The author stated this book was different from the 4MK series. So I immediately start thinking that he has changed genres or something. Not the case. The difference is it is a little lighter in tone even though there are still bad guys. There is still his trademark mystery. The ending was satisfying while also leaving the door ajar as he did in 4MK. I guessed an important aspect of the twist early on but it did not ruin anything. I highly recommend this book.

J.D.Barker has done it again!! He’s one of my favorite authors and didn’t disappoint with this one!!!

This is a thriller, love story and the bonds of friendship. . I know the book is long (I believe 800 pages) but in my mind it needed to be to capture the story of their lives. Once I started I didn’t want to stop!!

Jack and Stella met as children in the unlikely place in a cemetery on August 8th. Many years after, same day, , same place. For years, well into adulthood they become entangled in a story that will blow your mind!!
Thank you NetGalley and Hampton Creek Press for allowing me the privilege of reading this ARC!

What an absolute belter of a book.

From the first page, right through to the last, JD Barker wove a tale that had me gripped to the point where I read whilst cooking dinner!

After his 4MK series, I didn't know how he would top it, but by God I believe he's done it.

It's wonderful, heartbreaking, scary, and romantic all in one. The characters were a divine to read (even the nasty ones) and Jack and Stella's story just shone from page to page.

A fantastic read.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for an advanced copy - I'll read this again at some point :-)

4.5 ⭐ rounded up to 5 🌟

Where do I start? For a person like me who really enjoys books when they span a person's life beginning in childhood this book was a joy to read.

The main characters, Jack and Stella meet in sort of strange circumstances on August 8, when they are both 8 years old. Jack is at the cemetery with his Aunt Jo visiting his parents gravesite when he wanders off and meets a beautiful lil girl (Stella) sitting on a bench reading a worn copy of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. There is a mysterious white van waiting for her. They only talk a matter of minutes but Jack becomes enthralled by this little girl!

The story moves on with both children meeting on that same bench in the cemetery for several years, always on August 8th. Jack looks forward to seeing her every year and starts waiting from the moment they part until he can see her again. There is always that white van. This goes on for several years until Jack is a teenager, as I recall. One time he is even taken in the van to where Stella lives. What a wondrous and intriguing place it seems to him. Never once do they touch and after the last time at the bench, Jack continues to look for her there every year, even enlisting his friends to aid him in finding out more about her.

The book encompasses everything that happens in Jack's life in between the yearly visits and then for the years after, until they finally meet again.

To me, this was essentially a beautiful love story, with fun times, tragedy and science fiction all thrown into the mix. I really enjoyed this book and thought it very well written. My only dislike was that the book was over 700 pgs. I felt it could have easily been shortened 100-200 pages and still been just as great, but a lil faster paced.

All in all I loved this book and would recommend to a friend. I also would read a second book about Jack and Stella but that probably won't happen. A girl can wish though, can't I?

***Many thanks for an advanced review copy from #NetGalley, #Hampton Creek Press, and the author J.D. Barker!!!***

3 for neutral, as I don’t think this is my type of book! I tried to read it on a few occasions, but it was just a bit too sci-fi for my personal taste. I will update if able to finish at a later date.

Another of my favourite authors who goes to the top of my reading list when he has a new release. A gripping and intense read which had me well and truly hooked. So many twists and turns. A story that is so powerful and at the same time really emotive. A mystery thriller with so many layers. Is it a ghost story or a really good thriller? Readers can make up their own minds. Personally bloody brilliant and definitely left me wanting more of this authors storytelling. An easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
Thanks to Hampton Creek Press and Netgalley for the ARC

This is another wonderful book from J.D. Barker. A thrilling horror mystery with a slight sci-fi twist and fantastic characters. Readers should not be put off by the high page count as once you are just a chapter in the pages fly by. An absolutely terrific read.

