The Heatwave is a compelling read. The story is set in a French village in a country house lived in by Sylvie's family prior to her marriage. She and husband have two daughters, Elodie who is 14 and Emma who is 4 when Elodie dies. She has always been a difficult child, no matter what Sylvie does and when she and her husband divorce she moves to London with Emma to rebuild her life.

Ten years later Sylvie returns after a fire is discovered and she decides to sell it as it brings back so many bad memories. While staying there with Emma Sylvie's past catches up with her, secrets that she has never shared with Emma who wants to know more about Elodie.

Kate Riordan's descriptions of the house and the area are most evocative as is the heatwave that engulfs Sylvie while there. The book has excellent pace and tension. I thoroughly enjoyed The Heatwave and highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK/Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read and review it.

“The Heatwave” by Kate Riordan is a tense, atmospheric thriller that will have you turning pages faster than you thought possible. The oppressive heat of the South of France, the past relationships with the neighbours, the secrets yet to be revealed, all provide a chilling sense of foreboding that make this book such a compulsive read.

The story flips back and forward from the present back to when the main character Sylvie lived in her family home with her husband and their first child Elodie in Provence. Sylvie now travels from London with Emma, their second child, to the family home after reports of a minor fire. Sylvie recalls the disagreements she and her husband had as Elodie was growing and the conflict it caused between them. Sylvie’s sister visits but leaves though not before making it clear to Sylvie that Emma needs to be told everything that happened.

You will not be able to relax until you get to the end of this story - you can just feel that there is something devastating waiting around the corner!!

Really atmospheric creepy well written story. There is a darkness in the family the whole way through which makes this a compelling and interesting read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Set in a beautiful part of the world, southern France, The Heatwave will draw in you, entrancing you with its seductive and intoxicating prose. With such evocative scene setting I could feel myself back in places that hold wonderful memories for me (Bormes Les Mimosas and surrounding areas) reliving glorious days, sunning myself in the warmth of a never ending sun, the smell of hot skin and sun cream, as days stretch endlessly underneath an azure sky. Pure bliss!
Following a dual timeline with the past in the 1970’s and the present in the 1990’s, Sylvie Durand and her daughter Emma are revisiting their old family home , La Reverie, following news of a fire that luckily didn’t take told and destroy the property. Once home to Sylvie, estranged husband Greg and daughters Elodie and Emma, perhaps now is the time to sell up, to bring closure to a haunted family history. Except returning is most definitely going to stir up dormant memories for both Sylvie and Emma, agitating ghosts of their former life together as a family of four. Initially I did think maybe this was going to be of the ghost story type, such is the haunting atmosphere surrounding the house and its gardens. Instead it is a cleverly plotted thriller charting the demise of a dysfunctional family, at the heart of which is Elodie, eldest daughter and as events unfold, portrayed as the devil child intent on wreaking havoc and causing friction and disharmony between Sylvie and Greg. Is she simply incredibly wilful or is there something more disturbing lurking beneath her strange but beautiful exterior? As a character I found her mesmerising, completely under her spell and intrigued as to why she has such an unsettling effect on the family, Sylvie in particular.
Sylvie has my utmost sympathy as a mother whose instinct is to love unconditionally and protect those she loves but still has the courage to face the truth head on. Unlike Greg who prefers to turn a blind eye, burying his head in the sand but his weaknesses only serve to highlight his wife’s strength of character.
The pace is languid, in perfect keeping with lazy drowsy summer days and vaguely reminiscent of Joanne Harris Chocolat series, presumably because it too has a spellbinding and hypnotic effect on the reader.
In my opinion The Heatwave is an outstanding thriller overflowing with wonderfully evocative prose. The sights and smells I keenly associate with the area are brought alive, sparking fond memories that make me wistful and yearn for those sun filled carefree days when all you have to worry about is whether there is a mistral brewing. For me the descriptions of La Reverie captivated me as much as the plot so expertly has the author set the scene. Eerie and neglected,both the walls and the pool and garden hold secrets so disturbing yet begging to be discovered. that I often found myself on tenterhooks, holding my breath, awaiting further revelations.
If we were all able to go on our summer holidays this year then without a shadow of a doubt I’d be recommending to pack this book in your suitcase. It’s not only an atmospheric chilling thriller but written so eloquently that I won’t be able to stop raving about it! My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

Oh how I loved this book!

