Her Dark Heart (DI Gina Harte #5) by Carla Kovach
Genre: Crime fiction, police procedural, domestic thriller
Read: 30th December 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 19th November 2019)
★★★★★ 5 stars
Although I am still yet to read the first two, I have now enjoyed the last three books in this series by Carla Kovach and DI Gina Harte is fast becoming one of my favourite detectives. I absolutely loved the previous book "The Liar's House" and I wondered how Kovach could better that one but HER DARK HEART was just as brilliant! And while it is the fifth in the series and it's generally preferable to read them in order, I do believe they can still be read as a standalone. Each mystery is enigmatic, each story is unique...but each book is engaging throughout you will not want to put them down.
The story opens with a prologue that sees Susan Wheeler returning from a reunion amongst old friends at the pub to which her husband Ryan had followed her, convinced she was having an affair. After thumping the male friend of the group, Ryan and Susan returned home where he then started in on her. It was obvious from the beginning that Ryan was a controlling and abusive husband and Susan did her best to shelter her children from the violence.
Five months later, Susan is in the process of divorcing Ryan, living in their marital home with their three children while Ryan has moved to a small two bedroom flat. Since kicking her husband out, Susan has let her hair down, started going out with friends and enjoying the freedom to be herself and relax as she was never allowed to married to Ryan. Her mother Mary babysits for her on these occasions which, in her sister Clare's eyes, are becoming more frequent. It seems Susan is returning to her rebellious teenage years.
So when Susan fails to pick up her two year old son Rory from nursery one afternoon, there are mixed reactions. Her mother Mary is concerned while her sister Clare is not. Then they discover that she hadn't collected her daughters, Phoebe and Jasmine, from her Ryan's place either. Mary is adamant that Susan would never leave her children - she loves them and would not have left them voluntarily. Clare is of the opinion that this is another one of Susan's disappearing acts where she will swan back in after a few days as if nothing has happened. After all, she's done it before.
But Mary is worried and insists on calling the police although Clare maintains that her sister is just attention seeking while her husband Howard placates her with endless cups of tea. The soon-to-be ex-husband Ryan thinks Susan has just run off again and isn't particularly concerned...in fact he lays the blame solely at Susan's feet. Clare, it seems, shares his opinion and also blames her sister for everything that's gone wrong in her own life. But Mary is convinced there is something wrong...
Enter DI Gina Harte. For the initial contact with the Hudson family, Gina takes along PC Kapoor who has incredible instincts as well as a certain empathy. But Gina isn't prepared for the shock that is about to befall her when Mary Hudson opens the door. For Mary is the spitting image of her own mother who died many years ago, sharing even the same mannerisms which throws Gina momentarily when questioning her. I found this an interesting side aspect and wondered if it would be explored further, throwing up the revelation of her mother having had a long lost missing twin or something...but it seemed that Mary was just a doppelganger that spooked Gina each time she came into contact with her.
Mary has enough to deal with at the moment what with Clare having moved back home with her two year old son who, with a vast array of behavioural problems, is beyond difficult. But Susan's little Rory is like a breath of fresh air and is a sweet content little boy. Another bone of contention with Clare - it seems Susan can never do any wrong, and even has the perfect child. This sees a jealous and exasperated Clare continually dumping her often screaming son in her mother's arms and leaving the house to destinations unknown. She may have been the older sibling but Clare often behaved like a spoilt teenager, in my opinion.
From the beginning Gina believes that Mary and her family are keeping secrets and she endeavours to find out what they are and get to the bottom of them. Requesting permission to search Susan's house, Gina and her team are only allowed a cursory look before Mary ushers them out and then sets about cleaning the house from top to bottom. But Mary comes across a notebook that appears to be Susan's diary of sorts and in it, two appointments for the day she disappeared and a post code. Handing them over to the police, Gina then calls on the appointments - both of whom weren't home - and discovers the post code was for a general area nearby...but apparently none of Susan's clients were from that postal code area. And where was her car? Wouldn't it have been parked outside her last appointment?
Then a body is found by a man and his two boys out walking their dog and immediately she fears it to be Susan. However, it turns out the body is male. One Dale Blair - who turned out to be Susan's last appointment. Upon searching his house, Gina's team find a photo of a teenage Dale with an obvious teenage Susan and another teenage girl. It seems Susan and Dale knew each other before the day she disappeared. And then they discover he was the man Ryan had punched in the face for having an affair with his wife some 5 months before. But that was not possible for Dale was openly gay. The mystery deepens as Gina wonders what the hell it means and where it all leads.
Was Susan kidnapped? Or is she guilty of murder?
Gina doesn't know what to believe anymore as she battles with her own guilt and grief over losing her mother and her deepest darkest secret she has carried for more than 20 years.
And then Susan's daughter Phoebe disappears...
A complicated case and a complex thriller, HER DARK HEART is a well-written page turner that will have you reading long into the night - just one more chapter! I love how it's not just a police procedural but a crime thriller as well as we are privy to all aspects of the story - from the police to the victim's family to the villain - with clues given at just the right time.
As for the characters themselves - I found Clare and her son irritating and obnoxious, Ryan was ignorant and arrogant, Howard was indifferent while Mary was so completely guilt ridden and yet she continued to make the same mistakes again and again.
As the story shifts between perspectives in the search for Susan and Phoebe while at the same time given a glimpse from the villain's viewpoint, HER DARK HEART unfolds at an even pace that soon accelerates gaining momentum as it nears its climax. And even as it did so, I was completely surprised at the revelation, only guessing just moments before.
While HER DARK HEART is the fifth in this series, it is my third having only read the last three. Despite this I am thoroughly enjoying all that I have read so far and Gina Harte is fast becoming a favourite. I know that I will not be disappointed with these books. I do, however, have a slight misgiving I feel I ought to mention.
While I don't like my protagonists to be too perfect, too damaged, too bossy and bitchy or too flaky and irritating, I do feel that Gina does often frustrate me. She has spent the past five books torturing herself about killing her abusive husband in self defense some 20 years ago and ambivalence about her feelings for her boss DCI Chris Briggs, and their non-starter affair. Not to mention the complicated relationship she has with her daughter Hannah. Without fail by the end of each book, she seems to have sorted herself out with promises and placations but by the next one she is back to where she was previously. This oscillating is like watching a ceiling fan as she continues her annoying cycle of self pity and self loathing. I just want to see her sort herself out once and for all and move on. We know what happened, none of us can change the past, so there is nothing to gain by harping on it. I just wish she would move past it and either get together with Briggs or move on. I did like the part near the end where she made a confession to her mother's grave, unburdening herself at last. Maybe now she CAN move on.
I'd also like to know a little more about her team, as all we seem to know about them are their names. And even those are seemingly insignificant at times because none of them has as much depth as Gina herself does in the books. These characters are recurring but without any real development.
Despite those two misgivings, they are but small elements that do not deter my enjoyment of this book or the series. I will happily continue to follow Gina and her team as it really is one of my favourite series.
The plot was dark, the twists were skillful making HER DARK HEART a clever complex and brilliant thriller that kept me intrigued throughout. I have no hesitation in recommending it!
I look forward to seeing what happens next...
I would like to thank #CarlaKovach, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #HerDarkHeart in exchange for an honest review.
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