I enjoyed the general storyline and the dual timelines which were interlinked well, I was surprised at the twist as I didn’t expect it at all!
There was something missing for me, it felt a bit dragged out at times but generally was a good book

Thanks to netgalley and HQ publisher's for this ARC. Due to be released on 30/01/2025.

The Dark Hours splits across two timelines but it's all cleverly intertwined. It runs very smoothly and I don't feel like you lose your way which is good as some time hops can make stories feel fragmented.

Julia's character is somewhat sad and I feel like she hasn't really lived due to the crime she worked on in 1994 and the way it has affected her and those around her. She readily admits that she ran away and I suppose she found comfort and company in Mutt. The story feels like it's as much about her closure to enable her to move on and live again as well as it being a thriller taking us along her journey to identify the killer.

I enjoyed going on Julia's journey with her. I didn't guess the initial killer or his connection to Julia but I did have manage to guess the second once they were introduced to us. Despite that, I did still feel the story offered a lot and I was invested in the motive behind it all and who else would be pulled into it.

By far the easiest 5 stars I’ve given this year! What a thriller!
I am so excited to read more from this author!
This book literally took me on the best rollercoaster ride- just when I thought it was going one way- it turned in a completely different direction! I am normally quite good at predicting the ending but had no clue!
Dual timelines were easy to navigate and made the suspense even wilder! This book has given me dark circles under my eyes from too much late night reading!
Excellent
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in return for honest feedback! Definitely the best ARC I’ve ever received!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I loved the way it time hopped from the case in 1994 to 2024. I absolutely loved Julia, what an amazingly complex and expertly crafted character! A very gripping story which manages to incorporate trauma and friendship into a gritty and gripping, serial killer book.

I am not sure what to say about this book other than – I loved it from start to finish. I sometimes find that slipping from one year to another in the future frustrating but in this case not only does it work really well but it makes for a great story. You get the feel of Julia as a young police woman working up the ranks, retirement and loneliness. The story is about murders, the person is caught and then is there a copycat out there many years later. Who could it be as the original killer had no family - interesting. The book takes you through the trauma of the original investigation and seamlessly into the next one. As a triller it stands up to this premise and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Great book

Couldn’t put it down . I absolutely loved this book. The characters are well drawn and the gap between the two retired cops and the present day ones is a great part of the story.

I’m looking forward to the next book

Wow! This book is a fast ride dual timeline book where little secrets and twists are laid throughout to keep you hooked. Sometimes in dual timeline books the ‘historical’ section can get a bit boring and samey after a while but Amy Jordan has managed to keep both timelines exciting and suspenseful all the way to the end of the book! 10/10 recommend for thriller lovers, Irish crime lovers and those who like police thrillers with extra twists.

A retired Detective Inspector seeks the quiet life in a little village but it's all about to be overturned when, after a 30 year gap she is contacted by her old boss. It's happened again. A killing of two young women. Bearing strong similarities to those young girls of thrirty years ago. The very big difference is that the perpetrator of those earlier crimes is now dead. The two retirees are brought in to offer their depth of knowledge of the killings and in so doing help to solve a modern murder mystery.
I'm Detective Inspector Julia Harte, please call me Julia, is a phrase you'll see recurring in the new investigation. In reality she is Mrs Harte and a civilian because of her retired status.
A really good detective thriller needs a degree of plausibility behind the motive of the killer. I didn't feel in the 30 years between the two, there was a shadow of that. Furthermore, in the first instance it had to be someone in the 'job' and in the second. someone of modest strength possibly a female. So this reduced the suspense factor. However, the rationale behind the killings stretched incredulity beyond breaking point. Indeed the insubordinate Gardai Harte's meteoric rise through the ranks beggared belief.
On the positive side, I enjoyed the locale and some of the storytelling.

I didn’t enjoy this I’m afraid.
It felt like you were supposed to know the main character already and yet from what I can tell this isn’t part of a series.
If anything, this felt like the introduction and follow up book rolled into one and it just got a little confusing with the jumping timelines and intersecting-but-not-actually-relevant storylines.

None of the characters are likeable, you get to the point where you don’t actually care what happens to anyone.
There’s no dramatic quality to the action. It all happens in quick spurts and strung throughout a long winded storyline where the main protagonist just ruminates and reflects on her past traumas.

