Emma (SCR)'s Review of Her Dark Heart (Detective Gina Harte, #5)

by Carla Kovach

Rory is waiting at the door of the pre-school – a painted picture of his mother Susan in his small hand. But Susan isn’t going to see the picture, because she has vanished.

Susan Wheeler is a devoted mother. She would do anything for her three children. She drops them off and picks them up every single day. Until one day when Susan kisses them goodbye and then never comes to pick them up.

Susan’s mother Mary is worried. Susan is recently divorced and has been finding things hard recently, but she loves her kids – she’d never leave them.

Susan’s sister Clare is furious. It’s just like her to go missing. It’s not the first time, either. Susan has always been a troublemaker. Always seeking attention. She knows Susan has been lying to the family for years. And she knows that Susan has been sneaking out of her family home for weeks…

As the hours turn into days, even Clare becomes fearful for Susan. And, when Mary discovers Susan’s diary, she begins to uncover a dark secret from her childhood. Something no one in the family knew. When the final diary entry leads the police to a man who is discovered dead in a local park, they’re left wondering whether Susan has vanished because she is a victim. Or because she is a suspect…

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. I am a huge fan of Carla and Detective Harte so I couldn't wait to dive back in. This is book 5 but you could read the books as standalones if you wanted. I think you would get more out of them if you read them as a series though.

Susan Wheeler has gone missing and Detective Harte and her team are assigned to investigate. As well as looking into Susan's disappearance we also learn a lot more about Gina's personal life. If you have read the previous books you will know this has been building for a long time and I have been looking forward to this since the very first book.

I have to make a special mention of Susan's daughter, Phoebe. She is one brave, feisty child. I was extremely proud of her.

The crime itself has a lot of twists and turns and while I did guess small elements of it the majority of it was not predictable. Carla has always done a very good job of shocking her audience. Carla keeps you on the edge of your seat right up until the very end.

I really enjoyed this book and it was great to really understand Gina more too. I can't wait for the next instalment of DI Harte.

Her Dark Heart (Detective Gina Harte, #5)

by Carla Kovach

Reviewed by Emma (SCR) on Nov 21, 2019

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