I wanted to like this book, but I didn't feel the narrative was going to the point and couldn't understand why would anyone like a girl with such a character. Although I liked some parts in the beginning, I couldn't feel an attraction to the story because of the style. It wasn't the type of book for me, but I would still like to read something else from Baker in the future.

FABULOUS!!!!

After the first 100 pages I had to check whether I was actually reading a Stephen King novel. By the end though, I knew it was a J.D. novel all his own because I had been totally enthralled!

Some context: I don't personally care for Stephen Kings books. (I know, it's a reader sin to admit that!).  Initially I was worried it was going to be just like another recent King read: another very long, very dark and very dry book. But I was wonderfully proven wrong!  This book was exactly how I wish King's books could be. It was paced much better, and while it is over 600 pages long, it doesn't feel like a marathon when you're reading. 

The reader is with the main character, a boy named Jack, from his early years to his mid 40s. An epic story that involves a young boy, falling for a mysterious young girl, and a mystery that he spends his life trying to solve, trying to understand. A corrupt business always trying to thwart or kill him and a generous dash of paranormal that makes for a thrilling read.

The reader lives every moment of his life along with him. Along the way we meet all the different people that had a major impact in his life, and we learn to like, love, or hate each of them as we continue on his journey.

The detail written in all his relationships is completely engaging.  You come to truly care for these characters. And maybe most important, this book has plenty of light and love to counter the darkest parts.  A fabulously well written book that I feel excited to now add it to my "Read" book list!

*Thank you to the author, J.D. Barker and Hampton Creek Press via NetGalley for access to the digital review copy!

Well written, fast paced with thoroughly developed primary and secondary characters. Keeps you on the edge of your seat up until the very end.

Thank you Hampton Creek Press & Netgalley for the free early copy in exchange for an early review. All opinions are my own.

I finished this book this morning, and let me start by saying that the book is just as long as the title, with 775 pages. Books of this size tend to make me nervous. It’s such a huge time investment if the book is just meh (or no good at all). I loved Barker’s book The Fourth Monkey (and my goal is to finish the trilogy this year) so I decided to snag this one when I saw it available as “read now” on netgalley.

The plot immediately captured my attention. I felt some X-Men meets The Institute vibes right away, which I loved. I’ve been a fan of X-Men for ages so I was excited to be absorbed in a story that had many parallels (but not too many!). I loved the characters and that it was spread out throughout the course of their lives.

Surprisingly, the book never felt too long and it never lost my attention. The author did a fantastic job typing up all the lose ends. When I was getting close to finishing, I remember thinking “hmm but I wonder what ever happened with X” and being disappointed that I didn’t get to find out. Shortly after thinking that I got my answer.

There was one aspect of the ending that felt a little out of left field for me, while another had me wondering how the main characters didn’t see the solution sooner. Because of this at the end I didn’t give it a perfect five stars, but felt that 4.5 was well deserved for this brilliantly crafted, cross-genre, brick of a book!

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

A story reminiscent of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. It definitely doesn't stand up to these giants, but A for effort.

I loved this one! It reminded me a little of Stephen King's Firestarter.
A group of college students join in a scientific study and are injected with an experimental drug. The idea is that this would mean their future children would never need to be vaccinated. Three of the students have children at the same time; Jack, Stella and David.
Stella is the first to show some kind of ability and her parents go on the run leading to devastating events.
The story mostly follows Jack, who loses his parents at the age of 4 on August 8th. We meet him at the age of 8, on the anniversary of his parents death, this is when he meets Stella for the first time. They meet at the same place on the set date every year.
But there are people after them. People who know what they are. And one of those people is David, who has a terrifying ability of his own.
This was a pretty long book but it really doesn't feel it when reading. It kept me gripped from beginning to end. Definitely recommend.

I absolutely loved Dracul and The 4MK Trilogy so as soon as I saw She Has A Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be, I had to read it. J.D Barker's latest book is fantastic and it's hard to review it without giving too much away. It's part-thriller, part-paranormal and part-love story and spans over three decades. Jack Thatch meets Stella in a cemetery on the 8th of August when he is a child. He returns every year on that date hoping to see Stella. Jack soon becomes fixated on her and his simple life living with his Aunt Jo and helping her at Krendal's Diner, soon becomes unravelled. Thanks to NetGalley and Hampton Creek Press for my digital copy.

From the beginning of this book, I didn't want to put it down. It's a long book but it certainly didn't seem long. It's full of interesting, multi faceted characters, people that make choices, right or wrong but also full of people that are caught in something that makes them do things they would never do, under other circumstances. I think that is the scariest thing about this book, the horror of losing control of everything that you are, everything that you believe, being just a passenger inside your body, with no options but to act a certain way. 

