I requested this book because I heard a lot of good things about the author...BUT...This book was very repetitive and the writing was so pedestrian. The same thoughts and words were regurgitated over and over to the point of boredom. I really tried to like this book, I read the whole thing, willing to give it a chance, but it was just not for me. The characters were underdeveloped, unlikable and I could not relate to what little was there. Cliche to the point of being insulting, much like the flat title. I understand this author is widely acclaimed and I am sure she is worthy of the acclamation, but this is obviously not her best work.

A hot mess of a crime, a great summer set thrilling read. 16 years on a second girl goes missing And Felicity is forced to confront her past. Full of twists and turns this is a real psychological thriller that kept me in suspense. I couldn’t wait to find out how it ended.

This is a decent 'whodunnit' thriller / murder mystery.

A girl disappears from Devon and the lead character of the novel, Felicity, sees the news and realises that the disappearance is from her hometown and relates to her past.
She leaves her husband and children to get to the bottom of this mystery and what follows takes us back to Felicity's childhood whilst having chapters designated to the present time, in both the voice of Felicity and her childhood friend, Jasmine.

It does maintain interest, although, for me I found it a slow moving read that was quite hard to progress in parts.

Overall though, a decent strong 3* and I'd recommend as a good read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

A super story that will keep you gripped from the very beginning.

The characters are believable and you want to know what happened to them.

It isn’t predictable be ready for a rollercoaster ride.

This is the new standalone novel from Katerina Diamond,
The Heatwave takes place in two different timelines, In present day we hear from Felicity, married with two kids, shes see a news item on the Tv about a young girl gone missing from her home town. There and then she tells her husband she must go back there and find out whats happened. Not explaining much to him or indeed to the reader she leaves that day. In the then sections we hear from a 16 year old Felicity and her friend Jasmine. Jasmine's parents have taken in a lodger, who does work for them, and are keen to help him out. Jasmine on the other hand at first finds him a little strange and he tends to make her uncomfortable. With the story flipping back and forth we learn of another disappearance of a girl and Felicity's current 'need' to uncover the truth. I found this a little slow going at the beginning and wondered if the heatwave was ever going to appear to be a part of the story. However, it does pick up and there are many twists and turn, some more obvious than others.

The Heatwave is another cracker of a book by Katerina Diamond, although a slow burner, it soon picks up pace and leaves you reeling…. Felicity hasn’t been back to her hometown in 16 years but when she hears a girl has gone missing, she knows she must return and face her demons!

The story is told twofold, the then from the POV of Felicity’s best friend, Jasmine and the now from the POV of Felicity. This book draws you into the lives and the tribulations of both Felicity and Jasmine back then, I was engrossed as to what would happen, with who, where, when…. Brilliantly put together, some shockers along the way but then an explosive reveal and an outstanding finale…. I was “WTF”….. I for one didn’t guess the twists that were dealt!! Thoroughly enjoyed this read.

This was a bit of a slow burner for me and I feel it took a while before I got into it. The story is told from 2 different perspectives, one character in the past and the other in the present. We learn there is something that happened in the past to link these 2 characters, and it's clear this was something traumatic, but it's quite a lot of build up before it really gets going. However once this past event is revealed the story really picks up the pace and delivers a tense and twisted ending. I really liked the final chapters but wish it hadn't taken so long to get there.

Unfortunately I didn’t ‘get’ this book, up until i was 70% of the way through I found it extremely slow. The twists and turns were also unbelievable and the ending was completely rushed. The title and synopsis was also incredibly misleading. I waited for something spectacular to happen instead of giving up on the book, as I read other rave reviews ... but this book definitely didn’t have the same effect on me as the people reviewing them.

Very much a tense read, a little bit of a slow burner for me but this just adds to the tension throughout the book !!

Felicity lives with her husband and two children in the Lake District. One morning she sees the news that a girl, Mandy, has gone missing in the town where she grew up. At that moment everything changes for Felicity and she decides she has to return to her hometown, but why ?

Around 16 years ago another girl went missing in the exact same town and in very similar circumstances. After this disappearance Felicity left her hometown and has not been back since. But Felicity knows she needs to return in order to try and save Mandy !!

This is a tense thriller that is told from two different view points. We have Felicity in the present day and Jasmin from 16 years ago. Are the two connected and how do they connect to the two missing girls ? This is a great book that will have you totally engrossed in the lives of Felicity and Jasmin !!

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

I have recently returned to this psychological thriller genre after a long break as I found it was becoming easier to spot the 'twist' before it happened. This book is very much in the tradition of these types of novels - enigmatic references to events of the past, split time frames to gradually reveal what actually happened and the 'twist you won't see coming', but probably will. I passed a happy few hours reading this in my garden but once it was finished I don't remember much about it. It's a good standard within the genre, but not outstanding.

