Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier: Messy Friendships, Old Secrets, and Twists I Never Saw Coming

Two former best friends, one old murder, one new body, and secrets that have been festering for decades. Jennifer Hillier played me completely.

Synopsis

A serial killer recants his long-ago confession regarding a small-town high school girl―and her then-best friends are forced to confront what really happened that night and what’s happening now.

Seaside is a small coastal town, known originally for the local amusement park. But twenty-five years ago, a serial killer dubbed The Carnival Killer confessed to the murder of a local high school girl. Now, he’s recanted that confession.

Barb, Nicolette, and Lorelei were best friends – then they met “Sam” at Wonderland, the local amusement park. After hanging out with him there, and accompanying him to the drive-in movie, where the twenty-something handsome drifter made out with Lorelei in the backseat. That night was the last time Lorelei was seen alive, her murdered body surfacing a couple of days later in a local cranberry bog.

Barb’s dreams of leaving Seaside and becoming a successful writer never materialized and she is a freelancer for the local newspaper and, secretly, writes anonymously about reality tv stars for a hugely successful gossip web-site called Reality Bitch. Specifically, she writes savagely about a long-running show set in Canada called Trophy Wives.

Nicolette left town shortly after Lorelei’s body surfaced, never to return. Ultimately, she married a very rich man, moved to Toronto and rebranded herself as Cole Lennox, one of the stars of Trophy Wives.

With the amusement park about to reopen, revitalizing the dying town of Seaside, the Carnival Killer recants his confession about killing Lorelei, the dead body of young woman washes ashore, and the truth about what happened that night twenty-five years ago – and what is happening now – threatens not only the carefully constructed lives of Barb and Nicolette, but the very fabric of Seaside itself.

Audiobook review

4.5 to 5 stars

Mini review because this is a thriller and I refuse to spoil anything.

First, the audiobook has a full cast featuring some of my favorite narrators: January LaVoy, Eunice Wong, and Brittany Presley. A treat from the very first chapter.

The story moves between past and present, told from multiple points of view. A body has been discovered on the shores of the small town Seaside, its foot severed. Barbara, a journalist, can’t help wondering if it’s Kaylie, a reality star who vanished more than six years ago. The discovery also dredges up a dreadful night from decades past, when one of her closest friends, Lorelei, was murdered.

The second main point of view belongs to Cole, real name Nicolette, Barbara’s former best friend and current reality star on the show Trophy Wives. Cole is unraveling because the Carnival Killer has just confessed that he didn’t actually kill Lorelei.

We learn fairly early that Barb and Cole share a secret about Lorelei’s murder. Between Barb sabotaging every relationship in her life and Cole trapped in a loveless marriage despite having everything she ever thought she wanted, it’s clear that both women are carrying enormous trauma. And things get very interesting when Barb decides to play amateur detective and starts getting dangerously close to the truth about Kaylie’s disappearance.

What I loved most is the messy, complicated tangle of feelings between these two women. They were best friends, and yet they can’t stop tearing each other apart. Barb has so much unresolved grief and guilt tied to Lorelei’s death that unpacking it all feels like a full-time job, which is also exactly what makes her so relatable and fascinating. And Cole has everything she chased after, fame, a wealthy husband, and none of what she actually needed. Their relationship is conflicted and painful and utterly compelling.

But Jennifer Hillier also delivered brilliantly on the mysteries themselves. In both cases I thought I had it all figured out. I was wrong on both counts. And I love when that happens.

A very good thriller, full of people in shades of grey, complicated feelings, and twists that actually surprise.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie