Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

I felt like it was a perfect, quick, summer beach/pool read. I liked it but I didn't love it. The story itself holds promise. Although the beginning started with the feeling of 'heat' it cooled down quickly towards the end. I didn't really find the characters believable enough, they were not fully developed and I felt like the tension (of which there were thrilling elements) ultimately got a little bit lost. I couldn't really pin point if the focus was supposed to be on the teacher/ student relationship or on the relationship between mother and daughter. I also couldn't decide between whether this book was a thriller or a love/ lust story, both themes were never really explored fully. I thought it was a good debut, and Hazel's writing is great, but I think there is some story development work that could be done to make the secrets revealed even more shocking to the reader.

A darkly gripping portrayal of obsession and desire, Heatstroke is an atmospheric debut that explores how maternal love can become corrupt. Tension ripples through the novel, heightened by the oppressive summer heat that radiates off the page. The heat stifles Rachel just as she stifles her daughter in this compulsive narrative that had me gripped till the final page.

Told from Rachel’s perspective, the narrative is inherently unreliable. She‘s a complex and flawed character that spends too much time in her own head overthinking. Her rumination manifests itself in a series of unhealthy obsessions that influence her thoughts and actions. Most notably she is fixated on her daughter Mia and her friends; teenagers on the cusp of adulthood, still children but on their way to becoming young women. Rachel is both terrified and transfixed by this transition; she yearns for the little girl her daughter once was, yet seems fascinated by their budding womanhood. A fascination bordering on jealousy.

“Even at fifteen, femininity is a phantom”. Rachel performs her femininity for the men around her, every action designed to capture their attention. Men seem to expect her to personify their desires and she acts accordingly, disregarding her own feelings. She then projects these behaviours onto the girls, interpreting their movements through her own warped perception of relationships. I would love to know more about Rachel’s past, why she feels the need to play a part for men. Despite having little to no visibility of Lily’s situation, there are whole passages dedicated to what ‘might’ or ‘would’ be happening to her. Rachel envisages these scenes with such intensity that it makes the reader question whether they have been entirely fabricated. Although not always relatable, Rachel is a brilliant protagonist - being inside her head and seeing the plot unfold from her perspective was fascinating.

Atmospheric, thought-provoking and compulsive, Heatstroke is one to look out for this May. Reviewers: if you're posting about this debut on Instagram please use the #supportdebuts hashtag to help promote 2020 debut authors!

Whilst this isn’t a grip your seat skid of thriller it certainly is a story that is carried along by a tension of sorts. Whilst you might expect the main interest to be the missing schoolgirl but that’s not the case. It’s obvious Rachel ( the mother of a friend of the girl) who is the POV has an important role in the whole situation and that is where the twists come from. It’s a complex study of Rachel’s character and relationships. I enjoyed the book but wasn’t enthralled. Read it in one day as the prose is delightful and easy and I would recommend it for anyone looking for an original plot well told.

Like other reviewers, I chose this because it was endorsed by so many writers I admire. But I really struggled with this one. I can see why people are saying it is a beach read because there is all manner of torrid, high octane relationships and exchanges on offer. My problem was that I found Rachel's reactions/actions utterly implausible. Yes - she was in a tight spot, which is really what we want in a thriller. But there is such darkness in her deceits - not just to Lily and Mia, but to Marianne and Debi. What about the notion that actions have consequences and that this is the route to restoring moral order?

Having said this, I have no doubt this title will do very well. I find myself wishing I could avoid awarding stars and instead opt for a button which says 'I accept that I am not the right reader for this title'.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me see an advance copy of this novel.

A lot of my favourite authors have been raving about this book and offering author endorsements. As such, when I saw it on NetGalley immediately requested and was delighted to receive a copy.

It was very good, but I was surprised to find that it was a suspenseful domestic women's fiction novel. Almost a thriller. It's very much a mix of genres, and it took me about 30% of reading to get used to this, as my expectations had been something else.

The story is strong and very convincing, as well as cleverly written - if at times confusing due to the protagonist's memories, thoughts and present-day descriptions mixing together without clear separation. Still, well-worth a read this summer.

This would be a great summer beach read, if that was a possibility this year! I read it quickly and enjoyed the twists and tension. However, I didn’t think the “heatwave” theme was developed enough, as it was mentioned in passing several times but didn’t factor in to the plot and didn’t really have as much of an effect on the tension as I would have expected. This meant that for me there was a bit of a disconnect with the title, which I found distracting.

this book is very gripping, with tense emotions and atmosphere. it felt like a heatstroke. its a tense book that will grip those who love to read hard but confronting things

This book is a beautifully written tale of a woman adrift in midlife as her relationship with her family reshapes itself. Set during an oppressive heatwave, Rachel, the protagonist, finds herself confronting her own sense of identity through a series of events which seem to be out of her control. As events unfold, my feelings towards Rachel evolved and developed through the widest range possible (in no particular order!): self-recognition, empathy, respect, outrage, shock, nausea and hope. The reading of this book has good pace in spite of the stifling atmosphere against which it is written. I really enjoyed this; it has enough twists and turns and surprising revelations to keep me guessing right to the end. Highly recommended!

An odd, extremely disturbing book that I found difficult to read. Scanning other reviews, I think it may not have worked for me because I don't have children and that the protagonist's thoughts and behaviour are perhaps more understandable to those who are parents themselves. While there is sometimes a good atmosphere to the story, and it conjures up an oppressive summer effectively, the suffocating weirdness of the main character's perspective overwhelmed everything for me.

3.5 stars rounded up.
This book is only relatively short - the page count I saw was 320 - but it is jammed packed full of secrets, lies, duplicitous behaviour and scandal. It is centered around Rachel, a teacher, and her 15 year old daughter Mia. We first meet them in the middle of a heatwave which although not strictly integral to the plot, adds a layer of oppression and claustrophobia to the atmosphere. Things all go a bit south when Mia's friend (and Rachel's pupil) Lily goes missing. Her parents thought she was at Mia's on a sleepover with the rest of her friends but she told Mia she wasn't going. This incident strikes horror into Rachel and she becomes obsessed. Spiralling out of control with her feelings she withholds information. But as the truth starts to come out it becomes obvious that there is so much more to all of this situation and that the fallout will be spectacular.
This is a relatively slow burn book that gives up its information in phases throughout the book. It also flits about in time a little as the past is used to illustrate and complement the present. It was not the easiest book for me to read and that statement has nothing to do with the subject matter (although that in itself is quite harrowing) rather the writing style which took me quite a while to settle into. It's almost like the author was trying to hard to emulate literary fiction and maybe went a little too far and it all became a bit too much. That said, it's quite an emotive read and some of the language was evocative and added to the ambience well. I just felt the balance wasn't quite right for me personally.
The story being told was set up well at the start but, apart from a couple of reveals, flagged for the rest of the book. Although in itself a good read I also feel that it didn't quite manage to get where it was going and so the ending fell a little flat for me. That said, although it did drag a bit, it was never too much that I contemplated sacking it off. I did take a couple of breaks from it along the way as I personally needed more engagement that I got from this to keep going regardless. But I did make it over the finish line and was mostly rewarded by what I found there, albeit not completely satisfied.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Thanks to Headline and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was certainly an absorbing read from Hazel Barkworth. Taut, compelling and beautifully written, this is a novel where the tangled interplay of human relations comes to the fore of this twisty, well-plotted novel. Indeed, although there is an intriguing mystery at the heart of this novel - the disappearance of Lily, Rachel's daughter's friend, it is first and foremost a study of the human condition and the primary familial relation between mother and daughter. This is realised most fully, and with some acuity by Barkworth, with the relationship between Rachel, a teacher, and her daughter, Megan. The author speaks with poignancy and power of the tensions, conflicts and unspeakable taboos that often underlie the relationship between a mother and her daughter. Yet, love transcends these fleeting emotions, confirming its permanence as the glue that binds above all others. Then we have the weather, which provides the climatic theme for the book. The sultry, balmy, oppressive heat. that is far from incidental to the core themes of the book. A certain parallel, if you like, between microcosm and macrocosm - the individual situated within the broader context of nature. A mirror, if any were needed, of the analogies between the awesome, yet changeable power of nature, and the contradictions in the human condition from with we derive our humanity. A wonderfully realised book.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for this arc. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it fell flat in the end and failed to grip me.
This is told from the POV of Rachel, a mother to 15-year old Mia and also the English teacher at her school. One day Mia has a sleepover at their house, when Rachel receives a phone call from one of Mia's friend's, Lily, mum asking her for Lily's whereabouts. Lily was supposed to be at Mia's, but she isn't. Where is she?...The police is called and an investigation begins. Was she abducted? Are others children next? The whole community is understandably worried until they realise that Lily's mum, Debbie, has found that her suitcase is missing along with her lingerie stolen and Lily's make-up vanished. The whole situation turns. Lily has willingly run away, but with who?...Rachel knows, but why isn't she saying anything...
I rushed through the first 20% of this. The set-up is great, I adored the prose, which is good. Barkworth captures Rachel's character really well. Rachel seems to be having a middle-aged crisis of sorts - one the hand she is filled with undesirable and provocative thoughts, obsessing over Lily, and youth in general,eon the other hand she is paranoid about her daughter and wants to keep her safe i.e. within sight at all times. Along with the setting it has that heady, London summer atmosphere. However, unfortunately I felt like the plot never really takes off. There is a little twist in the middle, but nothing really comes from it. I think I want into this expecting a thriller, which this wasn't. I found the ending lacklustre and overall this lacked plot for me. If you're interested in a slow-burn, character-driven read about mothers and daughters you might enjoy this, however just to be clear this is not a thriller so don't expect anything pacy. Its 3/5

At the heart of this novel, mothers and daughters - the relationship that will never truly make sense to any of us but I love reading books that try. Tension, jealousy, secrets and the immense power of love you can have within these relationships. The weather is used well to physically embody the tension throughout the novel and with resolution, the weather breaks. It is very well done.

A great psychological thriller that isn’t made up of twists and turns. A subtler affair. Engaging, coming of age, smouldering novel. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

The perfect lockdown / summer read.

Thank you to Headline Books and Net Galley for granting me an ACSM proof copy of this book.

This is a well written about mothers and daughters. I was gripped and ended up reading this in one sitting. There’s quite a few themes that run through this novel and they are very relatable.
Can’t believe this is the authors debut novel. I’m seriously looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

Hazel Barkworth builds a slow, evolving tension in Heatstroke. A tension that is felt between Rachel - the central character and her daughter Mia, with her husband, with past and present mistakes and with the environment she finds herself in.

As the reader I was immediately transported to the oppressive summer heatwave that sets the scene for the disappearance of Lily and gradual unravelling of a mother/daughter relationship. If you are a fan of stories that explore complex female relationships then Heatstroke is the book for you!

A scorching, atmospheric thriller, I couldn't put this down and devoured it almost in one go. When Rachel's daughter's best friend goes missing, Rachel thinks she knows exactly what's happened - and recalls her own experiences at the same age. But her assumptions and judgments cause unpredictable tensions to come to the surface.

One for fans of Erin Kelly.

** 3.5 stars

Rachel is an interesting character.
Starting out seemingly as an easy going mum to teenage Mia,by the end of the book she's become obsessive,jealous and unlikable.
The whole book feels tense and claustrophobic,the unrelenting heat,the missing school girl,the school enviroment... all building the tension.
It felt a little flat to me,when the school girl is so easily brought home.
Aside from that,I enjoyed this book,and definitely will be telling others to read it.

Sadly I really struggled with this book. I don’t know if it was a typing error but they was no flow to the story. It felt a little jumbled. Didn’t really make any sense.
I really wanted to enjoy this.
Sadly it’s a no from me

I am not sure if this is correct, but I believe I read somewhere that this is Hazel's debut novel - if so, that is really quite impressive. If I had to choose one word to describe this book I would go with 'intoxicating'.

Rachel is a forty year old secondary school teacher, who works at the same school her fifteen year old daughter, Mia, attends. One weekend she allows Mia to have a small sleepover with some of her closest girl-friends.. but when one of the girls, Lily, fails to return home the next morning, Rachel's world suddenly becomes a whole lot more complicated. It isn't long before she discovers a vital clue about where Lily may have gone - and yet she decides to keep it to herself.

Rachel is an incredibly interesting (albeit frustrating) character, and her failure to behave how you would expect someone in a position of trust to forms the main basis for the rest of the novel. As much as she irritated me at times, she also fascinated me, and I also felt I began to understand her better as the book progressed.

One of the main themes explored throughout this book is the mother daughter relationship, and I thought this was portrayed well. The insecurities of getting older, coupled with a teenage daughter on the cusp of becoming a woman and all that goes along with it made for an interesting (and realistic, I suspect) parallel.

The 'heat' of the title works well throughout the book too - the atmosphere is almost stifling at times, and you do wonder if some of the characters have been slightly dazed by the heatwave, especially in some of their more questionable moments.