Personally this book was the best in the series for me. The threats, harassment and stalking of Gwen & her family just never lets up. People will NEVER let her or her family have a single moment of peace regardless of the fact she was cleared of any wrongdoing in her serial killer (ex) husbands crimes. No one cares that she has young children who are extremely vulnerable. Hell, even they get thrown into the mix receiving their own death threats and more :( With social media and the internet even moving to another country wouldn't help them. Honestly I can't help but feel both overwhelmed and just plain exhausted over all they have to deal with.
In the opening of the book I had no idea where it was going and man IT STARTED WITH A BANG! Two twin girls are found drowned in the back of a car at the bottom of a lake. I sure as heck did not see all the twists, turns and plot line connections that transpired coming. I really enjoyed the entirety of the book and even the few and new chapter POV's from Kez really helped give an alternate perspective and shed light on details without them having to be rehashed. Once again Gwen's kids are unwillingly dragged into the mess and it's honestly beyond cruel how people justify their actions, in this case in reference to something that happens with her son Connor. [While my first thought in the climax was the connection to the Saw franchise, I think RC did a crazy awesome job of making the story her own and putting her own spin on the concept. I'm also completely entranced by how she connected this vigilante serial killer with the woman from the beginning who killed her children. It was not until the end that I realized why and how he was able to manipulate her as he did. Simple yet mind blowing! I can't fathom this idea of giving people two impossible choices to help 'test' them. Regardless of their guilt or not, how is him doing what he did, not as bad or worse. There's also no right option. It wasn't hard to guess he was using his guilt over killing his own sister to justify his actions. No matter what the person chooses, he's already decided their fate and so hearing him try to substantiate himself was maddening. I'm glad he ended things as he did because hot damn for a second there I really thought he'd follow through with hurting Kez and more importantly her baby. Its sad because even given all that transpired Gwen still wanted and was willing to help this kid. Unfortunately I think she is learning that there is no changing people's minds or helping them when they are this far gone. Even Kez experiencing all the racism she did blew my mind. Guess that's my white privilege speaking but it was really eye opening and sad. (hide spoiler)] This was really a great intense read that not only left me guessing but left had me on the edge of my seat throughout. I wish the author a speedy recovery with her health troubles and hopefully many more books in the series in the future. This was an excellent addition to the series and I'll be waiting and ready for more!

Heartbreak Bay is a character driven story that moves at a fast pace. Caine excels at setting a tone of malice that carries throughout with imminent danger always lurking around the next corner. I swear I could hear my heart bound as this story played out. I especially loved learning more about Kez in this one as readers get a look at what makes her tick. She and Gwen put their lives on the line to protect loved ones and their heart, grit, and drive is a force to be reckoned with. This story is action-packed from cover to cover with an explosive block-buster ending that might be a bit unbelievable IF it was anyone else. But in this case, the author has clearly done her research and also previously established these characters as super heroes.

Heartbreak Bay is the 5th book in the Stillhouse Lake series and my favourite.

The book starts out with a bang and never lets go

Kezia is called to the scene of a car in a pond with 2 little girls strapped in . She immediately calls her friend Gwen for support.

Gwen, Sam and the kids are in the new house hoping for a new start. They are soon all realizing that they can never escape from their past and are once again in danger.

The pages fly by as Gwen , Kezia and Sam try desperately to solve who the murderer is and how does it tie into Gwen's past.

I hated the book to the end , it was that good.

My wishes and prayers go out to Rachel Caine who notes that she is fighting cancer . You have entertained so many readers with so many of your stories and I thank you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the privilege of reading Heartbreak Bay. I will get my copy on March 9th to add to my collection.

Heartbreak Bay – Rachel Caine

Gwen Proctor, along with her significant other Sam Cade and their two children, have recently moved into a sleepy small town in Tennessee, in attempts to gain some peace from the past. Gwen, formerly known as Gina Royal is a private investigator with a troubled past – her ex-husband Melvin Royal was discovered to be a prolific serial killer, before Gwen shot him dead, and Gwen faced significant scrutiny regarding her potential involvement in his killings. While absolved of all guilt in the legal system, there are those that believe she is culpable, and continually harass her family.

Kezia Claremont, a good friend of Gwen, and a detective with the Norton, Tennessee PD, catches an early AM homicide – two small children are found drowned inside of a vehicle found in a lake. As Kezia has recently learned she’s expecting her first child, the case hits her hard, so she reaches out to Gwen for support.

