Member Reviews
I have been a big fan of Julia Heaberlin's previous books. All really well written thrillers with great characters. This was also a good book but not my favorite of hers. I'm just not a huge fan of the paranormal aspects of this one and had a hard time getting past that part of the story. So it's me not you Julia Heaberlin! Looking forward to your next book. I will definitely keep reading!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this ARC.
I love Julia Heaberlin’s talent and creativity; however, Night Will Find You was not a good fit for this reader. Neither the astrophysicist/possible psychic character nor the paranormal aspects appealed to me. It may, of course , be a big hit for different readers who enjoy those features. Great mystery writing nonetheless.
An engrossing mystery wrapped around a fascinating central character in Vivvy Boucher, a 28-year-old astrophysicist but also a possible psychic who works together with a childhood friend, now policeman, on the case of 3-year-old who went missing and her incarcerated mother. The writer did a great job of featuring several likely suspects and keeping secrets under wraps so I was ever quite sure where the plot was going. An added subplot involving a conspiracy theorist was not my cup of tea but it did add to the tension as Vivvy was suddenly thrust into a media spotlight she did not want or anticipate. All around, a great addition to Heaberlin's continuing output of outstanding work.
What can I say, Julia did it again! I love the use of the paranormal and science to form this character! It’s truly what makes the book. Thank you for writing the perfect book about Texas!
There are several authors who write crime/thriller books set in the part of Texas that I live in (Attica Locke, Joe Landsdale spring to mind) and there is something so special about reading a book that has your colloquialisms and describes the landscape so accurately.
When a fellow bookseller mentioned that there was a local author who had a new thriller coming out, I was so excited to have the chance to compare it to those other favored authors. Julia Heaberlin stands out in the quality of writing. Sometimes genre fiction is so fast-paced that it loses the beauty in prose but this manages to thread that needle quite successfully.
Night Will Find You is the story of Vivvy Bouchet who long-ago made an other-worldly prediction and has since moved into a quite life of science. When the boy whose life was saved as a result of her prediction reaches back out with a request to assist in a cold case, she reluctantly agrees and is dragged back into a world she has tried to leave behind her.
Full of atmosphere and mystery, Night Will Find You is sure to please any readers of crime, mystery, and thriller novels.
I threw my hands up on this one not too far in. Everything was flat for me. I wasn't interested in the characters, the circumstances, or anything. I normally love Julia Heaberlin, so this was unusual for me, but this wasn't the book for me.
Vivvy Bouchet is an astrophysicist with a psychic gift. She's hired by the police to solve cold cases, including finding two missing girls. She gets involved in a conspiracy theory or two in this book, too. But one case hits close to home and threatens Vivvy's career, family and even her life. The stakes are high as she unravels the clues and learns more about herself.
This psychological thriller is exciting. It kept me guessing almost to the very end. I didn't like the ending so much. But the beginning and middle kept me reading long into the night.
I must say, while this is not my favorite Julia Heaberlin book it has solidified her position as one of my favorite mystery writers. Heaberlin has such a fun and unique style that makes her mysteries a reading experience like no other. I would rank her talents up there with Ruth Ware or Brynn Greenwood. She creates a unique environment in which her writing style and characters thrive (or don’t, if that’s the point).
Heaberlin writes mystery in the way of leaving breadcrumbs throughout, but only at very strategic points and sometimes she leaves you clues that you don’t know are clues. Only at the end do you truly find everything out and only then do you realize that there were things you read but didn’t register as important, or things she completely left out that you do not see coming at all. She is a master of, “look over here at this hand while i do something else with this hand.” This book was just like that. And that’s what makes this even better because the main character is attempting to solve a cold case. We aren’t experiencing the case as it unfolds, and we aren’t even being given too many hints either. Instead we are forced to rely on a woman who may be a medium (of sorts) or may just have some sort of brain cancer and hallucinates things…. Who can say? But I will say that if you are a fan of psychological mysteries, cold case files, and unreliable narrators this book will scratch that itch.
I loved We Are All the Same in the Dark, so I was very excited to get my hands on an ARC of Night Will Find You. Once again, Julia Heaberlin did not disappoint! In the age of true crime podcasts, I loved the premise from the very beginning! Heaberlin has some of the most exceptional character development as of late, and Vivvy Bouchet was the perfect heroine to this thriller. A great read for 2023!!