Jack is such a likeable main character. He's an honest, hardworking, smart kid and he loves his Auntie Jo, he pines for his dead parents and relives vivid dreams about something that happened to him and them, when he was four years old. Auntie Jo says those visions are just dreams but they are so real and as time goes on, there is more and more proof that what Jack dreams really did happen. 

Auntie Jo is another character I really like. Smoking herself to death, working hard at her job as a waitress, she loves Jack and as harsh, blunt, and crude as she is, her heart is gold. Her customers, neighbors, and co-workers know that Jo is a diamond in the rough, a good person and Jo will do anything for her nephew Jack. 

Jack and Auntie Jo visit his parents graves very August 8th, the anniversary of their death. When Jack is 8 years old, he meets a beautiful, mysterious girl, Stella, who is sitting on a bench at the cemetery. From that first meeting, Jack is obsessed with Stella and can not get her out of his mind, thinking of her, drawing pictures of her, wanting to see her again. He continues to see her on that date for several years and then things get crazy, crazier than they already seem to be, with Jack's strange dreams and strange things happening around him. 
In the end, so much is connected, connected to Jack's dreams, to Stella, to the people he knows. Who can Jack trust? Why can't his heart let go of Stella? What is it that draws them together and who are the people dressed in white, who are always with Stella? 

What Jack learns is bigger than two people and there is danger and death in Jack's past and future that he sees coming, sees happening in the past, and he can't stop what is happening even as he is part of it. And, there is another child, a boy, who might be the most dangerous person of all, who wants Stella and will let nothing and nobody get in his way. 

Thank you to the author, J.D. Barker, Hampton Creek Press, and NetGalley for this ARC.

What an amazing and awesome story! I was absolutely gripped from beginning to end. I’d never read anything else by this author, but I hope there will be more. This was exciting, unpredictable, intriguing. The best thriller I’ve read in quite a while. It is a bit like a Stephen King (as some other reviewers have said), but better, in my opinion. The most discordant thing about it was the title! Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Wowsers! I absolutely loved this book. My favourite read for 2020 so far. Saying anything about the plot will give too much away, but I can tell you that it is part coming-of-age, part adventure, part fantasy, part mystery, part conspiracy, part horror and it had a pretty thrilling ending.

We follow the main character, Jack Thatch, from a geeky eight year old through into adulthood and beyond. Life throws an awful lot of manure at Jack and he with it - sometimes badly, sometimes rising to the occasion but at all times we are rooting for him, for his dogged perseverance.

This was a long book, e-books don’t have page numbers but it is around 800 or so pages long and yet it doesn’t feel anywhere near that long. You are in it for the journey and, for me, it finished too soon. This is nothing like the author’s 4MK trilogy. I was captivated, the characters were brought to life and I could not put this down. Thanks to Netgalley, Hampton Creek Press and especially J.D. Barker for my review copy. I wish I could give it more stars!

Well thankfully I started reading this during quarantine because it is a long one. This book is such a well written book with so many interesting characters. It is written mostly from the point of view from the main character, Jack, who is an orphan being raised by his aunt. Jack met a girl named Stella on August 8, while visiting his parents grave with his aunt as he did every year on the anniversary of their death. After that, every year on that date he looks for this girl. The date of August 8 becomes very significant. It’s a slightly twisted read but I definitely think it’s worth your time.

What a roller coaster ride this book was. Following Jack through his early life after his parents died in a car crash that he survived, he was brought up by his aunt Jo. Visiting his parents graves each year, on 8th August, he would become bored while Jo insisted on ‘talking’ to his mother. He wandered through the cemetery and came upon a young girl, Stella. He became besotted with her but couldn’t understand the strange people, dressed in white that accompanied her. Meanwhile, also on the 8th August each year a dead body would be found, horrifically burnt but with no damage to surrounding areas or indeed their clothes. As the years go by and Jack becomes an adult, he has many more questions than answers. Searching for those answers and following his desires could put him in terrible danger but Jack has little concern for his own safety. Without revealing any spoilers, this lengthy story created many a mystery and murder with a dose of fear in every chapter. It never became laborious and although a major part may have seemed slightly far fetched I throughly enjoyed it and was sorry when it ended. I will never look at a white vehicle in the same way again!

So many characters, so much story. I loved it!! Barker is one of my favorite writers and I will continue to read all his work. This book was long and complex but what better way to spend the quarantine?

If you liked his previous titles, you will LOVE this one. Creepy and suspenseful that will keep you reading way past your bedtime!

I just love this author he is up there with Stephen king ....
This book was different to his last 3 but I loved every word it was thrilling a love story and a mystery you had to keep reading it just pulled you along ....
I hope there will be a second book with these characters I loved them all even the bad ones and I want to know how there life carrys on and where it takes them so please a book 2 would be wonderful ....
Congrats to this author you never disappoint.

