Is it as awesome as the global phenonmenon – The Girl on The Train is? Well, no. Into The Water is the second stand-alone thriller by Paula Hawkins. The author worked as a journalist for 15 years and then, wrote her debut novel which has sold millions of copies. Which is one of my favorite thrillers.
Quite obviously, I was interested in her second book too. But is it good? Worth reading? Find out in this spoiler-free review.
Into The Water is a story that deals with the death of a lot of women. Mainly, Nel Abbott. Jules hasn’t been talking to her sister and she doesn’t want to. But then, she gets the call. She just found out her sister has jumped off the cliff. Into The Water. Her sister, who was also a writer, digging up stories about this particular ‘suicide point.’
There have been more deaths at this same spot, some recent and some years ago. But are things really the way they seem to be? Did Nel really commit suicide? Jules doesn’t think so. then what? Was she murdered? By whom?There begins this novel – Into The Water by Paula Hawkins.
There are people – Nel’s daughter, the folks in the town who don’t like Nel and many more secrets buried about various people of the town. The chapters in the book – a few are written from Jules’ perspective, few from the perspective of the detectives, a few from the perspective of Nel’s daughter and so on. The story progresses as they discuss what happened and is nicely linked together through these chapters.
Several characters- detectives of the town, Jules, Lena, and many more like Louise, Helen and Patrick grab your attention. But are they good? I mean, they’re not bad but did I really care about any of these characters?
Let me tell you one of the experiences I remember about The Girl On The Train… one of my favorite books by the same author. I was really scared for the girl. I was afraid something might happen to her. My heart was beating fast and I really cared about her. But for this book… no character made me feel that way. Was I interested what happened to Nel? and the others? Sure. But was I passionate about it? Not at all.
It was always easy to put down the book. It was always easy to let it go… and that, my friend, isn’t a characteristic of a good book. The book lacked the thrill and the mind-boggling effect the plot of The Girl on The Train had. It was just a regular thriller. It was good to read, sure, but nothing that you can’t miss.
So, all in all, I’ll say read it if you’re looking for just a thriller for a day and you want to read the author who wrote the awesome The Girl on The Train. Otherwise, skip it!
My ratings: 3.5/5 stars