Simply amazing. This book was the perfect blend of science, mystery and the paranormal. I don't normally go for books with "psychics" but I made an exception for this one because the MC, Vivvy Bouchet is an astrophysicist, my personal obsession. Blending mystery, drama and science made this an unputdownable read for me. As with any books I rate four or above, I went out and bought a copy to support the author.
I thought this was a really good thriller! It had a slow build, but it still kept my attention!
I loved the characters and their growth!
The atmosphere of this book was par none.
Highly recommend if you're looking for a thriller!
Texas!! Fort Worth, even!! As a Fort Worthian, I found this aspect of the book a lot of fun. The paranormal bits were nice, and the slight romance bits were nice. A very interesting read.
A solid psychological mystery that builds slowly (sometimes too slowly) but ended well. The character of Vivvy Bouchet was intriguing - an astrophysicist with the gift of "second sight" helps a friend that is a police officer with a cold missing persons case - a five year-old girl named Lizzie Solomon that disappeared from her own house. Her mother is now imprisoned for her death - even though no body was recovered. Vivvy is working with police officer Jesse Sharp - who frightens her, has unknown secrets, and of course, she is attracted to. Vivvy's mom has just passed away, and may have a connection to the case, and her sister, Brig, is married to the policeman that Vivvy loved as a teenager, and saved his life through one of her visions. How's that for family drama? I am hoping that we might see more of Vivvy in a future book. Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy.
I have to give Night Will Find You all the stars for the simple reason that once I started reading it I couldn't stop. There are no unimportant characters or pieces of information and the story moves steadily towards the satisfying conclusion. Fans of mystery thrillers should not miss it. I will be reading everything from Julia Heaberlin.
From my blog: Always With a Book
This is the first book I’ve read by Julia Heaberlin, though I do have one or two of her other books sitting on my shelf. I’ve been meaning to read her for some time now, so I was thrilled when the publisher reached out to me about this latest book…and I really enjoyed it!
This was such an atmospheric read and while it was a bit of a slow-burn, I found myself completely captivated by how unique the premise was. An astrophysicist with psychic abilities is asked by the local cops to help solve a cold case. I love thrillers that involve cold cases, so I was immediately pulled in with this aspect, and while I don’t always love the whole psychic storylines, I have to say it played out so well here. The addition of the conspiracy theorist added another layer that really made for an interesting story and I found myself really wondering just where things would end up.
This book had all the elements I love in a thriller – it was creepy, full of suspense and has just the right amount of twists and turns, all quite surprising I might all, to keep me completely engaged. I really enjoyed this one and look forward to picking up another book by this author soon!
Bursting at the seams with quality, reading Night Will Find You is a memorable, but overwhelming experience, as Julia Heaberlin seems to have deployed every literary arsenal imaginable into this novel: lyrical writing, flawed characters, haunting atmosphere, pulpy crime thriller, and even angsty romance. Even though there are moments where the narrative doesn't quite find the balance among its genre-converging elements, overall I was still won over by its ambition and craftsmanship.
This is possibly the most 'film noir'-ish story I've read in recent time. The characters are steeped in cynicism and gloom, complimenting the constant sense of dread throughout. The pivotal 'crime solving using ghostly visions' plot has me hooked, although in retrospect the answers to its mysteries are quite basic and underwhelming, and the supernatural element doesn't seem as relevant. Additionally, one can argue the romance subplot is an afterthought, not as firmly embedded as the author might've hoped.
I may not name Night Will Find You as my favorite book of the year, however it definitely stands out from the more cookie-cutter entries; I enjoyed its unyielding ferocity, and I was intrigued to see how it tie its array of ideas together (a scientist who can see visions, an unsolved kidnapping, tumultuous family relationships, Twitter war with far-right persona, to name a few).
Night Will Find You was a great book! I loved it! Julia writes an amazing mystery filled with so many twists and turns and told kind of in a different way. I loved it!! I highly recommend this book!!
Vivvy walks with a limp. When she was a child she saved the boy she loves from the “Blue Horse”, a vision she had seen. Mike was saved and went on to marry Vivvy’s pretty sister Brigid, and they have a loving son, Will. And Livvy still limps. Her visions still haunt her, and after she returns home to bury her mother, she is asked to look into the disappearance of a girl in her hometown.