This is a hard one to review. It's definitely in a different vein than Barker's other books I've read, and it puts me in mind of the Stephen King books that I like--Elevation for one; a little Stand By Me (the movie); and Stranger Things (maybe?). Another reviewer said it's a slow burn, and I think that's true. There's something subtle to it, understated, something I can't really explain. There's no doubt about it, JD Barker is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

I was happy to see that the audiobook is on Scribd, so I listened to it there. The audiobook narrators did a superb job. The ebook is free on Kindle Unlimited too.

A big thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a copy of the ARC. All opinions are mine.

Day 16 of Lockdown. This is a genre-bending stand-alone novel by the author of the 4MK series. Mashing up Great Expectations, Stranger Things, X-Men and Stand By Me/The Body, has created a wholly original paranormal fantasy story, reminiscent of the early Stephen King books. Be warned, this is a LONG book, over twelve hours according to my Kindle, which could be considered a positive if you’re trapped at home by a global pandemic, but can feel like a bit of a challenge when your review is overdue, you can’t stop checking news updates, and the author is emailing you politely to chase it up...

Visiting his parents’ graves on the anniversary of their death with his Aunt Jo, eight year old Jack Thatch meets a mysterious girl reading a book in the cemetery, and is immediately smitten, but then she is driven away by silent guardians all dressed in white. Stella is obsessed with Great Expectations and is a horrible to Jack as her namesake in the book is, but Jack doesn’t care.
Returning often in the hope of finding her again, Jack pines for her but she doesn’t reappear until exactly a year later. Meanwhile inexplicably burned bodies have been showing up every year on the same date, leaving the police baffled. Years go by, but Jack will never give up hope, even when his passion has taken everything from him, but who is the dangerous young man locked in a room who is equally besotted with the beautiful Stella...?

I was forced to read Great Expectations for my English Lit O-level, and got a D, which for a neurotic over-achiever was a great trauma, so I never read it again. (To this day I’m crap at interpreting themes and symbolism which is why I learn so much from other people’s reviews.) Around that time Mr King would’ve been my favourite author, but it’s been a while since I read anything from him as I grew out of the horror genre. I read and loved The Fourth Monkey, and finished the trilogy but was disappointed by the last book, but this is very different.

Jack is a likeable hero, so having most of the story told from his first person past perspective was a big plus here, although it meant the parts told by Jack as omniscient third person narrator could get a tad confusing. There is a large cast of characters but I had no problem remembering who was who. While not as dark as the 4MK series, this nevertheless had some pretty gruesome scenes, and a high body count. I was rapidly sucked into the mystery of exactly what was going on at Charter and Barker does a good job of revealing just enough information and clues. There are also some great secondary characters like Jack’s best friend Dunk, and the mysterious hitman Preacher.

I was left with a few questions - like why was everything at Charter white? - and several other points that I can’t mention without spoilers, so won’t, but this doesn’t feel like the start of a series and I liked the ending. At times creepy, at others hugely emotional, this was a brilliant change of direction from an accomplished story-teller. Highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc which allowed me to give an honest review, and apologies to Mr Barker that my review is 10 days late - blame the virus!

I absolutely loved the 4MK series by J.D. Barker. I couldn’t wait to read his latest book, She has a Broken Thing where her heart should be. Long title? The book is also quite long with over 600 pages. However, I flew through the chapters kinda like I binge-watched all 5 seasons of Breaking Bad recently. There was just never a dull moment and the story was so enthralling that I never once stopped to check how many pages were left. If anything, I didn’t want it to end.

The premise is quite unique. Jack and Stella met at a cemetery when they were just kids. There was something eerily about the setting of their first meeting. I kept wondering what it would lead to. The author masterfully tells their story spanning over decades after that first meeting. These two characters very well-crafted. I also liked the fact that the support characters were also all masterfully developed hence providing readers with a wide array of villains to hate and likeable characters to root for.

This isn’t a book that I’d normally go for but it has now found a place in my list of favorites. Dark, eerie and twisty, the story and characters will definitely stay with me for quite a while. I like how J.D. Barker created these scenes and settings that allowed me to completely immerse myself into the narrative. I read the book in mid-March but I can still hear the sounds and smells of a certain diner. I also find myself looking at white cars just a bit longer than I normally would. I am not a fan of the classics but J.D. has me curious enough to read ‘ Great Expectations’. I love stories that haunt you long after you turn the last page.

