Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and SimonBooksBuddy, #partner, for the finished copy of Heartwood in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Simon Books / Simon & Schuster ALC
Published: April 1, 2025
Summary:
Heartwood takes you on a journey as a search and rescue team race against time when an experienced hiker mysteriously disappears on the Appalachian Trail in Maine.
In the heart of the Maine woods, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping.
At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie’s disappearance may not be accidental.
My thoughts:
I have really come to love genre mash-ups this year and this literary thriller is the perfect example. And I can definitely see why Jenna picked this as one of her ReadWithJenna picks – there is so much to discuss here!
Told from multiple points of view, this mystery is about a missing hiker on the Appalachian Trail in Maine, but it is so much more than just that. It’s also about the search and rescue process, the complex mother/daughter relationship and nature itself. This is the type of book that quietly sneaks up on you, the suspense building slowly, and with the different formats used to tell the story, it makes it all the more powerful. There are some underlying themes here, too – survival, the power of community and self-discovery.
This book captivated me from start to finish. It is an emotionally charged story that is as thought-provoking as it is powerful. I highly recommend picking it up if you haven’t done so yet.
Audio thoughts:
This is narrated by a full cast, which really made it stand out. The narrators, Justine Lupe, Alma Cuervo, Rebecca Lowman, Ali Andre Ali, Cary Hite, and Helen Laser, all do an amazing job to bring this story to life.
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