Tuesday, June 12, 2018

JAR OF HEARTS Review


Jar of Hearts  

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. (synopsis from Amazon)


There were parts of JAR OF HEARTS that I skimmed (I'm not that desensitized. There are still places I can't bring myself to go), but it's also a compelling read that made me think about so many things.

-How do you go on, day to day, living with guilt of that magnitude?

-Is Geo the only person Calvin, in his warped way, ever really loved? My conclusion would be a resounding yes. That in itself is creepy and scary. What about her touched him and exactly what part did it reach? Their relationship fascinated me, perhaps like an accident on the highway. You can't help but look and wonder.

-Forgiving, is it the only way to move on? Am I capable of that depth of forgiveness?

-They say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", and that's so true in JAR OF HEARTS.

-Nature or nurture?  A bit of both?

-Was there any other choice? How far is too far?

-Do we ever really know what we're capable of until we're up against it?

My imagination is vivid enough, so I would've preferred less of the graphic details, but overall JAR OF HEARTS is thought provoking and compulsive. Just when you think you know, you don't. That's always a good thing for me.
3.5 stars

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