Jar of hearts

Jar of hearts

Jennifer Hillier

Book - 2018

"This is story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years . . . When she was sixteen years old, Angela Wong--one of the most popular girls in school--disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, now an executive and rising star at her Seattle pharmaceutical company, was involved in any way. Certainly not Kaiser Brody, who was close with both girls back in high school. But fourteen years later, Angela Wong's remains are discovered in the woods near Geo's childhood home. And Kaiser--now a detective with Seattle PD--finally learns the truth: Angela was a victim of Calvin James. The same Calvin Jame...s who murdered at least three other women. To the authorities, Calvin is a serial killer. But to Geo, he's something else entirely. Back in high school, Calvin was Geo's first love. Turbulent and often volatile, their relationship bordered on obsession from the moment they met right up until the night Angela was killed. For fourteen years, Geo knew what happened to Angela and told no one. For fourteen years, she carried the secret of Angela's death until Geo was arrested and sent to prison. While everyone thinks they finally know the truth, there are dark secrets buried deep. And what happened that fateful night is more complex and more chilling than anyone really knows. Now the obsessive past catches up with the deadly present when new bodies begin to turn up, killed in the exact same manner as Angela Wong. How far will someone go to bury her secrets and hide her grief? How long can you get away with a lie? How long can you live with it?"--

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Subjects
Missing persons > Fiction.
Murder > Fiction.
Serial murderers > Fiction.
Cold cases (Criminal investigation) > Fiction.
Seattle (Wash.) > Fiction.
Detective and mystery fiction.
Thrillers (Fiction)
Novels.
Suspense fiction.
Genres
Detective and mystery fiction
Thrillers (Fiction)
Novels
Suspense fiction
Published
New York : Minotaur Books 2018.
Language
English
Main Author
Jennifer Hillier (author)
Edition
First U.S. edition
Physical Description
311 pages ; 25 cm
ISBN
9781250154194
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

There is a dynamite thriller-horror plot pulsing through these pages, but it's forced to share time with a less compelling coming-of-age drama. Georgina Geo Shaw, a Seattle high-school student, always the sidekick to her bestie Angela Wong, finally one-ups her friend by catching the eye of hunky, dangerous dropout Calvin James. We know from the novel's opening set in a courtroom 14 years after the drunken night when Angela disappeared that something went very bad indeed after Calvin slouched into the high-schoolers' lives. Now known as the Sweetbay Strangler, Calvin is on trial for murder, and Geo's testimony may implicate her as well. Moving back and forward in time, Hillier parcels out, ever so slowly, the gory details of what took place on that life-changing night, building tension as the bodies start piling up in the present. Though slowed by backstory-establishing flashbacks to Geo and Angela's frenemy relationship in high school (and the role of third-wheel, cop-to-be Kaiser), the novel really takes off when Hillier gets down to the grisly stuff. When wielding sharp or, even worse, slightly dull objects, Hillier has a Chelsea Cain-like ability to horrify her readers in a way that feels agonizingly real.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

High school cheerleader Georgina "Geo" Shaw, the heroine of this engrossing psychological thriller from Hillier (Wonderland), never dreamed that falling for charismatic older dropout Calvin James would dramatically change the trajectory of her life, much less cause others to lose theirs. But now, 14 years after the drunken night when her BFF, Angela Wong, disappeared, the stoic Geo waits in a Seattle courtroom to testify at the murder trial of her high school love-who is better known of late as the Sweetbay Strangler. And things are about to get much worse. Hillier skillfully maintains the suspense through well-timed extended flashbacks and plenty of shocking, if sometimes improbable, twists. She's less successful in creating convincing characters; Geo's unhappily platonic high school bud turned Seattle PD detective Kaiser Brody functions as little more than a plot facilitator. Despite these issues, there's no denying her page-turner's grab-you-by-the-throat power. 75,000-copy announced first printing. Author tour. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Georgina "Geo" Shaw is a successful businesswoman and engaged to a wealthy CEO, but a secret from her past returns with a vengeance when she's arrested and jailed for being an accessory to the murder of her best friend from high school. Geo's ex-boyfriend, a serial killer known as the Sweetbay Strangler, killed Angela Wong, and Geo's role in helping to cover it up and keeping the secret for 14 years gets her up to five years in prison. Hillier's (The Butcher; Freak) concise and original thriller opens with the end of Geo's trial and the start of her jail term. As details are revealed about the original crime, new murders begin. The story lines are intertwined between past and present, and with little foreshadowing, readers are taken on a journey in real time with the characters. By alternating narrative perspectives between Geo and Kaiser Brody, a former friend-turned-cop, Hillier builds sympathy and compassion for the highly flawed Geo. VERDICT With one mystery already solved before the start of the narrative and with much of the story set in prison, this psychological thriller is unlike any other. Enthralled readers will be rooting for Geo in the end. [See Prepub 12/11/17.]-Natalie Browning, Longwood Univ. Lib., Farmville, VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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