Heartbroken

by Lisa Unger

Kate has written a novel based on a tragic love story from her family's past. Emily is a struggling waitress whose toxic relationship with the wrong man has led her to make a horrible, life-altering decision.

Without knowing each other, and with lives that couldn't be more different, they head to the same point on the map: Heart Island. It's an idyllic place in the middle of an Adirondack lake, and home to harsh and unyielding matriarch Birdie Burke. These three women find themselves on a heart-wrenching collision course--with dark memories, restless ghosts, and one another. And unbeknownst to them all, Heart Island has a terrifying history of its own.

Heartbroken is a tense, mesmerizing novel about the limits of dysfunctional families, of an island haunted by dark memories, and of the all-too-real demons we must battle. Wonderfully suspenseful, exquisitely crafted, and written with raw, emotional power, this is New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger at her very best.

"Stellar... Should be on everyone's to-read list." (USA Today)

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Crime

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 26, 2012

About the author

Lisa Unger is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of twenty-four novels, including her upcoming release She Was Never Here (March 2027). With books published in thirty-three languages and millions of copies sold worldwide, she is regarded as a master of suspense.

Unger’s critically acclaimed novels have been featured on “Best Book” lists from the Today show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, People, Amazon, Goodreads, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, Sun Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times, and many others. She has been nominated for, or won, numerous awards including the Strand Critics, Audie, Hammett, Macavity, ITW Thriller, and Goodreads Choice. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award nominations in the same year, an honor held by only a few authors including Agatha Christie. Her short fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Mystery and Suspense, and her non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Travel+Leisure. Lisa is the current co-President of the International Thriller Writers organization. She lives on the west coast of Florida with her family.

Reviews

[Kaceey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lisa Unger is one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, I felt this one just wasn't on par with her other books. It's listed as a thriller, but there was just no meat on the bone there. No excitement, no drama, no twists.

The story is told from several points of view, but none of the characters stood out. I couldn't make a connection with them.

It has been on my current read shelf for a looooong time. I just kept putting it down, couldn't hold my interest. I was determined to finish it... and did so grudgingly. It just fell flat for me.
2.5*

[Wendy Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's DRAMA. I bought the book based upon quotes appearing on the book's backside. Not reader quotes, but "expert" quotes you should be able to trust. "Read it alone on an island on a dark and stormy night." Doesn't USA Today's quote suggest Horror? In the very least, it implies Scary. If you're still unconvinced, how about this, "[Will] chill readers to the bone," a quote by Tampa Bay Times. Again, scary, right? Well, it's not, nor do I think Ms. Unger intended it to be. "A high-wire thriller..." a quote by People. "An insidious psychological thriller," by Chicago Tribune. But by page 150, I was seething, "When the heck does the fright or thrill begin?" These reviews target the wrong audience. I don't read drama (and apparently, those reviewers didn't read the book). The story is in the same vein as The Pilot's wife. Yes, there's a bit of mystery and a lot of family secrets and the predictable shock-shock affair...because the story is about relationships; mother-daughter, husband-wife, sister-brother...and all the crap that goes with relationships. Fans of Nora Roberts would LOVE this book. Hands down, they would give it five stars. But I was looking for scary or thriller, the things the reviewers promised (shame on them). It's a well written, somewhat suspenseful, DRAMA.
Wendy Joyce

[Obsidian · Rating 1 out of 5]

So COVID-19 has helped me realize even more now than ever, reading a bad book through the ending is a terrible idea. I got to 20 percent and hit the Did Not Finish button. This is just all over the place and boring me to tears. There are too many characters that we jump back and forth to. Back to the book stacks (virtual) you go!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

After being intrigued by Darkness, My Old Friend and captivated by Fragile when the opportunity to get an advanced reader copy of Lisa Unger's new novel Hearbroken arose, I immediately said yes. Unger is slowly making her way to the top of "must read" list of current mystery writers along with Laura Lippman, Michael Connelly and Elizabeth George.

Heartbroken is less a mystery and more a thriller from Unger. It's the story of several generations of women and their connection to Heart Island. There's matriarch Birdie Burke, who lives on and owns the island. Coming to visit the island are her daughter Kate, her granddaughter Chelsea and Chelsea's friend Lulu. It's part of an annual family summer visit, though many of those involved aren't necessarily looking forward to the visit and extended family time. The island harbors some old secrets, several of which Kate has included in her upcoming novel.