As both women investigate the murders, the search turns to the missing mother, Sheryl Lansdowne. With Gwen helping in the background, as the TBI takes over the case, she and Kezia soon discover that Sheryl has had many aliases – each time leaving death in her wake. But who is she really, and where is she now?

Meanwhile the torment begins to ramp up again for Gwen and her family – from messages on doors and vandals, to vindictive flyers being posted, and threats being made against them as things escalate. All too soon, it appears that Gwen has attracted a killer, determined to make her pay for the perceived sins of her past.

As both situations continue to escalate, Gwen and Kezia find themselves united in the search for a killer, who lures them to his lair, determined to stop them both.

Told from the perspectives of Gwen, Kezia & Sam, this was an edge-of-your-seat read for me, and one that I greatly enjoyed. I was unaware that it was part of a series, which I will definitely catch up with in the days to come.

I also want to send good wishes, love and light to the author, Rachel Caine, who confides a cancer diagnosis, and its uncertainty, with her readers in an ‘Author’s Note’, bringing even more meaning to the title of this novel. Yes, 2020 has been a strange journey, indeed…I know I speak for all your readers when I say you’ll be in my thoughts and prayers.

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

Awww, this one is a hard one. I have loved this series as well as all of Rachel Caine's series and am devastated to hear that she has entered hospice care. This is another fantastic installment to this series. Sitting on the edge of my seat and so glad I was smart enough to start it early enough in the day that only my housework suffered instead of my sleep.

Man, can Rachel Caine write well. We are five books in to the Stillhouse Lake series and I'm still invested.

Gwen, Sam and the kids have moved to Knoxville to hopefully live a more normal life. In the middle of the night, Gwen gets a call from Kezia about a case that is deeply affecting her. She asks Gwen to look into a few things for her as she fears TBI will take the case from her. And away we go . . .

Much of the story is told from Kezia's POV and it was nice getting to know this character better. The situation that starts off the story is the death of two little girls. They were found strapped in their carseats in a vehicle submerged in a murky pond. The mother is missing and it is unknown whether she was abducted herself or on the run after killing her children.

Gwen and Kezia find information that illustrates that the mother has a checkered past, but it also becomes clear that someone else is involved. Now that Gwen has been working the case, the UNSUB's attention has begun to focus on her and her life with Melvin Royal. Melvin was her husband and a serial killer. Most of the public believe that Gwen knew and participated in Melvin's killings and she is stalked, hunted, etc. over that supposition.

It tracks with the storyline that the UNSUB would get focused on Gwen. There are several "tells" throughout the story, but it isn't clear how they will tie in. Caine keeps the tension and suspense ramping up to a doozy of a conclusion.

Two things keep me from giving this book a 5* - the tells and the pinnacle of the story. I do not want to give away any spoilers, so will not say much more then it didn't work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC!

The fifth book in the Stillhouse Lake series, this could be the best of the series. I loved the story, the suspense, the drama, the characters. It's the real deal.

Once again all the primary characters are present and center stage. Once again, Gwen Proctor, former wife of serial killer Melvin Royal, finds herself in the middle of a hate campaign against her and her family. This time, however, it seems connected to a spate of killings. It all starts when two one-year olds are found in their car seats drowned in their mother's car in an isolated lake. Did their mother kill them? Was she abducted? Is there something more sinister going on?

What makes Caine's gripping, twisting thriller so good is the characters its heart. This time she varies the perspective, writing different chapters from the viewpoint of each of the three main characters: Gwen, her common-law husband, Sam, and her detective friend Kezia. The mystery kept me engrossed to the very end. Hopefully, this won't be the last book in the series. But the afterword suggests it might be. I'm sending prayers and thoughts to the author to beat the cancer that she is battling.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for giving me early access to this book in return for an honest review.

From the first sentence I found myself drawn into this complex mystery. Gwen Proctor has been through hell and back. While she and her family are making great strides, events from the past continue to haunt them. Gwen is fierce mother with a fine tuned gut instinct. who will fight to protect her family. This time the mystery begins with an unbelievable murder case that her best friend Kezia is working. As readers have come to expect from the Stillhouse Lake series, Heartbreak Bay (book 5 in the series) takes many horrifying twists and turns and keeps the reader turning pages to find out what will happen next. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Gripping heart-pumping suspense, blood and gore, touching family drama, loyal friendships, hard to put down!

