the heart collector

by Jacque Vandroux

"Finding murderers is just a day on the job for police captain Nadia Barka. But when a mutilated corpse is discovered in an old baptistry, she's face with some difficult questions: who left a young woman's body in a high-security museum in the middle of the night? And where is the victim's heart?" partial amazon description

447 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Nat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t really enjoy this book. Glad I did it as an audiobook, otherwise I wouldn’t have finished it.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps the prose suffers from translation, or perhaps the author is an engineer who writes as a hobby. Either way, this book was adequate but nothing special, something you read and then forget.

I don't read a lot of horror fiction, but I do wonder what someone like Stephen King would have done with the same premise. More imagery, subtler foreshadowing, perhaps less reliance on coincidence (the detective TURNS OFF HER PHONE and therefore misses an important phone call??) The characters were poorly drawn, with the women in particular feeling like Strong Female Character tropes rather than actual people.

There probably was a good book in there. It needed to incubate a little longer and cross the desk of a few more editors, something true of most Kindle First books.

[Ann Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of reviews here that found reading a translation difficult. Yes, the turns of phrase weren't what one would expect from an American writer but to me, those small details didn't make a difference. I really liked this book. I thought it was a great story, with well defined characters, a touch of the paranormal and a mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat. It also instilled in me a burning desire to visit Grenoble France. If you like a good mystery, can handle a little stilted dialogue (and there really wasn't all that much that I found to be stilted), and like a paranormal bent to your stories, you will enjoy this one. I did!

[Debbie Shoulders · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bodies of tortured girls show up in churches, a young man begins having visions, an dedicated detective almost loses her life. The key to solving the murders may link to ancient Aztec rituals.

There's a lot going on in this novel all intended to catch an evil serial killer, even a few digs at American culture. But it is a fun romp, set in Grenoble, France. The mystery reveals itself quickly with a few convenient plot elements added, so that everything wraps up tidily.

This was a free offering from Amazon and provided an enjoyable few days of entertainment.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a Kindle freebie. They are usually pretty weak. I wondered if this was a translation, and sure enough, it was. I think it is a sign of poor translating when you can so obviously tell. Anyway, plot was pretty good, I enjoyed the characters, good story overall. My biggest complaint is the poor writing that was almost a distraction.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good serial killer mystery. I enjoyed the setting, although really it didn't feel too European to me. The story could have been set in many countries around the world and it would have worked. The idea of creating your own religion was interesting, and the killers were quite creepy. The book was good, but not super exciting.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Murder mystery set in France. Held my interest so read pretty quickly. However something about the writing bothered me. When finished, I saw that it was a translation. Am thinking that was the problem.

[Kathy Parish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit rocky from the translation perspective but I found to be a good albeit creepy serial killer mystery with a bit of paranormal thrown in.
It worked as "escapist reading" during some time off. Liked the French setting. Protagonists quite likable.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book! I lived that the story took place in France, and had French characters. It was a murder mystery that was different than most which was nice. There were a few f-bombs, that I ignored.

[Karne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was OK, interesting enough to finish but not ground-shaking.

[Jennifer]

I did not like it. Too predictable and off the wall.

[Lisa Ramoutar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially a good plot...but somewhere within the storyline it became too predictable. This book took me way too long to complete.

[Rachael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kindle freebie. Terrible translation.

[Jann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange but it did hold my interest.