Book Review - INTO THE WATER

INTO THE WATER

AUTHOR – PAULA HAWKINS

GENRE – MYSTERY, SUSPENSE, PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

PAGES – 353

PUBLICATION – DOUBLEDAY PUBLICATIONS

PUBLISHED – MAY 2017

‘Julia, it’s me. I need you to call me back. Please, Julia. It’s important…’

Unlike ‘The Girl on the Train’ that digs into the lives a few, this time Paula Hawkins throws a blanket across an entire town, Beckford near Newcastle. Narrated from 11 different perspectives, this domestic thriller develops a gripping plot every page. The story revolves around the misogynist lake where ‘all those troublesome women’ have killed themselves or have been killed. It delves into the lives of the victims of The Drowning Pool …

Nel Abbot made many in enemies in the town while writing a book about the lake in her town – The Drowning Pool. She had called her estranged sister, Julia for help. But Jules ignored her plea. And now, Nel is dead.

Jules is dragged back to the one place she hoped she had left for good, to care for the teenage girl, Lena, her sister left behind. Albeit everyone in the town believes that Nel jumped in the pool, Julia knows for certain there’s something more to the story. While she gets to the bottom of it, Julia is haunted by her own hideously nerve-wracking past.

Hawkins shuttles the protagonist from past to the present while scavenging the pieces of the obscurity. The myriad of characters weakens the essence of thrill the story deserves, due to shifts and transitions from one narrator to the other. Nonetheless, Hawkins pulled it off flawlessly to keep you hooked to the book with her enigmatic plot and a captivating linguistic exhibit. Taking the advantage of your immersion in the suspense and the oblivion towards unforeseen epiphany, the story swiftly ends with a jolting truth leaving you shell-shocked!

Rating:- ⭐⭐⭐⭐.8

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