Book giveaway: The Stopped Heart by Julie Myerson

I enjoyed this. It was well written and paced. I must say though that I found it hard to understand why Mary didn't run screaming from Eddie, he was so creepy, manipulative and fawning. Given her recent experiences one would expect her to be more guarded and less trusting. It didn't help that for some reason I visualised him as the character from Tracy Ullman's recent series who runs his app business from a coffee shop! I had expected that strand of the story to have a similarly brutal and gory conclusion than it had, in parallel to they 150 year old strand, and it came as a relief that it didn't, I'm not sure my nerves could've taken much more.

Thank you MN for the book (please note my name change).

Like some of the other posters, I was the book quickly and would agree that it is a page turner. However, I found it so dark & disturbing that I any honestly say I enjoyed it. The subject matter - no spoilers - is the murder of children, so you don't expect a light read, but I found this relentlessly grim. Warning: don't read if you're depressed or anxious, but I can't deny it is a powerful & well told tale.

Not a book to read in bed- However once i had started reading, it was difficult to put the book down. I love stories that include the past and present and how time is intertwined and this was one of the best by far.

Received my copy about a week ago and am about 3/4 of the way through (finding the time between work and an active 6 yrs old) which has made it difficult to follow at times as there's two stories in the one book (and some 150 yrs apart so switches between the two). Will try and finish though as keen to see how it ends. Thanks for the copy!

I've just finished reading my copy. I thought the story echoed part of the heartbreaking true life case of the murder of the two girls in Soham in 2002. Very well written, incredibly creepy right from the very beginning. I found it hard to put down and had to force myself to slow down my reading as I was so keen to get to the ending. As the previous reviewers have noted, the subject matter is horrifying and the descriptions in places are quite brutal. I too loved the characters of Eliza and Lottie and the whole time-crossover theme. The author's description of the utter desolation of the parents who lost their girls is completely believable and included elements I hadn't really considered before. It's a story which will stay with me. The writing is very 'filmic' and I could see this being a very successful feature film, along the lines of The Lovely Bones.

As Foxinabox said, it could be an incredible film :)

I came in here to write an epic review but realised its all been said already..

To summarise: unputdownable, kept me up late at night reading, blurring between past and present incredible skilfully done, kept me interested until the end, beautifully written, 'difficult' subject matter dealt with elegantly, all characters genuinely believable and 3 dimensional, however unsympathetic.

I really enjoyed it, would recommend to others and would read again purely for the intricacies of the story and the way it's written.

I also wanted to say I really liked the cover. It's somewhat migraine inducing in that it's out of focus around the centre focus becomes sharp. I think it's partly supposed to reflect Mary's experience of being able to tune in to certain people and events from other times, she doesn't seem to be able to do it entirely at will ....... I got the impression it was something like the psychic equivalent of magic eye pictures ;)

I received the book on Friday evening, started reading on Saturday and finished late Sunday night! (couldn't stop reading it - really felt I wanted to feel some resolution by getting to the end...)

I was shocked at how brutal some parts of the book were. It was beautifully written, often written so well the reader slides into another world without being yanked out by self-conscious prose and overusing particular words (a strange pet hate of mine).

I found the book extremely challenging plot wise (horrifying violence and brutal scenes) yet insightful in subtle ways too.

I found myself preferring Mary though I liked all the characters except maybe Deborah though it's hardly a requirement to like all the characters for a book to be good.

I found it very compelling, strong and shocking. I actually found myself thinking books ought to carry some sort of classification or warning system like films and computer games..... not that any child is likely to read it but there are themes lots of adults could be horrified and distressed by.

It was an excellent book despite all this, or because of it.

I started this morning and I'm up to chapter 3 at the moment. I mirror the pp- it is really addictive. I can already see the book is tackling huge issues,with past trauma and depression seemingly being dealt with by the more modern narrator Mary. The house gives her the creeps, and the brilliant narrative and descriptions make me weary of it too! I can already see this would make a fantastic movie or tv drama.

Thank you, I received mine on Friday. I started reading it on Saturday morning and finished it last night. It was very addictive.
The book had a double layered plot that literally overlaps each other. It was a strange mixture of grooming and abuse, ESP and murder that is mirrored between two families 150 years apart.
It was very difficult to read, as I think the themes are pretty much any parents worst nightmares.
I couldn't warm to the modern protagonist Mary but I loved Eliza and Lottie. The ending was crushing and also surprising but I really think that the author did a fantastic job.

“The Stopped Heart” by Julie Myerson, tells the story of families torn apart by psychopathic murder.

From the opening paragraph where a sunny summer’s day becomes filled with screaming and blood, the reader is caught in a tale spanning 150 years where the spirits of psychic individuals move between the centuries carrying their painful burdens with them.

The author switches continually between rural Victorian England and modern day, but by using the simple trick of mentioning [for example,] “milking time” or “the car keys”, surprisingly, most of the time I did not find it confusing.

Entirely built on pain, sadness and anger, in my opinion this is a dark but strangely compelling novel.

Received the book,a beautiful edition,one to keep.Really interesting premise.Looking forward to read.

Received mine, thank you! Love the cover

Just arrived today! Many thanks. 🙂

Has anyone received their copy yet? I haven't had mine and thought it would be here by now.

Sounds great!