Heat Wave - Kate Riordan

Suspenseful and a scorching read for a cold evening 

Thrillers are my favourite simply because of the possibilities of the genre. A simple story about mothers and daughters can have an edge if you add the thriller element to it. I really enjoyed how Riordan has managed to shape such a suspense story on a premise that could have been a domestic, contemporary story.

Gist:

Slyvie is back at their family home in France with her daughter Emma. However there is a deep sense of unease. It is hot in the French countryside but that is not all, there are some bad memories, something has driven them away from the place and now they are back revisiting the past with some devastating consequences.

What works:

•  Superb sense of foreboding that kicks off from page 1.

• A mother-daughter story that everyone can relate to yet you can sense straight away that something is off. It is believable and yet the reader would be aware that there is something seriously dysfunctional here. 

• Riordan builds the story so well and then turns deftly around on its head, such that the reader never sees it coming.

• Couldn't help feeling it had a Rebeccasque quality to it. The brooding presence of an absent character in the house and the protagnist's memories of her is so powerful and is so beautifully done. 

• Superbly atmospheric, I felt like I was in the hot climes of France, could feel the heat and the thunderstorms against the palpating tension in the house.