Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

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 James 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…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.

Review

Jar of Hearts a is great, fast-paced thriller that kept me hooked until the end. There were very nice elements to this story. The narrative alternated between past and present and it was told from the point of view of both Geo (Georgina) and Kaiser Brody. I really liked the way Hillier described Geo’s life in prison. I liked that it wasn’t sugar coated at all. I also liked the way the story captivated the reader and how it was a difficult book to put down.

One thing that didn’t work so well for me was the fact that apart from Geo, all other characters were rather flat. Not a lot of character development there. Partially because of the genre, maybe, but more because of an emphasis on the development of Geo, a character who you don’t really get to know until the very end of the story.

I don’t give half a star so this was a hard book for me to rate. I felt like this book fell in between a 3 and 4 stars mainly due to the ending, which I felt was rather rushed and predictable. This book is still a gripping and entertaining thriller for fans of the genre.

I would like to thank Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.