This revelation immediately catches the attention of a blabbermouth psychopath podcaster, Bubba Guns, who relentlessly hounds Vivvy. When she does agree to appear on his show, he mutilates her reputation.
But she can’t stop now, she’s seen enough to pique her interest. Her brother-in-law Mike, another detective, Sharp, and Vivvy race against the clock and the constant hounding of Bubba to unravel the mystery, but this is a small town. Not all mysteries should be solved. Vivvy doesn’t need to be psychic to know her life is in danger. Fast-paced to the very end with characters we actually can relate to, Julia Heaberlin does it again- she stabs me in the heart with her plots.
Thanks to Flatiron Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date was June 20, 2023.
I was pretty sure from the premise and how this book started, that this book was going to be a solid 4 star book for me. Unfortunately, the book kind of changed from the way it started. I wish it had stayed more with the psychic helping the police find a missing girl story and not veered off on other tangents. I still really enjoyed it and will read this author again.
My decision fatigue is taking me into new reading territory this year, which has been great because I’m not overthinking my next book and it has pushed me to read different types of stories. This week’s unanticipated read was a suspenseful mystery tinged with the paranormal called Night Will Find You by Julia Heaberlin. The paranormal elements I craved were not as prevalent, but I found a way to enjoy chasing down clues with an unyielding scientist guided by ghosts both old and new.
Vivvy Bouchet is back in her Texas hometown to bury her mother and not get involved with an infamous cold case. Vivvy is already stretched thin with a funeral, a disintegrating relationship with her sister, and a boss breathing down her neck about the expectations from their grant. But she is weak when it comes to Mike, her childhood friend, who begs Vivvy to use her psychic abilities and find clues in a missing child’s case. Three-year-old Lizzie Solomon disappeared from her house over a decade ago, and the mayor wants it closed to help his re-election. Unfortunately for Vivvy, her one favor for Mike creates even more difficulties when she’s paired with cop Jesse Sharp. He is not pleased that a psychic is on the case, but as much as Vivvy wants to remove herself from the narrative, she cannot ignore the ghostly visitations that urge her forward.
For a book that features a psychic medium, the paranormal elements in this story are subdued. The story would be more interesting if the paranormal was a driving force in the case, and Vivvy would be a more dynamic character who juggled the contradictions of science and the mystic. Instead of creating mystical leads and visions to push Vivvy forward, Night Will Find You blurs the lines between her gifts and her ability to get answers by instigating everyone involved in the case. I have no doubt that Vivvy can see ghosts or catch glimpses of their messages, but Haeberlin creates uncertainty about whether or not Vivvy’s psychic skills are helping her uncover the mystery. Vivvy is great at stirring the pot with the insights she gleans, but she also has a bullish nature that helps her get information. I was expecting a mystery that leaned more heavily on the spooky, but I appreciate the ways Haeberlin uses the paranormal elements to muddle reality.
The strongest element of this story is our protagonist Vivvy Bouchet. The mystery is interesting for the most part, but I was tracking the psychic scientist with a lot of baggage. Her mother recently passed, she’s got unresolved issues with her childhood friend, she gets dragged into a case with an intense Texas cop, and a conspiracy podcaster is bringing her unconventional childhood into the spotlight. At times, the story seems more focused on Vivvy working through her stuff than it does on the mystery, but this was fine with me because I was more interested in learning what she was going to do next anyway.
While Vivvy tries to solve the case, she also uncovers information from Sharp about another missing girl’s case. This becomes a subplot meant to keep Vivvy wary of the cop’s true nature, but I found it way more intriguing than the main case. Sharp became the mystery I wanted to unravel the most, and his ghosts kept popping up throughout the book and distracting me from the main task at hand. I personally wanted to learn more about Sharp because Vivvy already has an idea of what happened in the original cold case and is only trying to uncover the “how,” but Sharp’s mystery is a huge unknown that had a lot of undiscovered terrain.
The ghosts are few and far in between the pages of Night Will Find You, but if you like thrillers, you will get wrapped up in the many mysterious layers of Vivvy Bouchet’s life.
Rating: Night Will Find You - 7.0/10
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The thoughts on this story are my own.