Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

Jar of Hearts

by Jennifer Hillier

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Jun 2018, 320 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

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.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. With one mystery already solved before the start of the narrative and with much of the story set in prison, this psychological thriller is unlike any other. Enthralled readers will be rooting for Geo in the end." - Library Journal

"Engrossing...there's no denying her page-turner's grab-you-by-the-throat power." - Publishers Weekly

"There is a dynamite thriller-horror plot pulsing through these pages... Hillier has a Chelsea Cain-like ability to horrify her readers in a way that feels agonizingly real." - Booklist

"A gripping page-turner about crime and punishment, guilt and hope...this one hurts, and that's a compliment." - Caroline Kepnes, New York Times bestselling author of You and Hidden Bodies

"Intense and compelling, Jar of Hearts is a well-written blend of fascinating characters and a deeply layered story, which unwinds with excruciating intensity. This page-turner will grip your imagination until the very last, astonishing twist." - Chevy Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of Still Missing and Never Let You Go

"Jar of Hearts is harrowing and intense - a vivid look at the long repercussions of violent crime, with a central character you won't soon forget. Jennifer Hillier locks you in on the first page, and astonishes to the last." - Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of The Switch

"We all have embarrassing exes, right? You almost feel bad for Geo, the slippery heroine at the heart of Jennifer Hillier's dark and twisted tale. It's just that Geo's ex turns out to be a serial killer. And, maybe, just maybe, she had something to do with his first murder; and, oh, that first murder victim was one of Geo's best friends. Hmm. I was hooked on page one. Hillier's masterful story-telling and compelling voice pulled me deeper and deeper. The plot only twisted and ratcheted tighter from there until I couldn't pull away. This is a smart, edgy thriller with lots of surprises. Buckle up." - Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of The Red Hunter

"As dark as a storm-torn night and just as unnerving, Jar of Hearts will have readers gasping in shock as they tear through the pages. Suspenseful, gritty and utterly unforgettable." - Riley Sager, bestselling author of Final Girls

This information about Jar of Hearts was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Jennifer Hillier

Jennifer Hillier was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, lived in the Seattle area for years, and has just moved back to Toronto with her husband and son.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more thrillers...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Harvard is the storehouse of knowledge because the freshmen bring so much in and the graduates take so little out.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.