Heartstopper

Title: Heartstopper

Author: Joy Fielding

Genre: Thriller

Rating: A-

Blurb: Welcome to Torrance, Florida. Population: 4160. As Sheriff John Weber would attest, the deadliest predators to date in his tiny hamlet were the alligators lurking in the nearby swamps. But that was before someone abducted and murdered a runaway teenage girl...and before the disappearance of popular and pretty Liana Martin. The pattern is chilling to Sandy Crosbie, the town's new high school teacher. With a marriage on the rocks, thanks to her husband's online affairs, and a beautiful teenage daughter to protect, Sandy wishes she'd never come to the seemingly quiet town with shocking depths of scandal, sex and brutality roiling beneath its surface. And as Sheriff Weber digs up more questions than answers in a dead-end investigation, one truth emerges: the prettiest ones are being targeted, the heartstoppers. And this killer intends to give them their due...

Opinion: Well, there wasn't much to keep me reading, I admit. It just barely grazed the edge of my interest with its blurb, and being bored, naturally I picked it up and started reading.

Still, it was half-way decent with a pretty solid plot, no real 'evidence' of savagery like other authors regarding how she described the murders, not much sadism, but interesting enough nonetheless to keep me reading until the end. I would've given this a B if not for the brilliant twist in the end. I gues maybe the author had dropped some pretty broad clues especially near the end of the novel, but being the dense person that I am, I suspected near about everyone except the killer. XD

Fielding also touches on issues like physical appearances ("Boobs, baubles, and bloated, boinking, blond bimbos." anyone? XD) and how shallow some people are, and that in reality, looks and appearances count for a lot, especially if you're a high school student. Because I still have my English essay to work on, I will not attempt to highlight the 'major issues' of the novel. XDD

I think this warrants a read, especially if you enjoy thriller/crime sort of stories. ~rage-chan