BOOK REVIEW: The Heart Keeper by Alex Dahl @alexdahlauthor @berkleypub #theheartkeeper #alexdahl #bookreview

What if there were still a part of someone you lost still beating? What would you do to hold on to that person just a bit longer?

A dark, heart-wrenching novel that was rich with raw emotions and vivid descriptions. Nordic noir is truly a unique genre. Books within it may range from mysteries to thrillers to dramas, but there is a stylistic and atmospheric feeling to them that is uniquely that genre. I’d classify Alex Dahl’s The Heart Keeper as a suspenseful domestic drama but with that signature Nordic noir vibe.

About the Book

Two mothers. Two daughters. One heart. 

It was an accident, but in that moment Alison’s whole world changed. After her daughter Amalie drowns, Alison is plunged int a state of despair she can’t escape from. She drinks too much, her husband and her barely touch each other, she takes leave from work, but nothing makes it better. As winter falls in Norway, Alison doesn’t know that she can keep holding on without Amalie.

Iselin’s world changed that day too. A single mother with no support from her parents, Iselin is barely able to make ends meet. She’s spent most of her adult life caring for her sick daughter, Kaia. But then a miracle happens—Kaia receives a new heart. As Kaia recovers, she becomes the girl she was always meant to be. And she has developed some new quirks as well.

Cellular memory is the notion that sometimes recipients of a transplanted organ retain some memories of the donor. Memories that live in every cell of their body. When Alison learns of cellular memory, she becomes obsessed with the idea. Maybe something of Amalie is still there, living on in the girl who received her heart. And so Alison finds a way in. But her grief turns her good intentions into a dangerous obsession. Nothing and no one, certainly not Iselin, will stop her from regaining the daughter she lost.

Reflection

Alex Dahl is such a talented writer. The way she explores the emotions of these two mothers was quite captivating. I felt their pain, their joy, how touching these moments with Kaia could be. I’m not a mother myself, but I found I was able to connect with both women so acutely.

The idea of cellular memory was one that remained open-ended in this book. At times Kaia did seem to have retained some of Amalie. At other times there were rational explanations for it. But ultimately, though a part of Amalie beat in Kaia’s chest, Amalie herself wasn’t there anymore. I found that to be the most heart-wrenching part of the story, watching as Alison sought to find threads of the daughter she lost.

The suspense was truly something, because it snuck up on me. I found the ending sequence brilliant and well-written. The final epilogue has stuck with me long since I finished the book. There’s something a bit haunting about it, but of course I won’t spoil what that is!

A fantastic Nordic noir drama for fans of emotional, raw, well-written books with a suspenseful twist.

Thank you to Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.