It had all the ingredients I like in a novel. A tense psychological thriller, a buried past, sun, heat and the South Of France.  What a great book to loose yourself in at the moment.

I was whisked off to the building heat and tensions of a heatwave gripping The South of France as we follow Sylvie, as she heads back to France, to her old family home after receiving a letter to say there has been some damage to the empty property after a small fire.  Born and raised in France, Sylvie has been living in London for over 10 years, seemingly leaving France after traumatic events.  Needing to take her daughter with her she reluctantly heads off with a view to sort things out and finally put the house on the market, where it can be sold and finally got rid of once and for all.

As we enter the house and dust off its cobwebs so too do we learn, via flashbacks, of the mysteries that surround Sylvie's first daughter Elodie, a brilliantly created character. The fear, pain and love that Sylvie experienced back then is wonderfully written along with the day to day happenings, some compellingly mysterious, that take place as we stay at La Reverie.  Evocative and captivating, tiny details in the narrative superbly evoke time and place with wonderful characters and the gradual build of tension throughout the book.

We slowly learn of the story that surrounds Elodie and read the reactions of both family and locals as the truths begin to surface.  Like the summer fires that surround the village, enclosing in on the house, so does the past and bringing with it it's present danger.

Wonderful smaller characters add even more to the novel, bringing with then their own perspectives and past actions.

I don't want to give any more of the story line away and spoil it for another reader but I was utterly absorbed in this book and couldn't turn the pages fast enough.  A sultry thriller that also had a wonderful dose of the french sun and way of life.  This has definitely gone into my top five reads of the year so far.  Loved it!!!

Due to lockdown I believe the paperback release has now been set for September but you can buy it now as an EBook with Amazon having it on sale for kindle at just 99p!  Buy it!

This is deeply compelling, dark and unsettling thriller; The Heatwave is a real page turner. Set in France in the early 1990s, against a backdrop of a heatwave and forest fires, this is the story of a family dynamic and how the mother, Silvie, comes to terms with what has happened in the past. What must it be like to have a child who terrifies you? That was what Sylvie faced with the birth of her first daughter Élodie in 1968. She now has a second daughter Emma, who believes that Élodie is dead. Silvie and Emma are living in London but have to return to France to deal with a small fire in the old family home that Silvie and her sister still own.

The artfully constructed narrative is told through Silvie’s voice as she relives her past at the house when she and her now ex-husband Greg lived with Élodie. I don't want to give away too much of the plot but I would say that the sinister and alarming events which take place at the house in both the past and present kept me on the edge of my seat. Gradually mysteries unravel and truths emerge. This is a beautifully written novel with an excellent psychological edge. The ending was terrific and made me wonder whether history might repeat itself. Those of you who have read it will probably know what I mean by that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this book. I have been sent a copy of this book for review purposes. This has not influenced or affected my opinions in this review.

I think The Heatwave is a beautifully written crime thriller. I found it to be so emotionally gripping. I was hanging off the edge of my seat. I cannot recommend this book enough. I would one hundred percent read anything else Kate Riordan writes. I loved how fleshed out the characters are, and the depth of their personalities created in this book. If you’re a fan of thrillers and crime, you will enjoy this book!

*5 stars*

The Heatwave definitely begins as a slow burner but there’s just enough suspense with each turn of the page to maintain the intrigue. However, then we get to part two of the book where the intensity builds with some twists and turns along the way. I would rate this book 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK Michael Joseph and the author for the chance to review.

A disturbing tale of a daughter’s hate

Sylvie Durand is living in London with her 13 year old daughter Emma. She is divorced from Greg who has remarried and lives in Paris with his new wife and family. When Sylvie is told about a fire in her childhood home, La Reverie, in the South of France, she decides to return there to sort out the damage and to finally sell the house that has so many memories.

Sylvie had wanted to return alone but Greg is unable to look after Emma so they both return to the house that Emma had last lived in when she was 4 years of age. Her memories are very vague and Sylvie is hoping that they will remain that way and slowly but surely, we find out the secrets of her past life.

