Heart of Glass
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Author: Jennifer Hillier
Published: 2026
Genre: Other Genre
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IBC Editorial Rating: 3.5/5
This book is handpicked by the IBC Editorial Team. If you are an author, publisher, or reader and would like to have a book reviewed by IBC, you may reach us at editorial@indianbookclub.com — we’ll be happy to review it.
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Editorial Review:
Twenty-five years ago, a serial killer known as the Carnival Killer confessed to murdering a local high school girl in the small coastal town of Seaside. Now, on the eve of the town's dying amusement park reopening, he recants that confession. Barb, Nicolette, and Lorelei were once inseparable best friends, until a handsome, twenty-something drifter named Sam entered their lives at Wonderland, the local park. The night Lorelei disappeared into his backseat at the drive-in was the last time anyone saw her alive. A quarter century later, as another body washes ashore, Barb and Nicolette, now living entirely different lives shaped by that night, must confront what actually happened to their friend, and what it might mean for the carefully built lives they have constructed since. Jennifer Hillier delivers a twisty, atmospheric thriller where the past refuses to stay buried, no matter how far you run from it.
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Book Summary:
Twenty-five years after Lorelei's murder shattered their friendship and their small town, Barb and Nicolette have built entirely separate lives out of the wreckage. Barb never left Seaside, working as a freelance journalist for the local paper while secretly writing scathing, anonymous reality TV commentary for a popular gossip website, ironically covering a Toronto-based show called Trophy Wives. Nicolette, on the other hand, fled Seaside not long after Lorelei's body was found, eventually reinventing herself entirely as Cole Lennox, one of the very stars featured on that same reality show. Their fragile equilibrium collapses when the amusement park at the center of Seaside's tourism revival prepares to reopen, just as the Carnival Killer recants his decades-old confession to Lorelei's murder. When a new body surfaces on the shore, the past and present collide violently, forcing Barb and Nicolette to reckon with what really happened the night Lorelei disappeared, and what dangerous truths may still be unfolding in Seaside today. Hillier weaves together multiple perspectives and timelines, moving between the small-town intimacy of Seaside and the glossy, reality-TV world Nicolette has built for herself in Toronto. As secrets long buried begin resurfacing alongside a fresh string of violence, both women are forced to confront not just who killed Lorelei, but who they have each become in the years since her death.
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Key Takeaways:
“Reinvention as escape from unresolved trauma”: Nicolette's complete transformation into Cole Lennox reflects a broader truth about how thoroughly people can attempt to outrun their past by constructing entirely new identities, even as that past continues quietly shaping who they become. “Small towns and the secrets they protect”: Seaside's dependence on its amusement park for survival mirrors its deeper reliance on a comfortable, settled narrative about Lorelei's murder, one that the Carnival Killer's recanted confession threatens to unravel entirely. “Friendship fractured by tragedy”: Barb and Nicolette's diverging paths after Lorelei's death illustrate how shared trauma can pull people apart as easily as it might bind them together, each woman processing grief and guilt in radically different ways. “The uneasy line between public persona and private truth”: Both Barb's anonymous gossip writing and Nicolette's reality television fame speak to a broader theme about performed identity, and how much easier it can be to comment on other people's manufactured lives than confront the truth of your own.
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Iconic Lines, Scenes & Characters:
"Barb": Still living in Seaside decades later, Barb's secret career writing anonymous reality TV commentary adds an unexpected layer of irony to her character, her public restraint contrasting sharply with the sharp, hidden voice she has cultivated online. "Nicolette, now Cole Lennox": Nicolette's complete reinvention as a reality television star represents one of the novel's most striking character arcs, her glamorous new identity built directly atop the trauma she fled Seaside to escape. "The Carnival Killer's recanted confession": The decades-old case reopening after a shocking recantation becomes the novel's central catalyst, throwing into question everything the town, and Barb and Nicolette themselves, believed they knew about that fateful night. "The reopening amusement park": Seaside's aging park, central to both the original tragedy and the town's current hopes for revival, functions as a haunting backdrop throughout the novel, its nostalgic charm inseparable from the horror that once unfolded within its shadow.
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Who Should Read This:
Readers who love multi-perspective thrillers with dual timelines will appreciate how Hillier weaves together past and present, small-town intimacy and reality TV glamour into a single cohesive mystery. Anyone drawn to stories about long-buried secrets resurfacing after decades will connect with Barb and Nicolette's reckoning with both Lorelei's murder and the identities they built in its aftermath. Fans of character-driven thrillers with strong ensemble casts will enjoy how thoroughly Hillier develops each character's personal history, making the emotional stakes feel as compelling as the central mystery itself. A note for readers: while the novel delivers plenty of twists throughout, some readers may find certain plot elements familiar to the genre and the final resolution less surprising than the buildup suggests. Those who enjoy fast-paced, atmospheric thrillers with rich character development will still find this a satisfying and entertaining read.
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IBC Editorial Note:
This review is part of the Indian Book Club’s editorial initiative to spotlight books that inspire, inform, and leave a lasting impact on readers. Every title featured is carefully handpicked and reviewed by the IBC Editorial Team to maintain quality, authenticity, and literary value. If you are an author, publisher, or reader and would like to submit a book for review, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Please write to us at: editorial@indianbookclub.com Our team personally evaluates each submission, and selected books are featured as official IBC Editorial Reviews on our platform.