Into The Water by Paula Hawkins

Hi!! It is so nice to be back on here, writing to you all. So sorry that it has been almost a year since I last posted a review! So many things have happened to me within the last year and I’ve been so busy. But, I want to try and get back into the groove of posting more frequently, though probably not every week like I had been when I first started. Before I get into the book, I wanted to give a little disclaimer that after taking some time away from this blog and now coming back to it, I have realized my posts before were a bit on the longer end. So, from now on I am going to try my best to keep them shorter. But, please keep in mind, I am both an English major and a huge talker, so I might slip up and go on and on for more pages than I did previously. We shall see :-).

If you love psychological thrillers like I do and you don’t know Paula Hawkins yet, let me dedicate this blog post’s purpose to persuading you to give her books a read. She is the author of the book The Girl On The Train, which is also incredible and her best-selling work. She is one of my favorites and I think she will be one of yours soon too!

Into The Water was a quick read because it grabbed me really early on and I couldn’t put it down until I was finished. The story is about a town who is grieving the deaths of a young girl and a mother who both met the same end, drowning in the river that encloses the town geographically. The daughter, Lena, of the mother who died was also the best friend of the young girl who died, so she is a main character throughout the work as she tries to figure out how both of these important women in her life died. Throughout the story, you learn so much backstory from many different characters and you see how every person is connected and intertwined in some way. I really don’t want to give a lot of detail on this one because it was so good and I think part of it was because I had absolutely no idea what it was about going into it. I loved all of the characters, the writing is spectacular and there are dozens of little twists and turns throughout the less than 400 pages, so you never get bored while reading. I love Hawkins’ books because she is British and her use of slang throughout her writing is so funny to read. I’ve said this before but I will say it again, I like reading books that give me a different perspective than the one I’m used to.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the book was the relatability of the story paired with the sinister vibe the imagery illustrates. The story, even though it is fiction, could happen in real life and that makes it even more horrifying. One of my favorite quotes from the book is written below. It stuck out to me because it is multifaceted. Yes, in this context it is talking about the water. But this could also be applied to human beings which is a bit of a spoiler but not too much so that I feel I need to use a spoiler tag. A lot of the time, people that don’t show a lot of emotion can seem not friendly or unapproachable. But it’s important to realize that everyone goes through things in their lives that they don’t always want broadcasted or shown to the world, and that’s okay.

“Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.”

There was talk of it being made into a film, but I haven’t seen anything else about that recently. However; her third and latest novel is going to be available at the end of August this year! To say I am excited is the epitome of understatement. I hope you guys will enjoy this book and perhaps The Girl On The Train as well so that you’ll want to check out this new novel called A Slow Fire Burning! At this point I almost sound like an ad, but I swear it is just because I love her work. Unfortunately, I am not being paid to publish this post ;).

Final, Personal Opinion of the Book

Just in case you hadn’t already gathered this, I really loved this book. It is one that ticked all of the boxes for me; it was funny, scary, emotional, really got my mind going trying to figure out whodunit, and it was relatable. Probably a book I could see myself reading again years later just because it was so good, though I will say I liked The Girl On The Train a bit better than I liked this one. That just goes to show you how good Hawkins’ books are.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

I give this book full marks because it surprised me, really had me hooked and had some really cool elements within it. The story went beyond just a psychological thriller because of the writing within the work. It almost made the river seem supernatural, like a monster or something, and that really impressed and enticed me as a reader. Definitely recommend to all lovers of this genre!