Heartless

by Alison Gaylin

Book Overview

aAlison Gaylin is my new must reada (Harlan Coben). Everyone agrees. The thrilling author of Trashed is aa fresh new talent.a(Perri OaShaughnessy) From the moment magazine editor Zoe Greene joins her lover Warren in San Esteban, an idyllic Mexican village, something is strange about the place and its peopleafrom the black crosses that hang throughout the town to the blood-tipped spines of its strange indigenous plants to Warrenas odd disappearances...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451224973
• ISBN13: 9780451224972
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Obsidian Mysteries
• Length: 323 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

This book has changed my life FOREVER!!!

Thanks to this book, I now know that I too, can live with a stump for a neck, no face, and a bad wig. I have created a support group for people like me, and I have met the stump-necked man of my dreams. You should see him without his clothes on... rawr. THANK YOU ALISON GAYLIN!!!!!!!!!!!

Atmospheric, Genuinely Creepy Thriller

I first picked up one of Ms. Gaylin's books last year, and found myself quickly devouring all of her books that I could get my hands on, all because of one simple reason: her characters are truly interesting. All too often, authors fill their books with stock characters who merely take up space, instead of adding anything to the story. Alison Gaylin, however, is truly adept at character development, so that everyone in her books seems (for lack of a better word) real, in that all are flawed, but they are also truly interesting, and compel readers to want to learn more about them. The characters in Heartless are no exception. While delving into topics ranging from the cult of personality to daytime television to the world of journalism to human sacrifice, the reader is introduced to people who run the gamut from being emotionally-scarred and trying to heal, to those whose pleasant facades mask obsession and murder. Additionally, Gaylin really brings the setting of San Estaban to life with an abundance of rich, sensory details that paint a picture of a place that is simultaneously beautiful and foreboding. This isn't just a run-of-the-mill thriller. It's a book that is truly creepy and disturbing on a multitude of levels, while also incorporating twists and turns to keep readers on their toes. In short, it's a genuinely good book from a very talented author.

DELICIOUSLY CREEPY THRILLER

Gaylin keeps the pressure on in this, her fourth novel and second stand-alone. I found the heroine engaging and gutsy; the steady unraveling of her relationship with a soap opera star, a realistic portrayal of what happens when the guy you're with is most definitely not the guy for you, and the cast of ex-pat, artsy, new agey types, intriguing and unusual. The suspense builds steadily, and vivid descriptions drive the story to its surprising finale. I found the book anything but formulaic. It was as refreshing as a mineral spring,as pointed and sharp as a saguaro cactus and as nightmarish as too much tequila on a hot night. I can't wait to read what Gaylin has in store for us next; it's always a pleasure to step into her world. Highly recommended.

a fascinating thriller

Investigative reporter Steve Sorensonis stunned to learn his best friend celebrity reporter Zoe Greene is not only in love with a soap opera star; the die hard Manhattanite is moving to San Esteban, Mexico to live with Warren Clark. Steve is upset for two reasons; first he loves Zoe though he has hidden his feelings from her with the façade of friendship and second he knows this town as the place a NYU student had his heart torn from his chest. Steve decides to go to Mexico to insure Zoe is okay. Meanwhile her romance with Warren collapses as she begins to do what she does best as a reporter, interrogate. The Sangre Para La Vida cult members are interested in Zoe's "blood in exchange for life". HEARTLESS is a fascinating horror thriller with a unique romantic underpinning. The story line is based on the Sangre Para La Vida cult believing the Fountain of Youth is to suck human blood vampire style with their latest "donor being Zoe. Although the tale at times crosses into the absurd without humor or satire, readers will enjoy this tense thriller for a fun Mexican vacation; that is for readers not tourists. Harriet Klausner