If you like books that are like the above, you will love this book.

Rachel Caine is a fabulous writer...she sketches the characters so well! I felt so sorry for Gwen and her family and actually hope that in future instalments of the series she will be warriors for other people's troubles and not have to go through so much hardship personally again! (I hope Ms Caine will write again. I wish her all the very best in her treatment.)

The story is told in the first person by three people – Gwen, Sam and Kezia. I enjoy first person narratives.

I found the ending quite unsatisfactory though. It seemed a bit abrupt and I still wonder why the culprit did what he did.

Content: Some cursing.

This is my honest opinion based on the review copy received from Thomas Mercer via Netgalley.

Another amazing addition to the Stillhouse Lake series. Here we find not only the family but also the perspective of Sam and Kaz. This new mystery is a doozy and left me wondering how all the twists and turns would add up - even if I knew the who's and what's a little early. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and sliding back in to Gwen's world with Lanny and Connor.

This author does such a good job of really capturing both the ugly horrible part of life (and the internet and the horror or trolls) but also the little joys and wonders that are just life and raising kids and being in a relationship. I absolutely love this series.

I knew as soon as I saw this book available for review on Netgalley I needed it. I loooove this series so much. Shortly after approval, I saw the author’s post regarding her health issues and was heartbroken.
I wanted to read this book in one sitting, but I wanted to draw it out and make it last and truly give it the attention and appreciation it and she both deserve. It truly was a struggle as I did not want to put it down.
As always, Gwen’s story sucks you in and makes you feel every range of emotion as she does. You feel her strength, her fear, her doubts, but most importantly her love for her children and Sam.
You can see just how strong of a woman Gwen is and how she will go to any lengths to protect her family.
I will say, this book started out on a very hard note. It was heart wrenching and soul crushing and made you want to cry. That event sets a series of other events into motion and everything falls into place like dominoes.
As always, the author keeps you guessing til the end and engrossed in the story start to finish. I never find myself bored or feeling like anything is drawn out.
She truly is an amazing author. Whether this is the end of Gwen’s story or not, I feel as if she has did her justice through these stories. She’s expertly told her story and made her relatable and an example of a mom who will go to any lengths for her children.
I hope this isn’t the end for Gwen, not just because I love the series, but because I want to wish Caine a very heartfelt and sincere wish that she gets better and can kick ass and take names like Gwen would do.

This was a good follow up to the other books in Still House Lake series, although the first one is still my favorite. These characters and psychological forming of this story is phenomenal! I canny get enough and I never know while flipping pages what I may find. They are meticulously puzzling and I’m here for it!!!

If this is to be the last in the series (and I fervently hope not) then what a story to end on. From the moment I picked this up I was desperate to find out exactly how the pieces fit together, and hoping against hope that things would not be too bleak for Gwen.
The story begins with a mother driving her two baby girls into a lake. We don’t know why, and we don’t know what happens to her after. What we quickly learn is that this is, in some way, linked to Gwen.
Gwen and Sam are starting the book in a relatively happy place. He officially adopts the kids, they’re settling into their new home and they seem to be moving forward after the events of the last few years. But for some reason the internet trolls are back out. Someone is determined that Gwen will pay for her past and engineers some increasingly dangerous scenarios in order to force her to confess to what they believe.
The pace of this is quite relentless once the pieces start shifting into place. It takes a little while for the various scenarios to start drawing together, but once they do it really is a white-knuckle ride.
With danger at seemingly every corner, not everyone makes this. On more than one occasion I feared reading on just in case someone I’d grown to like as a character was cut down. I was kicking myself at not fully appreciating one or two key moments at the time, but I was so desperate to find out how things would end that I could overlook this slight feeling of manipulation. For a series featuring a serial killer we’ve become used to some graphic violence, but this really forced me to confront some quite unpalatable moments. The need to question ourselves and our decisions runs throughout, and I was pleased that some of our characters acted with the integrity I expected of them in spite of monumental pressure.
I’m so excited to have been given the chance to review this prior to its publication, and grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity. I’m sincerely hoping Rachel Caine will succeed in her personal battle and be able to offer more stories about these characters as I don’t feel quite ready to give up on them yet.