The book doesn’t have edgy twists, instead all the reveals happen out of the blue and are then glossed over. And those reveals are extremely disappointing and outrageously irrelevant.

I don’t recommend this.
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC

I loved this book! And I love Julia Harte - what a great character! I liked how the book skipped between 1994 and 2024 really easily, so it kept you refreshed as to what relevance then has with now (if you know what I mean). Great ending too. I really liked how she "threw the puzzle pieces in the air" to see how they landed - very Columbo!

Would love to read other books on this character, perhaps from when she is a younger police officer.

Great book

Loved this book - it was fully of misters and suspense and the chat were very well developed. I love the storyline and how I had no clue what was going to happy. Would recommend

A great dual timeline story- so easy to fall into and so hard to put down!
The two timelines, of Julia as a retired detective, seeking solitude in the middle of nowhere and Julia as a young policewoman, striving to become a detective are interwoven by seemingly identical crimes, but the original perpetrator died in prison so who is the copycat?
The story is complex and the investigation well paced for the armchair detectives amongst us!

Hooked from the first page!

This story was thoroughly thought out and cleverly written, with a cast of well developed characters. The dual timeline, with chapters switching between 1994 and 2024, were easy to follow and made for reading very quickly.

Whilst this was a dark and sometimes emotional story, there were moments of lightness and camaraderie between the characters which made for an entertaining and more believable read. I think a well-seasoned crime/thriller reader will foresee a few of the “twists”, as I did. However, this didn’t detract from the enjoyment or the suspense I felt when reading. The unravelling of both cases was well paced and plenty of “just one more page” moments kept me up to 4am to finish.

A solid and gripping thriller that kept turning pages
Twisty, well plotted, a page turner that kept me reading.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Julia Harte is a retired detective who escaped from a busy job to a quiet Irish village when her old boss phones her to help with a recent case which copy's one of her old cases from 10 yrs previous but he was caught and had recently died in prison.
Julia was left very traumatised after losing her partner to the serial killer and is afraid of the dark but reluctantly agrees to take part in the case.
It is very fast paced with loads of twists that keeps you in suspense.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review.

Loved this, and loved the fact she is an older woman

Haven’t read anything from Amy Jordan before , but will definitely be checking out her other works

Excellent novel

It is 1994 and 2 girls are found murdered with their backs cut and wrists slashed ,policewoman Julia Harte goes into the house after reports from neighbours and is attacked , fleeing back to her police car covered in blood , only to find her partner Guard Adrian Carney dead.
Now it is 2024 and the supposed killer James Cox dies and a series of copycat murders take place.With very little to go on Julia (after rising through the ranks to Detective and retiring) is brought out of retirement alongside her old colleague Des Riordan to investigate as more girls go missing.A gripping read as the story builds.

Thank you to HQ publisher and NetGalley for the pre publication digital copy in return for my honest review.

This is such a fast paced thrilling read! I enjoyed it so much and read it easily in two days, I really wanted to know who the killer was and really thought I might know, but wasn’t right. I do enjoy being proved wrong by a book plot! The dual timeline worked really well, and the characters were well developed and believable. This is a fantastic debut novel, let’s hope there’s more to come.

I wasn't overly enamoured with this.
I liked the main character as an older woman in the modern timeline, she felt real and well drawn, and it was good to have an mature protagonist.
But the serial killer storyline however was far too convoluted, with weird stab marks and body positioning that weren't really explained but talked about endlessly and the motive of both murderers was absolutely ridiculous.
The usual tropes were thrown in - fear of the dark, a villain origins story, copycat murderers etc but added little and seemed to be shoehorned in because they should be there to make it a 'serial killer novel' rather than adding anything to the story.
This could have been simplified massively and made a lot more satisfying.

This book is a very good crime novel. It has a dual timeline following Gardai Julia Harte. In 1994 Julia loses her police partner Adrian to a serial killer and her world is turned upside down. 2024, Julia now a retired detective, who is living in a remote part of Ireland away from everything that has happened. Receives a phonecall from her old Superintendent. Two women have been murdered, their bodies staged and marked just like what happened in 1994. Julia must return to Cork and help find a killer while chasing her own demons.

Julia was a fantastic character. I loved that she was older, she was very well rounded, flawed and likeable. I would love to read another book featuring her. The twists and turns were very good. Some I guessed others I didn't. I loved how a lot of what happens is in the dark. It gave the book extra chills.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for the opportunity to read this excellent book.