Greg and Sylvie had a very happy marriage which was only enhanced when they had a little girl, Elodie. However, right from the start, Sylvie senses an enmity between her and her daughter which is only made worse because with Greg she is the perfect baby and, as she grows up, the perfect daughter. This book is a masterclass on how a child can be so evil and in a selective way; she only shows her bad behaviour to Sylvie. From hurting small animals to deliberately defacing Sylvie’s most treasured possessions, the author slowly shows us Elodie’s destructive personality which becomes very dangerous when she is caught trying to drown one of her schoolmates.

The book jumps between the present time and the past and is very cleverly interwoven and enables us to see how Sylvie’s whole life has been haunted by her first daughter. Emma has been told that Elodie had died in an effort to shield her from the truth about her sister. In fact, it was when Elodie tried to kill Emma in a fire that she was finally sent her away to a special school.

Sylvie is drawn back into happy memories of both her childhood and her happy marriage before Elodie split her and Greg apart. She begins to make friends with her previous schoolmates and in particular becomes attracted to one of the locals, Olivier LeGarde. However, yet again her life is shattered when suddenly Elodie turns up. She has to explain to Emma why they let her believe she had died but this is a completely different Elodie who becomes great friends with her sister and treats Sylvie as the mother that she had always wanted to be. But is this just an act and why has she returned and where has she been?

I will not ruin the book by revealing the ending but will say that the way the author builds up the terrifying personality of Elodie is just amazing. It is frightening to think that a child could be like this with no apparent reason and I felt such sympathy for Sylvie. A brilliant read.

Dexter

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book for review.

Following the complex relationship between a mother and her two daughters, this story jumps between 1982 and 1993 and the story unwinds with suspense and intrigue. The unnerving undertones are set against hot, romantic sprawling house in the south of France where Elodie spends her childhood sewing unease and dangerous abnormalities. Her father is blind to her differences. When Emma comes a decade later to spend a sprawling hot summer at the house, the line between past and present becomes increasingly blurred. A story that will keep you gripped and stay with you once completed. Love, loved it!

My thanks to the Author and the Publisher for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley. I gave this a 3.5 stars or 7/10.

Told in the first person, Sylvie the narrator of the story tells us her story and what happened to her first child Elodie. As she returns to her old family home in the South of France with her youngest daughter Emma, memories come flooding back of tragic mysterious events that surrounded the death of Elodie. Told as a dual time frame style story, the reader is fed just enough to hook you in and keep you turning the pages or in my case swiping the screen as I read this on my Kindle.

As Sylvie flicks from past to present in her narrative we learn that Elodie could be quite a manipulative daughter, who seemed to know how to get what she wanted most of the time. Some children always seem to know what to do to get their own way. Sylvie has always tried to protect Emma from what happened to her older sister, but will the truth come out as old memories are rekindled on the return to the property.

This was a well written story that grabs the reader, yet I was expecting a little more from it if I'm honest. Its' a perfect read for the summer evenings to take us away from our day to day life. Escape into the lives of the characters and the countryside in the South of France.

This book really transported me to the South of France, you could feel the cloying heat whilst reading it. The atmospheric writing really made me feel uneasy as we learn about Sylvie and her daughters in a dual timelime narrative.
The setting felt really claustrophobic made more so by the lack of mobile communication of the 1993 setting.
I did find this a bit tough going at times, the book jumped between years and between present day and musings of the past so quickly I struggled to adjust my thinking.
This is a slow burn book about a family fractured by the past, but there are a few twists and turns throughout.

I found the book slow to get going. Almost to the point where I almost gave up. But I’m glad I stuck with it as it turned a corner and then I ended up really enjoying it. It was great to read,

Thank you to Michael Joseph and Penguin UK for a digital review copy - my thoughts are my own.

This is my second visit to Provence, France via a book in the past 6 weeks. My last visit involved fields of lavender and new friendships in Summer in Provence by Lucy Coleman. Kate Riordan transported me to a very different Provence, full of secrets, mother/daughter relationships, heat and forest fires.

This was a book I didn't want to put down. So many secrets slowly being fed to the reader about Sylvie, her dead daughter Elodie and why the younger daughter Emma hadn't been told the full story about her older sister.

Sylvie and her family have stayed away from the house for 10 years since there was an incident. Now Sylvie and Emma return, and slowly the story is fed to the reader, with lots of twists and turns along the way. The story moves backwards and forwards in time throughout the book and we start to see how the past impacts the actions and events happening now.

