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angelkat556's review
4.0
This book was really good. It gripped me from page 1 and didn't let me go until I finished the book in the wee hours of the morning. HDH is part of a series but it also read just fine as a stand-alone. I thought the characters were well fleshed out; I could picture them all in my head as I read. The end took me completely by surprise; I had no idea who the "bad guys" were and why they did what they did. I was slightly disappointed by their punishment though. All in all 4 stars and I will definitely read more by Kovach!
brenluvsbooks's review
4.0
A good mystery/thriller keeps you guessing, and moves at good pace to keep your interest.
This book did that.
Secrets galore.
The issues it involved were hard to deal with at times.
Overall a satisfying read.
This book did that.
Secrets galore.
The issues it involved were hard to deal with at times.
Overall a satisfying read.
yetanothersusan's review
3.0
Mixed feelings about this one. I felt some storylines didn't quite follow through and others went too far.
kaz_loves_books's review
5.0
This is the fifth book in the series featuring Detective Gina Harte and wow, what a book! It’s set in Cleevesford in Warwickshire. Gina and her team work extremely hard and always aim to solve the cases that come their way. Occasionally, the odd case hits a bit too close to home for comfort.
Susan and Ryan had once been madly in love, then they had a daughter Phoebe, followed by another daughter Jasmine. Things were not the same then. After a few years, baby Rory came along, he’s now two and at nursery. Things have got so bad that Susan and Ryan are divorcing and have split up. Ryan picked up the girls but after six o’clock that evening Susan hadn’t been to pick Rory up from nursery. The nursery rang her mum, Mary. She went to collect him. After speaking to Ryan the next day and finding out he hadn’t heard from her either, she called the police to report her missing. She wouldn’t leave her children.
Detective Inspector Gina Harte spoke to Mary to get some details and said they would look for her but she could feel there was something that was being kept from her. Mary didn’t tell her that Susan had run away as a teenager, then had been a troublemaker when she returned. She feared they wouldn’t look for her.
When Ryan spoke to Gina, he painted a completely different picture of Susan and didn’t seem bothered that she was missing. They found part of her diary and tried to work out her movements on the day she disappeared. When Mary checked her house further and found a box with some dark drawings inside, she rang Gina. There were things Mary didn’t know about her daughter. Then a man from Susan’s past is found murdered in the park. Has Susan vanished because she is a victim? Or because she is a suspect?
I really enjoyed reading this book, so much so I read it in a day! The story line flows, is descriptive and immensely gripping.I rated it 5/5 and I am already looking forward to the next book as this is a series I enjoy reading. Carla Kovach is a great author.
Susan and Ryan had once been madly in love, then they had a daughter Phoebe, followed by another daughter Jasmine. Things were not the same then. After a few years, baby Rory came along, he’s now two and at nursery. Things have got so bad that Susan and Ryan are divorcing and have split up. Ryan picked up the girls but after six o’clock that evening Susan hadn’t been to pick Rory up from nursery. The nursery rang her mum, Mary. She went to collect him. After speaking to Ryan the next day and finding out he hadn’t heard from her either, she called the police to report her missing. She wouldn’t leave her children.
Detective Inspector Gina Harte spoke to Mary to get some details and said they would look for her but she could feel there was something that was being kept from her. Mary didn’t tell her that Susan had run away as a teenager, then had been a troublemaker when she returned. She feared they wouldn’t look for her.
When Ryan spoke to Gina, he painted a completely different picture of Susan and didn’t seem bothered that she was missing. They found part of her diary and tried to work out her movements on the day she disappeared. When Mary checked her house further and found a box with some dark drawings inside, she rang Gina. There were things Mary didn’t know about her daughter. Then a man from Susan’s past is found murdered in the park. Has Susan vanished because she is a victim? Or because she is a suspect?
I really enjoyed reading this book, so much so I read it in a day! The story line flows, is descriptive and immensely gripping.I rated it 5/5 and I am already looking forward to the next book as this is a series I enjoy reading. Carla Kovach is a great author.
annc's review
5.0
Number five in the series and Gina still struggles with the demons of her past. The main plot simmers as Gina and her team investigate a missing person but it soon comes to light that all is not what it seems. As the plot thickens and starts to effect Gina on a personal level we get taken down lots of false paths and it becomes a race against time to prevent more deaths. Great main plot and oh the ending!
emmasbibliotreasures's review
4.0
She’s done it again. This is another winning installment in the Detective Gina Harte series. Gripping, tense, thrilling and unputdownable, I flew through it in under a day.
