Book Review: A Heart Beat Away by Harry Kraus

by | Jan 9, 2013 | book review | 1 comment

A Heartbeat Away by Harry Kraus 
David C. Cook, September 1, 2012
When a brilliant surgeon undergoes a heart transplant, her life transforms as she begins experiencing memories of a murder she never witnessed.
The residents worship her. Nurses step out of her way. Her colleagues respect and sometimes even fear her. But surgeon Tori Taylor never expected to end up on this side of the operating table.
Now she has a new heart. This life that was formerly controlled and predictable is now chaotic. Dr. Taylor had famously protected herself from love or commitment, but her walls are beginning to crumble.
And strangest of all, memories surface that will take her on a journey out of the operating room and into a murder investigation.
Where there once was a heart of stone, there is a heart of flesh. And there is no going back.

First book I’ve read by this author and I loved it! As you all know I’m deep into Suspense Fiction right now and this book grabbed my attention from the cover right through till the end of the blurb. It fits beautifully with my romance, suspense, action requirements.

This book is filled with a great mystery, with numerous twists and turns and a thrilling climax. The book kept me on edge of my seat for the entire plot -wondering how all the pieces would fit together. The ideas of cellular memory is really fascinating stuff and it worked really well to help bring the transformation of Tori from her heartless beginnings to a woman of emotion, with an ability to love herself and those around her.

I found some of the medical scenes were quite graphic for me – I’m squeamish at the best of times so it doesn’t take much for me to get queasy – I had to speed read through those bits.

This book got  me thinking about how memories are so important to our lives and unlocking why we are the way we are. We don’t realize how important memories are to our overall sense of self. When we block out memories from our past we are inadvertently shutting a part of ourselves down. The book explores this idea through Tori receiving a new heart and how this changes her.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this novel for review.  I was in no way obliged to give a positive review.

1 Comment

  1. Unknown
    Unknown on January 15, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    Hi Jess! Hmmm, memories of a murder after a heart transplant? Sounds intriguing! Thanks for the heads up. 🙂

    Reply

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