Full review to come but quick thoughts...enthrallingly captivating story that I didn't want to put down. It certainly does not read like an over 800 pg book because it's such a brilliant story. I'm a huge fan of JD Barker and once again, he's written a novel that doesn't disappoint. Highly recommend!
Thank you Hampton Creek Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

Last summer I read the 4MK series in a little more than a week and it instantly became one of my favorite thrillers ever, so when I saw on NG that its author had a new book coming out I requested it even without reading the blurb and I'm so glad I did.

"She has a broken thing where her heart should be" was a mesmerizing read. It's a multi-genre story with so many layers I got sucked in almost from page one. It is a friendship tale, a thriller, a coming of age story, an 80s kids adventure, a secret experiments mystery, a road trip journey...but above all it is a love story spanning decades. I couldn't stop reading specially for the first half of the book. I just needed to know more about what was happening. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a big fan of sci-fi/supernatural stories where baffling events happen, but here it was told in such an enthralling way I didn't even care for my reticences.

Even though it is almost 800 pages long, it doesn't feel long at all. The characters are so well developed that you even care for the secondary ones, suffering along with Jack when something bad happens. It gave me some serious Stephen King/X-files vibes and I couldn't help myself imagining some scenes on the big screen (that final confrontantion with the villain gave me chills!)

Highly recommended story with a premise so original that you will find yourself glued to the pages. With this book J.D. Barker has got me to read anything he writes from now on whatever the genre.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hampton Creek Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to the publisher and the author for giving me the chance to check this one out.
Ultimately, I am tapping out at 30%. I've tried to get into the story and connect with the characters but I just can't.
Unfortunately, this is a case of wrong reader for the book. There is nothing wrong with the writing, and there is an ok flow to the book, but I'm just at that point where I'm not wanting to go on.

Thank you to J. D. Barker, Hampton Creek Press and NetGalley (@netgalley) for providing me with a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Oh dear...
This book had me all over the place! I must admit at times I just wanted to leave it, the story (to me, at least) dragging a bit.
But now that I have finished it, I'm glad I stuck with it till the end.
Like the author said, this can be best described as Jack's and Stella's story. But that is not to be confused with a classic love story.
This book has it all-love story, thriller, horror...and it really is well put together. The army of characters is amazingly depicted-the ones you love from the start, the creepy ones, theones you hate from the bottom of your heart...
August 8 is important for the story and chapters revolve around it. Each year anticipating what will happen on that day.
Without revealing much, the loss of some characters throughout the story really was painful, while at times I couldn't decide whether a character is good or bad...
The book really grips you and doesn't let go!
A full 5 star from me!!

Jack Thatch lost his parents when he was just a toddler in a horrific car accident that he still has nightmares about. Or are they memories? Stella has also lost her parents. David's parents died as well. But why? And how are they all connected? It will scare the daylights out of you!

Since then he has lived with his Aunt Jo. Every year on the anniversary of their deaths Jo and Jack go to the cemetery and spend time with his parents. Jo is adamant about this. August 8th of every year. They read out loud what the tombstones say and then Jack wanders around.

It's on one of these walkarounds that eight-year-old Jack meets eight-year-old Stella. Sitting on a bench wearing full-length gloves like an old woman going to the opera. Her chaperone ( and let's use that term very loosely for now) doesn't like Jack and makes it known. But something about Stella draws Jack in. And for years they meet up on August 8th in the cemetery to chat.

Jack is obsessed with Stella. Why only once a year and on that date? Who are all of the people surrounding her in the white coats and cars?

When his Aunt Jo dies early of cancer, Jack is left a very wealthy man with his elderly neighbor lady keeping track of him for the few months he has left until he turns 18.  But Jack is still trying to figure out what really happened to his parents and he knows Jo knew.

There were so many different things going on in this long book! Conspiracy Theories, kids with scary powers that gave me chills!

This is Barker at his best! Scaring the life out of me. I could not put it down once I started reading it. There's Suspense, Mysteries, Mob Crime, FBI, and even Pharmaceutical Crimes!