I love katerina diamond so safe to say when this popped up on netgalley I jumped at it! Her previous books (see below for reviews) feature detectives miles and grey but Heatwave is her first stand alone book.
It begins with Felicity watching the news about a missing girl in her home town of sidmouth in Devon. Felicity immediately packs her bags and leaves her husband and children to go back to Sidmouth convinced that this girls disappearence is connected to her past. The story then splits between current day and the past as told by felicity’s best friend at the time, Jasmine . This is a fast paced book with great short chapters, lots of twists and kept me guessing til the end (although my suspicions were partly right I didn’t guess all the twists!). Thanks for the advanced copy #heatwave #katerinadiamond #thriller #bookreview #bookstagram

One summer. One stranger. One killer…
Two bad things happened that summer:
A stranger arrived. And the first girl disappeared.

A fantastic adventure in reading. A superb thriller with more twists than a rollercoaster. I changed my mind about who did the crime more times than I care to admit. I always thought I was good at these types of things, how wrong was I haha.

A brilliant tale of love, jealousy, betrayal and revenge full of twists and turns and intrigue which had me on the edge of my seat.

Highly recommend 5 stars

A girl disappears without a trace and some lives are forever changed and it takes another girl’s disappearance years later to unravel the spool of mystery surrounding it.

The disappearances that are seemingly unrelated are inextricably interconnected.

The story is completely plot driven and that shows as the characters are poorly developed, in fact their actions conflict repeatedly with their intentions both supposed and actual.

I get it that the protagonist is a teenager but her characterization was extremely juvenile, irresponsible and unbelievable.

The repeated references to the secret that our protagonist knows and we do not was highly irritating after a point rather than interesting as I’m sure the author would have initially intended.

Initially I was quite confused as to who our protagonist is but midway the author gives a huge hint that kind of lets you assume half the history.

Also, the real mystery for me was the title here, like how is it actually relevant to the story and apart from the few times the author repeats the title a few times to stress on how hot it was there was no connection that I could think of.

A very basic mystery story and easy to read.

Will be posting the review on my IG @thetravellerofbooks in a couple of days

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Brilliant. This is an edge of the seat read, Felicity returns home after 16 years to try and find a missing girl. There are so many twists and turns and shocks. Really well written with great strong characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Heatwave starts out with the news reporting of a missing girl which makes Felicity drop everything and run back to the place she fled many years before. The question is why did she flee all those years before. Eventually you will find that out. For a large portion of the story it was a slow burn between the past and present. Then the story hits a point of no stopping until you finish. The intensity of the twist is mind blowing! I really liked that I didn’t see it coming and I liked how it played out. Stick with this one because the outcome is well worth it. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC!!

I didn't hate this book, but I don't feel like it did a great deal for me. It had a great ending, but the journey to the ending was just a bit average for me. Not my favourite book of Katerinas

Why does a married woman with two children suddenly feel compelled to go to Sidmouth in Devon? This is the start of a compelling mystery that takes us back in time to a summer heat wave and two teenage girls both with problems. There is a mysterious house guest at Jasmine’s home that her friend Felicity is also interested in. Child abuse, missing girls and a murder in the community are the backdrops to this story. We shift between that summer to the present day when one of those girls comes back to try and save a new missing teenager. She identifies herself as Felicity but it is obvious that this is Jasmine and she finally ends the mysterious goings on by facing her mother to gain the answers she and the town need.
This is an amazing read and you need to go back and forth to work it all out. This is the best crime novel I have read this year and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys crime novels and also to those who enjoy family stories with a mysterious element.

This is a story set in Sidmouth, Devon and told in two different time scales, then and now.

Sixteen years ago, a girl disappeared, and Felicity ran away from home. She's been running from her past ever since, living a quiet life in the Lake District. That is, until she hears of another girl disappearing. Felicity knows that she could be the only one who can solve these cases so she drops everything and returns to Devon.

This book has lots of twists but the end seemed to be rushed to tie everything up and this book didn't grab me like the authors other books. I found it quite slow going and there was just too many unbelievable happenings.

For me it lacked the heart pounding thriller aspect that I like about this genre. All in all I liked it but didn't love it.

I loved this book so much that I devoured it in a matter of days and stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it!
It’s a really gripping page-turner with some fabulous twists that had me gasping out loud.
A must-read for who-dunnit fans.
I’ll definitely be looking up more books by this author.

History is repeating, Felicity comes home after 16 years and another girl is missing. Felicity has to face the truth.
Shocking and twisted. Dark who-dunnit thriller.
Must read summer novel.