SEPTEMBER 2023 - AudioFile
The heroine of this psychological thriller is, improbably, an astrophysicist and psychic. Narrator Karissa Vacker captures Vivvy Bouchet's smarts and the urgency with which she goes after the mystery of Lizzy Solomon's disappearance. The story begins when Vivvy returns home to bury her mother--also a psychic--and becomes involved with a case that her old friend Mike Romano, a detective, wants to crack. It involves a child who was abducted and murdered, and a mother who, though prosecuted, denies her involvement. Then there are Bubba Guns, a wildly popular conspiracy theorist podcaster who is obsessed with the case, and various social media followers who track Vivvy's every move. The plot is at times labyrinthine, but the resolution is worth the wait. L.W.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 06/05/2023
This gripping page-turner from Heaberlin (We Are All the Same in the Dark) conceals its secrets from even the cleverest readers. Twenty-eight-year-old astrophysicist Vivian Bouchet takes leave from her research in the Chihuahuan desert to return home to Fort Worth, Tex., after her mother dies. She is approached by her childhood friend Mike Romano, now a cop, who believes Vivian has psychic abilities like the ones her fortune-telling mother claimed to possess. He asks her to look into the cold case of three-year-old Lizzie Solomon, who disappeared from her home a decade earlier. The girl’s mother, Nicolette, is serving time for her murder, even though no body was ever found. Before her death, Vivian’s mother made calls to the city claiming one of her clients—not Nicolette—was involved with the abduction, and Nicolette has filed suit against the city for not following up. Vivian agrees to investigate, which makes her a target for the rabid fans of an influential podcast that peddles conspiracy theories, whose host seems to have a personal stake in the case. Vivian is an intelligent, perceptive character who’s a pleasure to spend time with, and when the plot kicks into gear, it’s nearly impossible to stop reading. This is Heaberlin at her best. (June)
From the Publisher
“One surprise twist follows another. . . Heaberlin’s writing walks the line between plain speech and poetry.”
—Dallas Morning News
“This gripping page-turner from Heaberlin conceals its secrets from even the cleverest readers…Vivian is an intelligent, perceptive character who’s a pleasure to spend time with, and when the plot kicks into gear, it’s nearly impossible to stop reading. This is Heaberlin at her best.”
—Publishers Weekly [starred review]
“Heaberlin's novels of suspense always aim for something more and consistently achieve it. Night Will Find You is her best yet. The characters who feel like they exist off the page and the story - nominally about an astrophysicist with psychic gifts trying to solve a cold-case kidnapping, but so much more than that - tightens its embrace until you're breathless.”
—D Magazine
“Night Will Find You is a mesmerizing, unputdownable love letter to the mysteries of science and the human mind. With an unforgettable cast of characters—a reluctant psychic and grieving daughter, a wildly popular conspiracy theorist, a police officer with shadowy motives—Julia Heaberlin pays homage to everything we don't know about the universe and ourselves. I am already missing my time inside this world.”
—Katie Gutierrez, nationally bestselling author of Good Morning America book club pick More Than You’ll Ever Know
“Vivvy’s role as a scientist sets her apart from many fictional psychics and makes her a formidable heroine—there are rational layers to this supernatural thriller. Mysterious, sexy, and smart.”
―Kirkus Reviews
“Night Will Find You is an expertly rendered mystery, complete with compelling characters, an impeccably paced plot, and surprising twists. Heaberlin writes with such aching beauty I found myself pausing to relish her words and then racing ahead because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. A must-read!”
—Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Overnight Guest
“Haunting, heartfelt, chilling and beautifully told, Night Will Find You walks that rare line between mystery, thriller and truly original character study. I adored it.”
—Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End
“Night Will Find You is a rare thriller that seamlessly straddles the mystic and the scientific. Compelling and compassionate, Hearberlin’s novel has one foot firmly planted in our world of misinformation and the other reaching for the inexplicable. I loved it.”
—Ivy Pochoda, acclaimed author of These Women
“Heaberlin is one of my all-time favorite authors. With Night Will Find You, she nails it again, from the brilliant premise to the vivid prose to the gripping suspense to the beating hearts of her characters. Darkly beautiful, enthralling, and masterfully done. Every mystery lover should know her name.”
—Laura McHugh, award-winning author of What’s Done in Darkness
“Engrossing and scrupulously plotted, with gorgeous prose and one of the most memorable protagonists I've read in ages, Night Will Find You is an absolute must-read from an immensely talented author.”
—Kimberly Belle, bestselling author of The Marriage Lie
“Dark, elegant and utterly captivating, Night Will Find You is an unforgettable story written with richly evocative prose and genuine heart. I found myself completely immersed. A lyrical exploration of the fine line between scientific fact and the things we can’t explain.”
—Christina McDonald, USA Today bestselling author of The Night Olivia Fell
“An irresistible mystery with addictive prose, Night Will Find You is a thriller like no other.”
—Anna Bailey, bestselling author of Where the Truth Lies
“Vivvy is smart, relatable, interesting ... we think our audience can really get behind a Texan willing to get to the heart of a truth while still leaving a window open for the unexplainable."
—Michael Thorn, President, Scripted Programming of Fox Entertainment, where Night Will Find You is in development
Praise for Julia Heaberlin:
“If you only read one thriller this year, let it be this one. Psychologically absorbing, original and atmospheric. I could not turn the pages fast enough.”
—Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author of 28 Summers
“Heaberlin’s work calls to mind that of Gillian Flynn...Don’t miss it.”
—The Washington Post
“Heaberlin knows how to build to a truly shocking twist, how to break a reader’s heart and then begin mending it.”
—The Dallas Morning News
Kirkus Reviews
2023-04-24
A psychic astrophysicist returns to her Texas hometown to heal old family wounds and help the police solve a cold case.
When Vivian Bouchet returns home to Fort Worth to bury her mother, she gets pulled back into old relationships, agreeing to help her policeman friend Mike, with whom she was once in love, with some cold cases. In addition to having a Ph.D. in astrophysics and conducting research into extraterrestrial life based on a “glimpse of artificial light” from deep space, Vivvy has psychic visions, possibly inherited from her mother, who hung her shingle as a psychic for years and was infamous for discovering a dead body buried in the yard of their rental house when Vivvy was just a girl. Mike gives her the file on a famous missing person case, that of 3-year-old Lizzie Solomon, who disappeared nearly 11 years earlier. Lizzie’s mother is serving time for her daughter’s murder though the girl's body was never found. Mike isn't the only one who's interested in the case and in what Vivvy might be able to glean from old photos or Lizzie’s hair clip; Jesse Sharp, a skeptical, magnetic detective, is soon following her all over town, maybe to intimidate her into “confessing” that she’s a con artist, maybe to protect her from the fallout when a local conspiracy theorist gets her in his sights. Vivvy’s not sure, but she can’t deny the attraction between them even as she knows Jesse has secrets related to another case. Heaberlin’s evocation of the dusty, insular Texas town is the perfect backdrop, and both Jesse and Vivvy are appealingly prickly characters with believable sexual tension. Vivvy’s role as a scientist sets her apart from many fictional psychics and makes her a formidable heroine—there are rational layers to this supernatural thriller.
Mysterious, sexy, and smart.