Meanwhile, Emily is a young woman struggling to get through college and weighed down by a poor romantic choice. Dropping out of her community college, Emily is waitressing while living with her boyfriend who her family doesn't approve of. It's easy to see why when the boyfriend convinces her to help take part in a robbery of the family-owned diner she works for in order to pay off a debt to an old acquaintance. Things don't go exactly according to plan, leaving Emily and the two men on the lam, looking for shelter. That quest leads them to Heart Island.

Like her other crime novels, Unger is more interested in the impact of the various crimes on her characters than she is on keeping readers guessing the culprit behind the crime. At several points during the story, I found myself wanting to reach in and either hug or shake Emily as she makes one bad choice after the other, each time rationalizing why she's making the next in a series of bad choices. The journey of Emily and the rest of the characters is a fascinating one because everyone turns out to be harboring a secret or two and nothing is exactly what it appears.

Heartbroken starts out with a solid hook, builds a world with some compelling characters and wraps it all up in a satisfying bow in the novel's final pages. At times, it's as page-turning as Fragile was, but it falls just short of being as great as that novel was. However, don't let that put you off from trying this book. It's still fresh, entertaining and compelling. It's also firmly put Unger into the realm of mystery writers whose works I'll eagerly pick up and read as soon as they hit the market.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this author, but I was not impressed with this book. I did not like the plot and I really hated the character of Emily. I felt she made too many excuses for her bad choices. I thought there would be more in the plot about the island ghosts, but there wasn't.

Normally Lisa Unger writes fast paced thrillers, but this book was not fast paced, nor a thriller. It had a little mystery, but mostly it was a family drama. It just did not grab me the way her books normally do.

[Roxanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would really like to rate 3.5 stars.

This book had a "Nancy Drew" feel to it and that was exciting for me. I can remember the mystery series and how as a young girl I got that suspense "high" out of it.

Heartbroken to me was part mystery, part suspense, and part family drama. It focuses on mother and daughter relationships and the consequences of our actions that stick with us forever.

I would have preferred that the author did not go with the ghostly portion; that part was unnecessary.

I did not warm up to any of the characters and that was very different for me. I will admit that I followed Emily consecutively for a few chapters just because I was so captivated with what was happening to her. How Kate described her mother Birdie is not how I had been imagining her. Birdie was a character that will be very hard to forget. If Lisa Unger's goal was to have the reader really dislike Birdie, she certainly exceeded with me.

The high level action takes place on an Island on a lake in the Adirondacks owned by the Burke family. The pacing of the storyline is excellent.

I did enjoy Heartbroken and plan to read another one of Unger's books.

[Lena (Busy at the moment) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lisa Unger is usually a favorite writer but I didn't like this book.

I listened to the first half of the book then I didn't want to hear anything more about Birdie so I basically just read the chapters about Emily.

I borrowed both the audio and Kindle book from the library. If I didn't have the Kindle book so I could skip parts I would have given up.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book Lisa Unger's Characters were strong & dealt with every day situations the ending in particular was suspenseful & well written

[Dana ****Reads Alot**** · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first Lisa Unger book and it won't be my last. I love how she makes all her characters so real and with so much detail to the emotions being played out.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read most of this author's work, I think it's safe to say that, in my opinion, this is her best to date. Like her other novels, this one has a healthy dose of hold-your-breath suspense, believable and sympathetic characters, and exquisite plotting that rockets along seamlessly. But unlike Unger's prior work, this one includes layers of depth that separate it from hers and other more run-of-the-mill thrillers. This is a book about family and how those familial connections shape us...for better or worse. Unger goes beyond simple storytelling here and makes us think about how the connections in our lives can shape us into better people or make us much worse--and the power the individual has other his/her particular destiny. I loved this novel!

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a dysfunctional family. Reading this book was like looking at an auto accident. Lisa Unger has her characters ask themselves a lot of questions, and they all make bad choices and mistakes. Because most of the book is about events that occur over just a few days, and the last few chapters spanned over a year, the ending felt rushed. I did enjoy reading this, but it's not a book I would recommend to a friend.

