Brutal Hearts

Cassie Daley

Brutal Hearts is Cassie Daley’s debut novella. It’s a lean 148-page story centered on Josie and Leah and their efforts to help Leah move past her boyfriend’s presumed death. Since Simon’s disappearance, Josie and Leah have become a couple, and although their relationship seems strong, Leah still has nightmares.

The couple head out with friend Charlotte and her sister, May. They take the trail Simon and Leah liked to hike on and hold a farewell ceremony of sorts to help Leah say goodbye.

Of course, their journey doesn’t go as planned.

One of the clear strengths of this novella is the characterization. The characters are remarkably consistent and believable, so much so that it’s easy to anticipate certain words or actions from some of them as the trail, and their situation, darkens. They’re compelling and it’s natural to root for Josie and Leah as the story unfolds.

An example of the consistency stems from bad planning with their outing. Lack of planning put them on the trail later than they should have been, which meant it started getting dark on their walk back from their ceremony. Lack of foresight prompts some unfortunate decisions later in the novel, because Josie really doesn’t have the wilderness skills needed to think things through in a life-or-death situation. She is street smart, however, and uses those skills to propel herself forward in her efforts to survive.

The setting description is solid and it’s easy to imagine the scenes throughout the story. The setting functions as a character of sorts, because they’re fighting their surroundings as much as anything else throughout this story. And the use of setting is appropriate, because a picturesque hiking trail can turn deadly in a blink if you aren’t prepared for the terrain or the weather.

The story’s pace is relentless, which isn’t surprising given the novella’s length. Drawing out the tension and suspense in scenes is a skill, and while there is plenty of tension throughout the novella, there are some places where it could have been drawn out more to build anticipation.

I’m not a fan of POV ping pong, jumping from one character to another and another. Anchoring POV in scenes in a character’s perspective can add to that tension because you don’t automatically know what the other characters think. When the POV bounces around it’s easy to get dislodged and you spend less time really getting to know the characters. You can also lose track of whose perspective you’re getting, and there were a couple places where I had to reorient myself. However, POV ping pong does add to the frenzied nature of dealing with imminent threats from an unknown source, and in some of the scenes it adds to the tension. 

Daley clearly has the makings of a compelling horror writer, and it’s natural for writers to show tremendous growth in their early works. This novella is engaging and held my attention start to finish and made me care about the outcome for the primary characters. Publishers should take notice, because Daley’s announced herself as a writer to watch and I look forward to reading her future works. 

Review by Sandra Ruttan