Heartbreak Bay is the 4th book in the series, and it does not disappoint! Often books loose their edge after sticking to the same story background for more than a couple of installations, but Caine has kept the edgy anticipation that she does so well. I really liked how this time Kezia got much more story time, introducing her as a solid character and maybe setting up for a spin off series. A great read, can’t wait for the next one,

One of Rachel Caine's best in this series. Really exciting and great twists. Although I figured out who it was early on, it did not diminish the gripping narrative. It was upsetting and violent, so this is not a novel for the faint of heart.

This is the first Rachel Caine book I've read but certainly won't not my last! Gwen has a backstory and it's a fascinating one, one that makes me want to go back and ready this series from the beginning. Even though I missed out on the others, this book works really well as a stand alone novel. This book is exciting, suspenseful, and at times gory, with likeable characters. I recommend it to anyone who like this genre.

Sadly, the author is currently battling cancer, so if we get another book in this series, it will likely be a while. She's a talented writer and I am so excited to have discovered her via NetGalley.

This is book 5 in the Stillhouse Lake series. It could be read as a stand alone but I would recommend
reading these in order as there are relationships which develop through the books, and some of the extreme caution that Gwen and family exhibit are justified by their history.

This was a fast paced book told mainly from the point of view of Gwen, Sam and Kezia. I enjoyed the strong friendship that has developed between Gwen and Kezia. The family is living near Knoxville now and and getting used to their new home. Kezia calls Gwen help at a particularly horrid crime scene. Two little girls are found drowned in a car, with the mother nowhere to be found.

In the course of investigating, Gwen unwittingly draws the attention of someone who recognizes her from her old life. He begins a campaign of harassment against her and her family. She is a race to catch this person before they destroy what matters most, her family.

Very quick and well written book which comes to a bit of an unexpected conclusion. I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published in March. If you like suspense it is well worth your time.

I’m one of those people who reads the entire book, and when I say entire, I mean The. Entire. Book. I love perusing the opening reviews (I always get a kick when I see another author I like endorsing a book), I always check out the list of works the author has already published (just in case I’ve already read something by them, OR, I’ve read something by them before and didn’t realize it), and my heart will sometimes melt a little when reading a really sweet dedication. And I don’t stop once I’ve finished the book: I like to read through any Book Club question/suggestions, and then I have to read through the Acknowledgements. It’s always interesting for me to see who the author wants to thank for helping them find the time, the words, even the inspiration to finish their books.

Unfortunately, it was in the Acknowledgements where I just found out some really devastating news about the author of this next book. You see, Rachel Caine, a very prolific writer, has been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Although she’s going through treatments and doesn’t seem like the type to give up, we all know cancer is an ugly disease, one that doesn’t discriminate. When I read this, I was honestly sad for a number of days and had trouble getting her out of my mind. I’ve been reading her books for the last 10 years or so, and they’ve been a gift. Now I hope she is given the gift of winning this ugly battle, and I hope she knows that all of her fans, including me, are cheering her on and sending lots of love.

Gwen has worked hard at reinventing her life—going from being the meek and timid housewife to a man who turned out (unknowingly to her) to be a serial killer. Now that her ex-husband is dead, you would think Gwen and her kids would finally be safe. Unfortunately, there are rock idols, movie stars, and—yep—serial killer groupies. And these groupies think Gwen either helped her husband on his killing sprees, or she turned him in, or both. In any case, there are plenty of freaks out there who would love to spend some time with Gwen, dead or alive. This is the 5th book in the Stillwater Lake series by Caine, and although a bit creepy and gory at times, the complicated character of Gwen is written in such a way that it’s not all that difficult to see things from her eyes. I’ve read a lot of Caine’s books, and this one is right up there.

NOTE: A special thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This is the first of this series that I have read. It is gritty and dark with two female leads, the one a police officer, moves through the story in character. The other lead, an emotionally damaged private investigater, while declaring truth within her family relationships often acts independently and exposes them to dangerous situations. The story is well written.
#HeartbreakBay#NetGalley
Reviewed by I Love to Read (Retired Librarian)

I received a copy of this in exchange for a review from NetGalley. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the two independent and strong female leads in Kez and Gwen and how awesome the inclusion of Gwen’s children was. This was a great thriller that has me guessing until the end.