[Patricia Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa Unger's books are always the kind that I can't put down when I start reading them. This one did not disappoint. The book beings as a family story and ends up being a edge of your seat thriller. The family is very interesting and dysfunctional and has lots of secrets and part of this is why bad things start to happen at the end of the story. DEfinitely a good read and this is my favorite kind of book.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 You know the author has done a very good job when you detest and feel anger toward a character for what they are and their actions. Good narrator too. This story connects very briefly with the Hollows; not enough to make it a Hollows story. Ending was okay. I always enjoy Lisa Unger books.

[Dannii Elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

What does a waitress running from the law with her worthless boyfriend and a rich family with access to an entire island and summer property have in common? Lisa Unger is going to allow us to find out.

I found the initial set-up for this novel far too lengthy that by the time the threads had connected I had lost my initial spark of interest. There were many perspectives and each with a supporting cast and backstory to learn about before the novel felt like it got going. This might have been a case of the book coming to me at the wrong time, as I longed for a high stakes thriller when something more slower-paced and character-focused was what I was instead delivered, however.

[Kari · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't say that I really cared that much for Heartbroken. I'm not sure why I even finished listening to the book. It probably should have been a DNF book for me. I think I was hoping that it would get better or that something would happen. The lackluster ending was very disappointing. I was left with the feeling of...That's it? I'm not sure what type of book Heartbroken was supposed to be. I thought it was going to be a thriller based on the synopsis, but I was wrong. At first, it seemed to be a character study. We are introduced to several characters and get a glimpse into their lives. It was hard to figure out how some of the characters fit into the story. The first 2/3 of the book were tedious and kind of slow. In the last 1/3 of the book, it turned into an unexciting thriller.

None of the characters were very likeable nor did I really feel connected with them. I had some mild sympathy for Emily in the beginning, but as the book advanced, she wasn't as pitiful as I thought she was at first. She was almost as bad as her boyfriend. She knew what she was doing was wrong, yet she kept being a doormat and allowed him to use her repeatedly in his schemes. I liked Birdy the least as she isolates everyone in her life. I was surprised that her family hadn't stopped making and effort with her long before the events in the book take place. The rest of the characters were just forgettable.

This book did get good reviews, but I just didn't care for it. The audio book was fairly good and that is probably why I finished it.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite a 4 star rating but nevertheless a very good book.
Fast paced novel told from various points of view in which they all link up for the climax.
I look forward to reading more of Lisa Unger's work.

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this book. Long character introductions with no sense of a plot or how they might later interact. I put it aside after ~ 50 pages.

[Laura Bradford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this 4.5 stars. Really enjoyed this story!

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.
This is another book that features a dysfunctional mother and daughter relationship, which seems to be a common theme in fiction. Birdie is a most unlikeable character and her husband, Joe, just opts out of anything he finds too difficult. Their daughter, Kate, is a likeable character who, unlike her brother Theo, spends a lot of her life trying to please her mother, at times at the expense of her own husband and children it seems. I liked the positive mother /child relationship portrayed between Kate and her two children Chelsea and Brendan and the relationship between Chelsea and Brendan. It’s good to see some positive family relationships portrayed.
The other story concerns Emily and her loser boyfriend Dean, who has been in prison. Again the relationship between Emily and her mother has a lot to do with the way Emily clings to Dean for love, despite doubts that surface at times. It is this supposed love for Dean that causes her to make a series of bad choices that lead to consequences she could never imagine. This is a novel of families, secrets and how certain choices impact not only one person’s life but those around them.
The ghost element added nothing to the book in my opinion and could have been dispensed with. Although I would call this suspense rather than a psychological thriller, as one of the blurbs on the back claims, this is a novel that will keep you turning the pages. The closer I got to the end the faster those pages turned. My first Lisa Unger novel and I will definitely read another.

[JudiAnne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have always liked Lisa Unger's book but this one left me wondering why I read as much as I did. I started skimming and finally gave up. Disappointing!

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbroken is a family saga/slow burn thriller told from multiple points of view. We meet Birdie, a wealthy matriarch, whose summer home on Heart Island is her favourite place in the world. Birdie's daughter, Kate, is justamom (a self named moniker) and a life goal that her mother looks at with disdain. Kate's daughter, Chelsea, is a teenager ridden with self-doubt. We also get the perspective of Emily, a young woman struggling to get by on her earnings as a server.