My favorite thing was at the end when Barker said he needed a break from the darkness of the Monkey books so he wrote this one. I would love to spend one day in this man's head! Bravo!

Full Five Star Review!

NetGalley/ March 31st, 2020 by Hampton Creek Press

The wonderful thing about starting to read a book by J.D. Barker is that you never know where his weird and amazing imagination is going to take you. A consummate storyteller, he admits that he doesn't work to a plot outline and lets the book take him where it will and perhaps that is why it works so well for him.

As promised She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be is not as dark as the 4MK trilogy but it is just as wondrous. We have two children who meet in a cemetery on 8th August every year, a little girl kept in a mansion surrounded by guards dressed in white, a boy kept locked in a sound proof room and carefully watched and studied every minute of the day and a detective who keeps what he calls a 'wall of weird' documenting bodies that have turned up over the years their flesh and internal organs strangely burnt but their clothes intact.

Jack Thatch is the narrator who meets the little girl, Stella (Estella) Nettleton in the cemetery in 1984 when they are both eight years old. Jack is with his Auntie Jo visiting the graves of his parents, killed in a car crash four years previously. Stella is sitting on a bench reading her favourite book, 'Great Expectations'. As in the book, Stella's parents are also dead and she lives in a mansion with a guardian. She decides Jack can become her Pip. Even though they speak for only a few minutes and won't meet again for another year, it's the start of a lifelong obsession for Jack and he becomes compelled to seek Stella out to find out more about her.

Although this is a long book, I enjoyed every minute of it. All the strange and unusual pieces fit together so well in a perfectly made jigsaw - Stella's isolated and privileged existence, Jack's strange dreams about his father, the mystery boy in the locked room, the people in white and their ever present white cars and the strangely burnt people. Great characters and a fabulously original tale full of suspense, intrigue, friendship and love, just as a great novel should be.

4.25 stars

ENTHRALLING

She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be is a weird, dark, and mysterious novel about a mystery surrounding a girl who appears once a year in the cemetery on the anniversary of the death of a young boy’s parents.

The plot has many characters and many layers. While not complex, there are a lot of threads and strange dynamics to keep track of. Combining a mixture of genres, this is a story about a boy and a girl who meet at a cemetery. They both happen to be orphans. Infatuation grows into love, but dark forces are keeping them apart.It’s about friendship and family. It’s about exploitation and evil. It’s about the good vs. the bad. The normal vs. weird. The natural vs. the supernatural. Most significantly, it’s about love.

There is something about the way J.D. Barker writes these characters and their story that is so compelling. I couldn’t put this book down. I was sucked in almost immediately and quickly got lost in the tale of Jack and Stella. The more I read the more I wanted to know. The more I read, the stranger it became. But it also became more and more enthralling. This a lengthy read, but it never felt long. A lot happens, but all of the threads come together and all of the events are meaningful. The characters are well-developed and Jack makes for a great hero. Influenced by Great Expectations combined with elements from X-Men set in Pittsburgh, She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be is a thoroughly entertaining, original, and refreshing read. This is a story to get lost in.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to get this ARC since I loved The 4MK books. Definitely nothing like that series. This kind of had a Twilight feel to it for me. A forbidden love story between young adults who were not typical. Add a touch of science fiction, action adventure and drama. It was a great story with great characters but it seemed to go on forever. That is my only complaint. I found myself skimming towards the end just to get to the end. Loved the ending as well just wished it hadn’t taken so long to get there.

I've been a J.D. Barker fan since I read the first book in his 4MK series. You immediately get caught up inside of any Barker tale, and "Broken Thing" is no exception. Although his serial killer series is more in my wheelhouse, Sci-Fi fans will appreciate the underbelly of the story that hides as much as it shows about a few special children's twisted lives and the results of one company's too-good-to-be-true offer. Thrill-seekers will latch on to the mystery and synchronized violence of "the people in white" and the heated cross-country pursuits. There's a little something for everyone. Let the wordy title be a warning to you though - there is a lot of story here, told over decades, with many, many characters. So give yourself time to sit back and enjoy it all.