The end of the book is fast and tense - I'm sure I was holding my breath whilst reading. It is difficult to say much more without giving spoilers. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and didn't want it to end.

Sylvie and her teenage daughter, Emma, have to return to France to the house from which they fled ten years ago. There are many memories for Sylvie as this is where she lived with her then husband & elder daughter, Elodie, as well as Emma. The past comes back to haunt Sylvie in ways that she had not predicted.
This was a book which promised much but, in my opinion, failed to achieve. Set in two time periods we follow Sylvie in the here and now as she and Emma return to France to clear out and sell the old family home. In the past we learn about Elodie and the struggles that the family had as she was growing up.
I didn't feel that the characters or descriptions has enough depth. We learn about Elodie from what she does & how Sylvie feels. However, as the story is written from Sylvie's point of view we never get inside Elodie's head which I think is a great shame. Although Sylvie is a strong woman in many ways she does lean on alcohol and men at times when she thinks she needs them. I liked Emma's character but would have liked to understand her feelings about everything that was going on. This is the problem with writing a book from one person's perspective, it takes a skilled writer to enable the reader to engage with all the characters.
I found the ending of this book quite weak. The book had rambled a fair amount and I wasn't sure where it was going. Then it suddenly came to an end which just didn't work for me.
This is one of those books which could have been so much more.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Sultry, atmospheric and unsettling - a book to lose yourself in this summer' ERIN KELLY, bestselling author of He Said She Said

'The only book you need this summer. Gripping, well-paced and full of thrills' 5***** reader review

The Heatwave is coming . . . This summer's perfect escapist read - a captivating story of a long-buried family secret.

In Provence, under a sweltering sun, Sylvie returns to the crumbling family home of La Reverie. In her hand is the letter that summoned her, and by her side is Emma, her youngest daughter.

Yet every corner of the house is haunted by the spectre of Elodie, her first child. Beautiful, manipulative Elodie, whose long-ago death the villagers still whisper about.

Sylvie has tried to put the past behind her. But like the spreading forest fires, memories of Elodie seem to be creeping ever closer.

Because there's a secret Sylvie has concealed about what happened to Elodie all those summers ago . . .

'Exquisite writing and a compelling story that will keep you up late into the night!' KATIE FFORDE, bestselling author of A Rose Petal Summer

'Pages humming with heat, secrets and suspense. I loved it' DINAH JEFFRIES, bestselling author of The Tea Planters Wife

'Welcome to Provence for a holiday stay you will not forget in a hurry!' 5***** Reader Review
__________

Set in the south of France in the family home where the protagonist Sylvie grew up with her sister, this is a very atmospheric and sinister read.  Perhaps a slow burner but nevertheless it always keeps you wanting to read more.  It is, to some extent, a time slip story, but it's more the protagonist looking back over time since the birth of her first daughter.  The present is set in 1993, and I'm not really sure why that is.

I would hate to give anything of the story away so can't say too much. In fact, I've tried to write more but it really is one of those books you have to read knowing little more than what the publishers summary of the book tells you. So I'm going to leave it at that.  It's gripping, it is unnerving and I enjoyed the way the story evolves, little by little.

The way the book is narrated was a bit of a strange one for me and it did occasionally lead to confusion in parts when I was reading it.  Sylvie, the girls' mother is the narrator in the story but it's told as if she's talking to her youngest daughter, so the narrative is in the second person.  It did take some getting used to but it enhanced the fact that really the whole story is an apology to both her daughters. Sylvie holds on to both guilt and a deep sorrow for the family's situation, but with fear and a sense of foreboding never far away.

So I don't want to say any more.  It was an intense read, with a very climactic ending and I really enjoyed it.

Makes me long for summer days. The perfect read for the sun lounger and beyond. There's real heart in this book. Highly recommended.

Riordan's The Heatwave is a thrilling and claustrophobic summer read. Her vivid depiction of the sultry summer in the south of France will have you longing for a trip to Cote d'Azur and craving treats from the continent. The terrible secret that looms over the protagonist is perhaps not the most surprising and many will see it coming, but this is enjoyable escapism at its best - when we need it most.

Great summer read, well written with bags of holiday atmosphere. I found it really compelling and creepy, even if the ending was a bit overdone.