I'm a fan of Lisa Unger's writing. Her books are usually a solid read for me, often 3 stars. This is the case of the right book at the right time, I was quietly immersed in the story and the plot Unger lays out. My $1 purchase at a used book sale turned out to be quite a bargain.

[Megan Pace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe 4.5? I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I couldn’t decide what to read next so I went with the oldest fiction in my Kindle library - I downloaded it in 2012. 😳 It had some good family drama and a little suspense but nothing too heavy. Good vacation read.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book via Read It Forward (I think? Or Goodreads? One or the other), and it was an enjoyable read. It didn't seem first what I'd call a thriller, but the pace got up once the people started to head to Heart Island, and from then on it became interesting - what was going to happen to these people and how do they bind together? I'm not going to spoil it, but that's where the action will be. You can't bring in the characters from this book to a small island and NOT have something happen.
A good selection of characters, and you get to know them well, and what motivates them. A bit too many points of view even - I could have gladly skipped the bad guys views (or made those stronger, and skipped half a dozen of the other views. Just not make everyone's views available). Some characters were irritating, e.g. Emily - I felt like smacking her hard because her character was just irritatingly self-deceiving and dumb. But as the story goes on, her part becomes invaluable. Without her the book would not happen. Also an appraise for the characters is that the story seems very much character driven than dialog driven.
I enjoyed the book, and I guess you could call it psychological thriller. But I love my thrillers raw and with a lot of action (like Robert Ludlum, pre-Covert One series. A lot of action, lot of outrageous action, big conspiracies, lots of action from page 1 to the last page). So perhaps if there was a category called "soft thriller", that would help get the expectations of the amount and type of thrill to be expected right. This book would be perfect for the category of soft thriller by the way.

[L.E. Fidler · Rating 2 out of 5]

i dislike books that read like an all-you-can eat buffet of literary tropes and plotpoints.

like, here's the thing, right. i LOVE the idea i can eat lo mein, and mozzarella sticks, AND french fries. i do. probably because i'm an emotional eater. but the reality is, if i actually did sit down to that meal, my stomach would curdle and i'd inflict a terrible bout of ibs upon myself, and the suffering would outweigh whatever initial momentary enjoyment from the consuming of said items i'd managed to derive.

reading books with ghosts and family lores and cursed islands and marital strife and cancer-riddled relatives and armed robbers and unplanned pregnancies and catfishing and SOMUCHMORE is about the same.

at first, while you're still trying to get a hold of everything, you're like "YES! THIS IS GOOD." then, you eat one mozzarella stick too many and suddenly those lo mein noodles ain't sitting so good anymore.

then...

bad things, mikey, bad things.

that's this book for me. it's too...much. i wanted a captivating ghost-y story and instead i got too many one-dimensional characters that i could barely keep straight with more issues than a lifetime movie marathon.

it was too much.

lo mein OR mozzarella sticks, people. both ain't worth it.

2 stars. not my favorite unger.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5+ stars. This is billed as a thriller but it’s not exactly that, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a good or bad way. There is a lot of character development here, even as we jump between various viewpoints. Lisa Unger is a bit hit or miss for me (loved Fragile, did not like Darkness My Old Friend) and this was definite hit. It grabbed me right away. As with all her books, there is a multi-viewpoint situation going on and in this we follow several very different women whose worlds ultimately collide. The pacing and the time spent with each is extremely well done, though I felt we lost the Chelsea/Lulu thread there at the end. Each character is interesting in her own right (mostly “hers”), if at times frustrating (Emily, I’m talking to you!) and I loved how Kate and Sean’s marriage is quite strong. You don’t see that too much in fiction (I guess good marriages are boring). I loved the bleak and lonely island setting, the sense of isolation and also beauty. If you want a thriller with lots of twists and turns and a surprise ending, this is probably not a good pick. I’d characterize it more as a family drama with a “thriller” element. Overall I found this is great beach book with a fast-moving plot and engaging characters and would recommend it to most anyone.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently this is considered a thriller? The only thrilling part of this book was finishing it. It started out with some promise but quickly went down hlll. None of the characters were likable. Everyone was lying or cheating on each other. They were all despicable. Kate was supposed to be the ‘good character’ but she was so perfect (or at least, clearly the author’s idea of perfect) that she made my teeth hurt. I felt very sorry for Birdie because no one, and I meant literally no one, liked this lady. Not her siblings, her husband, her children, no one. I thought maybe there would be some reconciling forgiveness moment between Kate and Birdie, but no. And the author clearly thought Emily was a victim, with which I thoroughly disagree - she was a grown up and blaming her insanely long list of poor decisions on not having a father while growing up is a cop out. Lots of kids grow up without fathers and don’t go all Bonnie and Clyde.

