Heartwood by Amity Gaige

 

Title:  Heartwood

Author:  Amity Gaige

Narrated by:  Justine Lupe, Alma Cuervo, Rebecca Lowman, Ali Andre Ali, Cary Hite, Helen Laser

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 45 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank-you!

What is a goal that you hope to accomplish in the next ten years?  I hope to get back to the Grand Canyon so that my kids can see it for the first time.

Valerie Gillis is forty-two years old and close to finishing her goal of hiking the Appalachian Trail when she goes missing in Maine.  Alone and lost, she writes her thoughts down for her mother.  Maine State Game Warden, Beverly, is leading the task force looking for her.  Lena is a seventy-six-year-old retired woman in Connecticut that is fascinated by the disappearance.  Will her armchair sleuthing help to find Valerie?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I love, love, loved the full cast audiobook recording.  There were three main points of view:  Valerie, Beverly, and Lena.  I also loved the interviews/conversations that popped up throughout book with her hiking buddy, Santo.  The voice actor really brought Santo to life!  I loved his story of being a black, “fat” hiker on the Appalachian Trail.  I want a book just on Santo’s adventures.

·       I enjoyed the hiking aspects of the Appalachian Trail as well as the relationships between hikers on the trail. 

·       Valerie’s husband, Gregory, also follows along and meets Valerie at stops along the way to keep her supplied.  She decides during the hike that she no longer loves Gregory and lets him know. Did Gregory have anything to do with her disappearance?

·       Valerie’s trail nickname was Sparrow.  I thought the trail nicknames were interesting.

·       Valerie decided to go on this hike after being burned out as a nurse during the pandemic.

·       I enjoyed the guitar music at the end of the audiobook.

·       Over the course of the book, I grew to love Valerie, Beverly, and Lena as well-rounded characters.   I like how the book looked to the future to where their lives went after this mystery.

·       The pacing of this book was slow at times, it’s not a fast-running thriller, but I was intrigued and wanted to know why Valerie was lost and whether she would be found.

·       This is a Read with Jenna Book.

Heartwood by Amity Gaige was an intriguing contemporary suspense audiobook set in nature with well rounded characters.  The audiobook with the full cast was a great experience.