Susan Wheeler is a devoted mum to her three children. She’s going through an acrimonious divorce but it is out of character when she not only doesn’t turn up to collect her youngest child, two-year-old Rory from pre-school, but also doesn’t come home that night or the next day. Her mother Mary is worried but her sister, Clare, and ex-husband, Ryan, think it’s a bid for attention. Finally, Mary calls the police and Gina and her team are assigned to the case.
There are few clues but Susan’s diary leads them to a man who was possibly the last person to see her before she disappeared. But he’s found dead, having been brutally beaten and tortured before he was strangled to death. Is Susan a victim or did she have some part in this man’s death? The team keep digging but the missing pieces of the puzzle seem to elude them and Gina gets the sense there’s things the family aren’t telling her. It’s a race against the clock to put the pieces together, get to the truth and find Susan before she or someone else turns up dead.
Her Dark Heart is the fifth book in this series and it lives up to the high bar that’s been set in the others. While knowledge from the other book does help with things like Gina’s backstory and character relationships it is still possible to read this as a standalone. The author is skilled in writing twisty crime fiction full of relatable characters and bad guys that make your skin crawl.
Some of my favourite parts were from the chapters narrated by our mystery perpetrator. He was sinister, repulsive, delusional, and is determined to inflict his wrath and revenge for what happened all those years ago; though we don’t yet know what occurred. These chapters revved up the tension and had me on the edge of my seat as I tried to figure things out. There were a plethora of suspects but I couldn’t predict who he was or exactly why he was doing this. I did manage to guess part of it correctly but I was still blindsided by the revelations that came as we reached the jaw-dropping finale.
As with the author’s other books there are deeper themes running through this book than what appears on the surface. This time it’s secrets. Susan and her family are all harbouring various secrets and Gina is facing the emotional consequences of secrets she has kept for decades. While the Collins family's secrets have led to Susan’s abduction and threaten to tear their family apart, Gina is missing her mother and feeling she has no right to grieve for not being there when she died because of the invisible chains her abusive late husband kept her in and how keeping the abuse secret led to their estrangement. It shows us how secrets can snowball, with devastating and catastrophic results.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime fiction and police procedurals. If you haven’t read the previous books in the series then check those out too.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Susan Wheeler is a devoted mum to her three children. She’s going through an acrimonious divorce but it is out of character when she not only doesn’t turn up to collect her youngest child, two-year-old Rory from pre-school, but also doesn’t come home that night or the next day. Her mother Mary is worried but her sister, Clare, and ex-husband, Ryan, think it’s a bid for attention. Finally, Mary calls the police and Gina and her team are assigned to the case.
There are few clues but Susan’s diary leads them to a man who was possibly the last person to see her before she disappeared. But he’s found dead, having been brutally beaten and tortured before he was strangled to death. Is Susan a victim or did she have some part in this man’s death? The team keep digging but the missing pieces of the puzzle seem to elude them and Gina gets the sense there’s things the family aren’t telling her. It’s a race against the clock to put the pieces together, get to the truth and find Susan before she or someone else turns up dead.
Her Dark Heart is the fifth book in this series and it lives up to the high bar that’s been set in the others. While knowledge from the other book does help with things like Gina’s backstory and character relationships it is still possible to read this as a standalone. The author is skilled in writing twisty crime fiction full of relatable characters and bad guys that make your skin crawl.
Some of my favourite parts were from the chapters narrated by our mystery perpetrator. He was sinister, repulsive, delusional, and is determined to inflict his wrath and revenge for what happened all those years ago; though we don’t yet know what occurred. These chapters revved up the tension and had me on the edge of my seat as I tried to figure things out. There were a plethora of suspects but I couldn’t predict who he was or exactly why he was doing this. I did manage to guess part of it correctly but I was still blindsided by the revelations that came as we reached the jaw-dropping finale.
As with the author’s other books there are deeper themes running through this book than what appears on the surface. This time it’s secrets. Susan and her family are all harbouring various secrets and Gina is facing the emotional consequences of secrets she has kept for decades. While the Collins family's secrets have led to Susan’s abduction and threaten to tear their family apart, Gina is missing her mother and feeling she has no right to grieve for not being there when she died because of the invisible chains her abusive late husband kept her in and how keeping the abuse secret led to their estrangement. It shows us how secrets can snowball, with devastating and catastrophic results.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime fiction and police procedurals. If you haven’t read the previous books in the series then check those out too.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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