And just as an added note, I think old journals are a trope and a really lame way of telling a story.

Skip this one. Hopefully since this is old it is just from before Lisa Unger became talented.

[Ellen Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the family relationships. Not enough surprise for me in a book of this kind.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed listening to this book.

[Alyson Larrabee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atmospheric up the ying-yang. An island in a lake in the Adirondacks where the power, cell service and landline go down if there’s even a breath of wind. Safe passage by boat becomes impossible during a storm, and storms are frequent. Fun characters, too. A tough old bird, whose name is actually Birdy. She’s mean and rude, with a heart of stone, not gold, but definitely someone you want on your side when the armed grifters arrive during a hellish storm. Her daughter Kate is visiting with her daughter and her daughter’s friend, a couple of very resourceful teenagers. Across the channel there’s a nosey neighbor who can see arrivals and departures on their pier. Thank goodness he’s snooping and cares about what’s happening on the neighboring island. Birdy resents his nosiness but it comes in handy eventually. Cheating spouses abound in Birdy’s family and they’ve generated a generational legacy of deceit that leads to violence. It’s up to three generations of women, left alone on this treacherous island during a storm to deal with the fallout of the disloyal spouses. I almost forgot to mention the ghost. Let the fun begin.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4.5 stars ***

A rare rating for me, so high, at this level, as I am picky, extremely picky, not easy to please, and rarely I can find a book that really impressed me so well to go above average rating...
yet, this one is great according to my own standards, reaching almost 5 stars.

An amazing rich fountain of quotes of wisdom to be written down and hold close for future reference.

I could list some, or definitely more than some great quotes here, but my purpose is to write a review, to help you decide if this book is worth your time, not really to pass on quotes from the book, however, I think once you start the book, you'll see what I mean... some great, great quotes, hidden gems are to be found if you're patient to digest the book as it's served...

An intricate plot unfolding, with a long, long buildup, with well-constructed characters growing and revealing themselves as we go along on the journey of their lives and not lastly good action here and there.

It's an intriguing love-story and love-triangle combined, a mystery carried over for generations, in time, while we can enjoy some bits of action too, mainly to build up the suspense.

As far as a drawback, I'd say a somewhat confusing, or not easy to follow, to keep up is the sudden change of scenes and seeing current scene, or the next scene, or the previous one, or bouncing back and forth between scenes and characters, seeing it from the vantage point of one character or another, whoever is the primary in the scene at that time.
It's an interesting writing technique to use, it appears a favorite of this author, as opposed to using, describing the scenes by a narrator, , or other more conventional techniques, yet, this one, it can be somewhat confusing, even mind-numbing, if one doesn't pay close, very close attention to who's the protagonist in any scene, at any given time.

To me, at least, from my own perspective, that's a bit draining, it feels kind of like a chore just to keep up, to understand who's talking at one point, with who is talking and what's happening, altho' the dialogue is great to follow and a lot of wisdom is passed using the dialogue as a vehicle...

I assume the author is favoring this technique, of scenes bouncing and describing from each character's perspective, as a way to keep the audience engaged, committed, so we won't let the book down until the end - if it works as intended or not, I don't know, but for me, it was at times a bit frustrating, making me go back maybe a few pages, and review again, who's talking, to who and what's happening in the scene, and speaking for myself only, me sometimes being tired, I just let the book down, exactly because it was not so easy to keep up.

It's a great book nonetheless, maybe one of the best - that I'm aware of - by this author, definitely a joy, don't miss the chance to get your hands on this one, in case you still wonder, it will worth your time...