The Heart Keeper - by Alex Dahl (Paperback)

About the Book

"Two mothers. Two daughters. One heart. When Alison's beloved daughter Amalie drowns, her world turns impenetrably dark ... In another family, Amalie's passing is a new beginning. After years of severe health problems, young Kaia receives a new heart on the morning after Amalie drowns. Her mother Iselin has struggled to raise Kaia on her own and now things are finally looking up. She's even made an affluent new friend who's taken a special interest in her and her daughter. Alison knows she shouldn't interfere, but really, she's just trying to help Iselin and Kaia. She can give them the life they never had, and by staying close to them, she can still be with her daughter. Kaia is just like her, and surely, something of Amalie must live on in her. As her grief transforms into a terrifying obsession, Alison won't let anything stop her from getting back what she has lost"--

Book Synopsis

Critically acclaimed author Alex Dahl explores how love can turn darkly sinister when a desperate mother looks to reconnect with her lost daughter in this riveting Norwegian set psychological suspense novel.

Two mothers. Two daughters. One heart.

When Alison's beloved daughter Amalie drowns, her world turns impenetrably dark. Alison tries to hold it together throughout the bleak Fall, but in the darkest days of the Norwegian Winter she completely falls apart.

In another family, Amalie's passing is a new beginning. After years of severe health problems, young Kaia receives a new heart on the morning after Amalie drowns. Her mother Iselin has struggled to raise Kaia on her own and now things are finally looking up. She's even made an affluent new friend who's taken a special interest in her and her daughter.

Alison knows she shouldn't interfere, but really, she's just trying to help Iselin and Kaia. She can give them the life they never had, and by staying close to them, she can still be with her daughter. Kaia is just like her, and surely, something of Amalie must live on in her. As her grief transforms into a terrifying obsession, Alison won't let anything stop her from getting back what she has lost.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Heart Keeper:

"Dahl follows her critically acclaimed debut, The Boy at the Door (2018), by weaving another tautly
constructed web around two mothers and one child. ... Crisp and insightful prose drives a first-person narrative, related in turn by Alison and Iselin, that turns slowly sinister as it draws to a haunting conclusion. Recommended for Scandinavian-noir collections and fans appreciative of Picoult-like emotionally compelling fiction."--Booklist

Praise for The Boy at the Door

"Dahl savagely delineates the price of living in a society that insists women must try to be perfect wives and mothers and have successful careers, too, or they'll be inevitably made to feel they're never good enough.″--PW (starred review)

"A tangled web, masterfully constructed and certain to satisfy fans of the genre."--Booklist

"Scandi Noir at its best...Atmospheric and beautifully written...combines complex and believable characters with a heart-breaking and head-spinning plot.″--Mary Torjussen, author of Gone Without a Trace and The Girl I Used to Be

"The Boy at the Door is a stunning debut! Alex Dahl has crafted an extraordinary plot; intricate and twisted with dark secrets emerging at every turn.″--Alexandra Burt, International Bestselling author of Remember Mia and The Good Daughter

"Suspenseful, vivid, and ice-cold, The Boy at the Door deftly shows that things are always messier than they appear.″--Kristen Lepionka, author of the Roxane Weary mystery series

"The Boy at the Door is a genuine page-turner, a fascinating psychological study and a must-read for people who can't resist twisty thrillers with unreliable narrators."--Saturday Reader

About the Author

Alex Dahl was born in Oslo and is the critically acclaimed author of The Boy at the Door. She graduated with a B.A. in Russian and German linguistics with international studies and went on to complete an M.A. in creative writing at Bath Spa University, followed by an M.S. in business management at Bath University. Alex has published short stories in the U.K. and the U.S. and is a serious Francophile.