The Girl with a Clock for a Heart

A Novel

By: Peter Swanson

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Already optioned for film, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart is Peter Swanson's electrifying tale of romantic noir, with shades of Hitchcock and reminiscent of the classic movie Body Heat. It is the story of a man swept into a vortex of irresistible passion and murder when an old love mysteriously reappears.

On an ordinary Friday evening at his favorite Boston tavern, George Foss's comfortable, predictable life is shattered when a beautiful woman sits down at the bar, a woman who vanished without a trace twenty years ago.

Liana Dector isn't just an ex-girlfriend, the first love George couldn't quite forget. She's also a dangerous enigma and quite possibly a cold-blooded killer wanted by the police. Suddenly, she's back - and she needs George's help. Ruthless men believe she stole some money…and they will do whatever it takes to get it back.

George knows Liana is trouble. But he can't say no - he never could - so he makes a choice that will plunge him into a terrifying whirlpool of lies, secrets, betrayal, and murder from which there is no sure escape.

Bold and masterful, full of malicious foreboding and subtle surprises, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart is an addictive, nonstop thriller - an ever-tightening coil of suspense that grips you right up to its electrifying end.

©2014 Peter Swanson (P)2014 HarperCollinsPublishers

Critic reviews

"The pace is fast...and the plot genuinely twisty.... [It is] seemingly pre-measured for the movies...often to good effect; all in all, a quick, deft, promising first crime novel." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"[A] roller coaster thrill-fest of a ride, filled with deliciously wicked moments of mystery, murder, and mayhem, double-cross and deception. A cerebral noir thriller debut." ( New York Journal of Books)

You can't win them all

I found this book to be just OK. Not as compelling as some others by Peter Swanson.

No ending

The story was page turning and very enchanting. Then it just kind of ended. There was no real conclusion. I was waiting for another chapter and very disappointed in that it the rest was great

Not horrible, but not my favorite.

I love mystery and thrillers, but for some reason this audiobook didn't capture my attention like others do. It was a little slow, and all in all, not that great of a story.

Decent

Solid book though (in my opinion) not as good as The Kind Worth Killing which was EXCELLENT.

Unfinished -disappointing

This book regrettably stops in the middle of the story. Sometimes this technique is used by authors to leave something to the imagination. In this case the author seems to have been overwhelmed by his own story line and simply did not know how to get out of it. So next best thing: Here - reader you do the work. Disappointed

The girl with a clock for a heart

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book seemed to follow a fairly predictable course and character introduction and development. What I feel was lacking was more character development from Leanna.
More questions are left unanswered then answered laying the also predictable foundation for a sequel- or trilogy.
The book was captivating and interesting but then strayed just enough into implausible to make this book less enjoyable. Instead of identifying with the main characters strife the reader is left a bit mystified at his purely emotionally driven decisions. This naïveté is hard for the reader to identify with after a while. In part one feels he deserves all bad things and more for being such a love starved puppy. I would have enjoyed seeing a bit more grit in his character development.
However fabulous first book for this author.

Story...awesome...storyteller..not so much!

Book is an awesome story!! It kept me guessing page after page! The Narrator had a voice that I orally made me cringe, like nails to a chalkboard...not trying to be ugly, Mr. Paul!! Maybe if he wouldn't have read it by himself?!? Maybe a couple more ppl narrating the females' parts??? Idk though???!!??

High school level writing

Way too many "flowery" details that contribute zero to the plot or progress. Whole paragraphs dedicated to unrelated tidbits (and you know they are unrelated even before the final parts of the book) about scenery that's already been set, or characters already introduced. But then whole other parts of the storyline are glossed over. It's a beach read / commute listener, that's mildly intriguing, but also requires you to listen to a whole lot of unimportant minutia in order to get to the juicy parts of the plot

Read the book, don't listen.

I can't handle this narrator. He sounds like a robot with his stopping and pausing in the middle of sentences. Ruined an otherwise decent book.

Dreadful narrator

This was not one of Peter Swanson's best books. I found myself wanting it to end. The story dragged too much. That narrator ruined what was left of it. It might have been good if he had read ahead a little so it didn't sound like the sentences were a surprise to him as he read. Why bother to make a book into an audiobook and have a passionless narrator?