* Winner – Best Novel, ITW Thriller Award * Authors on the Air Network – Thriller of the Year * Finalist – Anthony Award for Best Novel * Finalist – Macavity Award for Best Novel *
“Jar of Hearts grabs you by the throat! The perfect blend of riveting characters, chilling details, and gasping twists in this standout thriller will keep you frantically reading until the explosive end.” – Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author of Right Behind You
This is the 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 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.
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? Find out in Jennifer Hillier’s Jar of Hearts.
This book was so good. Like beyond good. I was hooked from the very first page. I’ve never read Jennifer’s books before but I came across a video on TikTok, cause that’s where I’ve been getting most of my book recs from lately, and found this one. I went in completely blind, which I 100% suggest doing. It’s so much more fun that way.
So we meet Geo and the book starts right off with her testifying against her ex-boyfriend. She ends up in jail and the book takes us through her time in jail and through her past as a teen. We find out how she met Calvin, her ex, how she met her friends and so on. It basically takes us through most of her life and I liked the way the author did that.
I was totally invested from the start. By the last 20%, I messaged a friend and was like “I have no idea what’s going on!” – I will say, I managed to predict something but I just didn’t know the why.
I also want to say that I did not like Angela, Geo’s best friend. She came off as selfish and didn’t seem like she treated Geo very well. But at the same time, Geo didn’t treat Angela overly well all the time either. It was an odd dynamic but I guess it worked for them.
This book was everything I look for in a thriller. Twists and turns, engaging characters and it was just…man, it was just everything.
Do I agree with half of the choices Geo made? No, not at all but I’ve never been in her situation before. It just shows that she’s humans and humans make mistakes.
Ugh this book will live rent free in my head for a while.
Oh and if you like dark romance books, this one had a kinda sorta dark romancey vibe. In a totally unhinged and twisted sort of way.
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