Full disclosure: Long books have to really bring it or else I get impatient. If it’s taking me the same amount of time to read a book that it would take me to read two (or even three!) books closer to standard length, it better make it worth my while. Doorstoppers have to be awesome enough to make me temporarily forget how many great books are on my TBR list at any given time. This one weighs in at 774 pages, more than twice the length of the more common 300- to 320-page book. So, yes, at times, I did find myself frustrated. For instance, it takes a while to get going at the beginning. If I hadn’t been reading this for Netgalley, I’m not 100% sure I would’ve stayed with it. That’s not to say this is a bad book! It’s a fun read with distinct characters, lots of formidable and ominous villains, both general and specific. There’s a love story woven throughout, which always adds a little extra something. And if you’re a fan of Great Expectations, you’ll enjoy the fact that Barker seasoned this novel with elements from the Dickens' classic.

Amazon and NetGalley both list this title under the Suspense/Thriller and Horror genres. Suspense/thriller fans, I think you’re going to be happy with what you find here. It has all of the elements you’re looking for — both (seemingly) ordinary and mysterious characters with uncertain intents chasing each other around, loads of tense moments and surprises.

I fear, however, that the pure Horror fans out there may be slightly less enthralled. I wouldn’t say it’s scary as much as it is exciting.

SciFi readers, on the other hand, you’ll also likely discover a lot to like about this book, especially if the Near-Future and Human Development subgenres are up your alley. If you enjoyed The Institute by Stephen King (or are considering picking it up), you might want to take a look at this one, too. Ditto if The Power by Naomi Alderman is on your bookshelf.

This one starts out a little 'bitty', with quotes and false starts before the prologue, which itself is separated in time from the story that begins in chapter one.

To be honest, it was a slog. I wanted to DNF it every time I picked it up. It seemed to have trouble deciding what genre it is and the overlay of Dickens' Great Expectations (one of my favourite stories of all time) didn't really work. It felt very contrived and I would have given up when Miss/Mrs Oliver gave Jack her speech in the graveyard except that I always finish books I've requested from Netgalley, even when they're painful.

The sentence structure was fine, the problems were in dialogue and plot. The sort of scifi sequences with some mysterious entity observing could have been left out altogether and improved the story as well as shaving off some over long filler.

The characters themselves, while not evoking sympathy, were at least defined personalities but Jack himself was pretty wet and the naming of many of them again I felt insulted Dickens. Still, the book seems to have a lot of good reviews so maybe it just has its audience.

This book was 800 pages, so it wasn't a short read, but it was an enjoyable one. I haven't read anything from this author before, so wasn't prepared for the weirdness that their writing entails. This book spans multiple decades, which accounts for the length of this read. Do not be intimidated, it is worth the investment of your time!

OMG what a book! This is only the second book I've read by J.D. Barker - the first being a collaboration with Dacre Stoker - Dracul - which was a fascinating read. This book is horror first of all, but could be considered mystery or thriller as well - there is definitely quite a mystery and thriller definitely fits. In the acknowledgements J. D. Barker said he wrote this book as something lighter after his dark 4MK thriller series. I thought this one was pretty dark, but now I'm figuring I'll have to read that 4MK series as well.

I raced through this book because I couldn't put it down. I could never figure out exactly what was going on until the end and I'm still filled with questions. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while. Totally engrossing and fascinating - and let me say pretty darn original.

Kudos J. D Barker! The characters are so realistic and yet fantastic. The plot is engrossing and fast paced. Loved it.

Thanks to J. D. Barker and Hampton Creek Press through Netgalley for an advance copy. This was an awesome read!