it all begins to come out.

There’s a dual timeline, told from Jasmine’s point of view, from when the two friends were younger, during that fateful summer. At first, it’s hard to see how these two stories connect. It’s a complex and twisty plot, and it’s book that just makes you want to keep reading, as you try to unravel the story.

The hot and sultry weather is the perfect atmospheric backdrop for this plot, which just builds and builds.

I did not see the twist coming at all, this book really keeps you guessing.

Fabulous thriller, highly recommended.

When a teenage girl goes missing in a Devon seaside resort there are some similarities with a missing person case from years ago. On hearing this news Felicity Musgrave feels compelled to leave her family in the Lake District to go back to the seaside town of her teenage years and to a whole heap of secrets she thought she had left behind. I wasn’t sure about Felicity at first or of the reason why she felt compelled to return to a place she had left some sixteen years before, but hey, this is fiction, and the complicated reasons for her return soon form an integral part of the story.

The story is a bit slow to get going but once the tensions start to mount, the many twists and turns start to become more intriguing and I couldn’t help but be drawn into this mystery which Felicity is determined to uncover. The tension seems to simmer and dance like the eponymous heatwave and just when I thought I had the whole thing worked out the plot would veer off in another unexpected direction. I enjoyed how the story flipped between two time frames and discovering more about the younger, Felicity when her life was far from simple gave the story its necessary edginess.

One thing is always guaranteed with this author and that is that no matter how you think the story will work out she always surprises you, and The Heatwave is no exception. Clever and sophisticated this is one of those psychological thrillers which is better enjoyed in one sitting with no distractions, which, along with its title, makes this an ideal summer read.

It’s interesting to note that The Heatwave is a stand-alone thriller which make an interesting departure from the author’s DS Imogen Grey series of police procedural novels.

This book was gifted to me via Netgalley by Avon Books.

It was a bad summer. Everyone remembers it. First the stranger arrived in town and then the first girl disappeared. At sixteen, Felicity fled to start a new life, knowing more than she ever told. But now sixteen years later, another girl has disappeared from the same town and Felicity must go back to face the past and find the killer.

The writing is told in a dual perspective. Firstly, you have Felicity in the present day in first person and then you have her friend Jasmine, sixteen years previously in the past. That did confuse me a little to begin with, but once I got into the story, I stopped noticing it and by the end you realise why it was written in such a way.

The story is slightly gruesome in parts and you feel the shock and horror that both Jasmine and Felicity went through, both now and in the past. It's such an addictive page turner, as you desperately hope for a good outcome.

I really like Jasmine as a character, but I did find Felicity a bit annoying. She comes across so self absorbed and I couldn't work out why she felt the need to solve the latest mystery, but by the end, I realised how necessary that is to the plot and I'd probably have a drinking problem too, if I'd witnessed all that she had seen. Also, I was amazed that the locals were so willing to tell Felicity everything they knew about the case, especially as she appeared as a stranger to the town. The teenagers she spoke to, gave up information so freely, which seemed a little unrealistic as they are more likely to be rude and aggressive than willing to talk. Tim, Jasmine's lodger, gave me the creeps from the start, he was so mysterious and dark.

I am really getting into these dark psychological thrillers. They are so gripping, I find it difficult to put them down. And this one wasn't any different. All the way through the book, I was following red herrings, convinced I knew who the killer was and each time I completely got it wrong.

This is the author's first standalone novel, as I understand, she normally writes about DS Imogen Grey. I don't really enjoy detective series, so I'm not sure I would read them, but I will look out for more standalone novels by Diamond.

On the whole, I did really enjoy the book and the ending was so unexpected, I felt the story really paid off.

I was looking forward to reading this book thinking it would be an atmospheric thriller. However, I found the writing a bit stilted and it didn't capture the imagination when it could have done so easily. A young girl has gone missing in a Devon seaside town replicating a similar event years ago. Jasmine saw something all those years ago so insists she must leave her husband and three children in the Lake District and travel to Devon to find out what has happened. This, I feel, isn't really explained well and seems quite unrealistic. She doesn't explain just why she has to go. When she gets there she seems to spend her time drinking and asking locals (including the missing girl's mother) questions about the missing girl. It flips between the previous case and recent one but doesn't ratchet up the tension as well as it could. Sadly, I didn't really enjoy it and found it a bit tedious. I do however appreciate having tge opportunity to read and review this book via NetGalley.

I loved this. For some reason I pictured one of my favourite places, Hunstanton, as the seaside town where this was set.
Lots of twists and unexpected turns.
I'm loving Katerina Diamond's work and look forward to much more from her.