I highly recommend She has a Broken Thing where her heart should be by J.D. Barker. It doesn’t matter which genres you read or don’t read. This is a well-written story that cuts across different genres and will appeal to anyone interested in a good, immersive read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early e-copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own.
I am already a fan of J. D. Barker, and I was really looking forward to reading his new book that was said to be a haunting tale of suspense. It did not disappoint! This book starts out with young Jack visiting his parents grave-site with his Aunt Jo. They visit every year on the anniversary of his parents' death, August 8. On this particular occasion he encounters a girl (Stella) of about his same age sitting on a bench and he immediately is drawn to her. Even though she is not particularly nice to him, he remains enchanted by her. He returns to the graveyard often with the hopes of seeing her again, but she doesn't appear until the following year on the exact same date, August 8. Over the years he attempts to find out who she is, and why she is guarded by people in white trench coats. This book is filled with mystery and intrigue and is heavily influenced by Great Expectations (If you have read and loved that book, you are definitely going to love this one). While life moves on and Jack gets older, he cannot get Stella out of his mind, and his search for her uncovers the unimaginable. A haunting tale of suspense, indeed!! I loved every minute of it. This is part coming of age, part mystery, part love story, and part paranormal. It is about friends, family, love, loss, and life. Barker is a master storyteller. He can pull you in like no other. He creates characters that come to life, and live on long after you turn the last page. I highly recommend this book.

First of all, Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be!

I read the 4MK trilogy, excited for days after finishing those because I enjoy the plot. (Although the final showdown and the ending were underwhelming, the final book is where things were there for us to confirm our theories so I am not too displeased with the whole series).

Therefore, when this new book was being teased, I was so quick to NetGalley and got a copy of my own. I thought it might be the same serial killing vibe, intelligently crafted, thrilling murders, but it's not. This’s a bit like your everyday high school teenager fantasy where a boy met a girl, got star-struck by destiny followed with a cheesy love story incorporated with their mysterious pasts and a heavy dose of The X-Files conspiracies.

There’s no doubt this is J.D Baker’s first science fiction novel where this writing is so flimsy and nowhere near compared to his strictly constructed ones in 4MK series. I mean, the premise is very promising but the way he portrays the main male characters is so unconvincing to the point that makes me hate him the most:
Jake’s a hopeless case of a romantic weirdo who at the age of 8, met a girl once. So traumatically “scarred” that for a whole year, this enigmatic girl, who he encountered once, ONCE, is the only thing in his mind when it’s time to mourn his parents (allegedly) deaths. The boy is only 8. Doesn’t he has more things swirl in his head than an image a girl who, in my opinion, didn’t make a good first impression at all, at least not enough to be reminded for that long in an male brain every year. I’m not saying the whole situation is impossible, I’m saying that J.D Baker makes it as if thinking about the girl was the only thing Jake does for a year.
So the only thing we will know about Jake for the first 100 pages is that he is obsessed with a girl and NOTHING ELSE, NOT when the keeper of the girl degrades him with most horrendous words that Jake has ever heard; NOT the obviously super healing strength that he has throughout his life; NOT the time that super power is put to the test when the white SUV hit him flying few meters up in the air; NOT when his BFF Ducan advises him to give up for his own sanity.
NO! Our boy is so determined! But not enough the subdue his teenager hormone with that girlfriend form work (the insignificant one who is just there to satisfy his lust) so that when she dies a few pages later he is extremely depressed that he has given up on everything (his aunt hopes and dreams of him building a good life with university education and a huge buck). This insubstantial relationship is more heartbroken than his aunt funeral. This doesn’t make sense, more so when his supernatural power is being tested AGAIN by the heroism rescuing, he still doesn’t take any notice of it. That’s right, my boy just rolls up in his blanket and booze, wounded like a stray cat, contradicts everything he has proven to be the otherwise.
Things only get better when it’s time for Jack to go off the grid and chasing a ghost or ghosts.

As for the other characters:
1. Stella is the girl. The infamous girl that everyone wants. Nothing much to say about this one. She is pretty, ruthless, deadly. She knows being with Jack makes things harder for him but just do it anyway in the name of love. We cannot blame her though that what our humans do. Actually there is nothing that I hate about her but how indecisive she is and how she “loves” Jack. Stringing him along as long as she can with her mystic rendezvous and ravishing body, and one day just stop everything with a letter. Any boys at Jack’s age at that time would be swooned over. No wonder she is so unforgettable. This “relationship” is dragged on for a little too long that I find myself flipping ahead just to get pass the parts with Jack and Stella.
2. The antagonist: the whole mission is to persuade the readers to despise them, which is, in a way, satisfactory.
3. The supporting roles are there enough which is fine. (Except for that girlfriend from work who is there to mark Jack’s downfall but not considerable enough to be given that role; the male detective who dies for no reason; his partner, who continues their investigation for over 10 years with no leads and an ambiguous ending, is just there for a close call).


As for the plot: Things only get better after 300 pages (almost half of the book) when the super natural elements are at their full releases. All the answers will be given along the way, centered by our obnoxious super stars. And, what’s with the opening, where Jack’s implied to be buried by Stella. Where is the explanation for that?

Overall, I think this would be better for trilogy or TV series where things are well-considered in every angles and not being compressed in one book with so much going on that undermine the whole story.