She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be

By: J. D. Barker

Narrated by: David Aaron Baker, Brian Hutchison

Length: 23 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A haunting tale of suspense, rendered with the masterful skill only Barker could muster.

After the loss of his parents, young Jack Thatch first met Stella as a child - this cryptic little girl of eight with dark hair and darker eyes, sitting alone on a bench in the cemetery clutching her favorite book. Gone moments later, the brief encounter would spark an obsession. She'd creep into his thoughts, his every waking moment, until he finally finds her again exactly one year later, sitting upon the same bench, only to disappear again soon after.

The body of a man found in an alley, every inch of his flesh horribly burned, yet his clothing completely untouched. For Detective Faustino Brier, this wasn't the first, and he knew it wouldn't be the last. It was no different from the others. He'd find another just like it one year from today. August 9, to be exact.

Isolated and locked away from the world in a shadowy lab, a little boy known only as Subject "D" waits, grows, learns. He's permitted to speak to no one. He has never known the touch of another. Harboring a power so horrific, those in control will never allow him beyond their walls.

All of them linked in ways unimaginable.

She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be conjures thoughts of early King and Koontz. A heart-pounding ride that creeps under your skin and will have you listening long into the night.

©2020 Jonathan Dylan Barker (P)2020 Recorded Books

An amazing book!

This was my 5th by JD Barker. I'm glad I found his free books on Audible! Several are also free if you have Kindle unlimited.

This book was 23.5 hours long! I didn't know what to expect at first. After an hour I knew I had to keep listening!

We follow Jack who's living with an aunt after his parents die. Jack meets Stella, a girl his age, in the cemetery. He's looking for her but she only shows up once a year, on the same date.

We also follow detective Faustino Brier who is trying to figure out if the burn victims have been killed. He's never seen anything like it!

There is also a 4th person in the story, a little boy who is kept locked up. He's not allowed to have any contact with other people.

Sometimes I write a lot of notes. I was surprised to see that I hadn't written anything about this book. I was too busy listening to the story :)

I would have given the book 10 stars if I could!

slow start but worth it

it was a little slow to start and it's difficult to like some of the characters at first, but I was somehow compelled enough to stick with it and it payed off. nice interweaving, bringing things together, and opening up the mystery as we went. partially predictable and some dumb character behavior was frustrating, but that's a horror staple I guess.

Loved this book

This book was very interesting. Kept me on the edge of my seat throughout . The reader was fantastic and I would highly recommended it to any mystery lovers, Si-fi lovers and really any one. My first time listening to this author or reader and am definitely going to listen to more.

Good and…

I’m undecided.

Did I enjoy it? Yeah, I did.

Did I see the solution to the central problem coming from miles away? Yep.

Was it worth listening to almost 24 hours of narration? Hmmmm. I think an editor could have cut more. Like, a 1/3 of the book.

So, I liked it. And at the same time, as I’m listening, I’m thinking that this reminds me of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, T. Kingfisher, and other writers. I see a lot of reviews that compare this to works by other authors as well.

But when I’m reading King, Gaiman, Kingfisher, Stephen Graham Jones, Laird Barton, Octavia Butler, then I’m not thinking “gee, this sure reminds me of another author.”

There’s something that just didn’t completely gel for me here, in other words. A connection with the characters that just never clicked. There’s a lot of plot, but plot isn’t Story. Story is what happens to characters you’ve come to care about, and I didn’t care enough about these characters to want this much plot.

In the end, if you like fantastic fiction, and you enjoy King, Gaiman, Butler, Jones, etc then you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s not as good as the best, but it’s still well above average. And it’s long.

It would be great for a cross country road trip, if you couldn’t listen to Gaiman’s American Gods instead.

was skeptical!

it's long but it's keeps your interest. time flew by and I didn't guess the ending...and liked the ending a lot!!! I think you will too!

What a good book!

So glad I used my credits on a book that I throughly enjoyed! Great writing, interesting well developed characters,intriguing plot and sub plots. Add to this a really good narrator and it’s a hit! Great job, Mr, Barker!

Loved this one

The story and performance where both captivating. Had a hard time putting it down!!! Truly worth a listen

Wow! Loved this novel!

Really great book! I am a huge J.D. Barker fan. Excellent, fantastic and wholly enjoyable.

Blown Away

I honestly loved everything about this book. The characters are top notch and the mystery surrounding the plot is gripping. I think this book made me feel every range of emotion multiple times. I cannot say enough good things about this one. Highly recommend.

JD's best book.

I am a huge fan of J.D. Barker, in particular his 4MK series. This book was recommended to me by a friend, and it was just so absolutely unexpected. It is a very smart, very original book. As much as I love 4MK - the intelligence in this novel is something I would love to see more of from J.D.