Captivating Story and Fantastic Narrator
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Vivvy Bouchet was only ten when she saved a boy’s life by making an impossible prediction. She doesn’t want to explain it. A wunderkind scientist, she just wants to be left in peace to scan the desert Texas sky with her telescopes in one of the darkest places on earth. But when the boy she saved, now a Fort Worth cop, begs for her help on a cold case, she can’t turn him down.
In the past decade, Lizzie Solomon and the Victorian mansion where she disappeared have taken on almost mythic status. Conspiracy theorists feed the frenzy that Lizzie is still buried in the crumbling walls while her mother, who sits in prison convicted of killing her, loudly proclaims her innocence.
Paired with a skeptical detective, Vivvy falls deeper into the mystery of why Lizzie has never been found. When a vicious podcaster takes aim at Vivvy’s own secrets—and those of the vanished girl—Vivvy’s life unravels like the mysterious galaxies she chases.
Julia Heaberlin delivers a resilient and unforgettable heroine in Vivvy Bouchet, a woman who walks the line between evidence-based science and unexplained phenomenon. Sharply relevant, Night Will Find You explores the mysterious nature of belief―in science, in conspiracies, in a higher power―and the delicate dance with the things we can’t know.
Narrator: Karissa Vacker
Unabridged: 10 hr 37 min
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 06/20/2023
When Vivvy Bouchet returns home to bury her mother, her childhood friend Mike Romano approaches her for help. Mike, who is now a cop, is convinced Vivvy possesses psychic abilities like her mother, so he wants help with the cold case of three-year-old Lizzie Solomon. Lizzie’s mom is in prison for the girl’s disappearance, which took place a decade earlier. The girl was never found.
Vivvy, who is now an astrophysicist, is reluctant to get involved since she wants to leave all her perceived psychic abilities in the past. She grew up with a mother who capitalized on those abilities, yet Vivvy doesn’t wish to acknowledge the same traits.
However, her friend Mike pushes her to help him solve this cold case until she agrees. It becomes interesting when Jesse Sharp, Mike’s police partner, is as skeptical of Vivvy’s power as Mike is sure of it.
My Initial Thoughts
Psychic-type books aren’t my cup of tea. But it didn’t take long for me to realize this story was going to have me listening, and then listening some more. I was hooked on the characters and the story, which ended up including a tangled web of a podcaster, small-town people, family relationships, and a past love. And, of course, the subject of psychic ability.
Was There Too Much Going On?
I have to admit, some books leave me lost and even uncaring about so many subplots and threads running through the story. But in this case, it all fit together and at no time did I think it was too much. In retrospect, I’m wondering if it didn’t help that the threads didn’t carry character after character. I didn’t feel over-taxed with names and people.
The Characters
Each character and their relationships left me wondering. Nothing felt straightforward. And I loved the tension between Vivvy and Jesse. The characters were well-developed and unique.
My Concerns
The love triangle felt odd and the resolution was a little too quick and unbelievable.
Though I liked the scientific aspect, there were a few things I questioned.
The Narrator
I’m always amazed at what a good narrator can bring to a story. Karissa Vacker did a terrific job of reeling me in with her storytelling.
Final Thoughts
Though I had to suspend some disbelief, Julia Heaberlin created a story that had me completely engaged. The combination of author and narrator worked beautifully.
I highly recommend this audiobook! And Heaberlin will be an author I’ll keep an eye on, for sure.
My thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this #gifted audiobook to review.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5
In The News
“This gripping page-turner from Heaberlin conceals its secrets from even the cleverest readers…Vivian is an intelligent, perceptive character who’s a pleasure to spend time with, and when the plot kicks into gear, it’s nearly impossible to stop reading. This is Heaberlin at her best.”
—Publishers Weekly [starred review]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julia Heaberlin is the internationally bestselling author of six thrillers, including Night Will Find You, We Are All the Same in the Dark, Paper Ghosts, and Black-Eyed Susans. Her books have sold to more than twenty countries and have been optioned for film. We Are All The Same in the Dark won the 2020 Writers’ League of Texas award for Fiction, and Paper Ghosts was a finalist for Best Hardcover Novel at the International Thriller Awards. Before writing novels, Heaberlin was a journalist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Dallas Morning News, and The Detroit News, which fed her interest in true crime and the forgotten stories of victims, a theme she carries into her fiction. She currently lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with her family, where she’s working on her next psychological thriller.
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