Into the Water: A Novel

I was looking forward to Paula Hawkins new book. Unfortunately, it was so disappointing that I couldn't finish it. The switching between multiple characters made for a confusing read. Not any of the characters were relatable nor did I care about them at all.Don't waste your money.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins was the book selected by my blog followers as my Book Bucket read for January 2018. Each month, I hold a poll where you can pick from 12 books I want to read, rotating a new one in and out each month. I was excited to read this one, but hadn’t read Girl on the Train before, so Hawkins is a new author for me. I enjoyed the book a great deal, despite a few areas that didn’t quite work for me, but I’d still recommend it to others as a strong thriller and suspense novel.The novel focuses on a small town in England, following a core set of about 10 characters. Chapters alternate to provide the history and perspective of multiple deaths in by drowning in a local river. It all begins with the death of a suspected witch from several hundred years earlier, culminating with a few deaths in modern times that could be suicide, accidental or murder. As each character shares parts of the story, readers learn what truly happened to each victim.Ignoring the historical murders, the current day plot is intricate. Several teenagers fight to be popular or earn respect while in high school. Sisters struggle to accept their differences with one another. Parents and children argue about parenting styles. Families are broken by affairs. Police detectives walk a fine line of doing the right versus the wrong thing. Each of the stories are weaved together in a way you can’t help but want to know all the connections. And there is, of course a ‘surprise’ twist in the end… which for many readers, probably won’t be a surprise.I’m primarily a plot reader, followed closely by character. The plot is definitely strong; however, at least 50% of the characters have some flaws or issues in how they were written. Keeping characters in the grey zone is important within a suspense novel; readers need to know that they might be missing part of the picture, but in the end, it should be clearer than it was in this book. For 3 characters, I felt like the actions didn’t quite match what we’d come to expect from the personalities we’d gotten to know – and it wasn’t due to the grey area. It felt like a totally new character had replaced the ones we’d spent attaching ourselves to. If there are connections we just failed to see because of how good the writing is, then I am OK with it. But if it feels disconnected, then I think the book fails a bit. That’s what I felt happened here… what started out as a 4.5 rating began going south as parts of the plot unraveled. It was clear the entire way that something wasn’t right with a certain character, yet the twist in the end doesn’t do any justice to ‘why’ certain things happened.All that said… as I kept turning the page, my interest was held and I liked many aspects of the book. I lowered my rating by 1 star because of how it seemed to fall apart in the end… ending somewhere between a 3.5 and a 3.75, rounded up to a 4 in the rating. I’ll keep reading Hawkins’ novels, but if another has a similar downturn, I might not stick with it.

Not only was i never riveted, I was so bored it took me weeks to get through it. The characters were undeveloped and unlikable and I have yet to figure out the point. What a waste of time and money.

where is the real Paula Hawkins. this is a lot of gibberish. confusing characters and totally plodding.

The construction of this story is too heavy to allow flow. The story is told through the visions of so many people that you loose what it is all about. Definitively no comparison to her earlier work.

Paula Hawkins has a clever, devious, ironic way of looking at things. Things like people, no matter their ages or circumstances; like communities, no matter whether city, country, or something in between.Just as she did in "The Girl In the Train," Hawkins utilizes what filmmakers call " jump cuts" to ricochet from one first-person narrative to another as her characters reveal themselves a layer at a time, and those layers themselves construct the mystery and the many possibilities it leads to.A small town overshadowed by suicides -- or are they? A rebellious teenaged girl. A demanding family patriarch. An odd and elderly con artist crone. Two tortured sisters unable to overcome a dark secret from their childhoods. A reserved police detective and his disgraced subordinate. The cast goes on and on, as do the twists and turns that may or may not link up at some point.Paula Hawkins has earned a place on my personal list of deeply gifted portrayers of time, place, and people such as the illustrious likes of James Lee Burke, Nelson DeMille, and David Baldacci.

First of all, let me say that I was a huge fan of GIRL ON THE TRAIN, so I pre-ordered this book expecting to be absolutely enthralled by it.  Wrong!  It took me almost three months to read it (and I am a very fast reader when I want to be) because it was so boring!  There were at least ten characters; each chapter started with the name of a character and the action was just not there for me.  I could barely keep up with who was who among all of the characters:  the detectives Sean and Erin, Sean's father Patrick, Sean's dead mother, Sean's wife Helen, Nel Abbott and her sister Jules and Nel's daughter Lena, the teacher Mark Henderson, Katie and her family.  I had to almost keep a list until I found one online and kept it handy.  Then, there was the water...seemingly a place so cold and deep that it had beckoned to many over the years to commit suicide there.  The basic theme of the story is why these people committed suicide (if they did) and the effects of their deaths on those left behind.  Ho-hum!  This would have made a good short story, but as a novel, it was lacking in the mystery and action that would have encouraged me to read more of it daily.  This is one of those books that I am glad I finished it because I paid for it, but next time the author has a new book, I will wait for the library edition.  I give it a solid 1.5 stars, and that is only because it does have an ending.

Sorry, looked forward to this, but quit halfway due to too many characters, no guide to who they are or who they''re talking about (coz they're not engaged in any actions), it's a struggle to follow which timeframe each chapter is in.

Oh dear, what a mess! After The Girl on the Train (which I loved) this was a huge disappointment. Over-plotted to the extent that I don't think even Paula Hawkins knew what was going on, over-written and full of characters I didn't care about beyond wishing they'd all jump in the Drowning Pool. A short story maybe but not a 350-page novel.

It takes quite a bit of ploughing through this story, it's very disjointed and jumps around too much. Loads of characters and it's difficult to remember who's who. A lot of it was pointless in my mind and I never figured out what happened to mark (although I could have missed it as I was speed reading towards the end to get through it).

I don’t get the negativity about this book. I’ve given it 5 stars, not because it’s as good as The Girl on the Train, which deserved 6 stars, but it’s still a cracking good read that is disadvantaged by being compared to Paula Hawkins’ first novel.There are a lot of characters to get to grips with, especially in the early stages, and it takes a bit of concentration to work out where everyone fits in. This book is best read in as short a timeframe as possible to remember the threads. The narrative also switches from the first to the third person which seems odd until you appreciate the story is about the reliability of subjective memory, so there is a lot of subtle craftsmanship in the novel that leaves you thinking; great for book clubs, maybe not so great for anyone looking for an easy poolside read.Unlike Girl on the Train which was a great novel and a terrible movie, I think this book will translate well into a dark and atmospheric film, and the characters will be more accessible with the advantage of a visual reference. Let’s hope they keep it British this time.

Hmmm. Mixed feelings. Firstly I loved the feel of book the ‘who done it?’ Wrapped up in a Midsummer murders fashion. I struggled to start with the complex variation of protagonists. The lump of characters was exhausting to understand and I found myself going back and forth using the character list at the beginning which was a life saver. There are some beautiful themes running through the book, all rounded with depth and explored thoroughly, however the plotting is wild. When writing character based chapters with First, second and third person narrative, it felt that we as the reader were being almost drowned (no pun intended) by perspectives. Some in part were unnecessary, to the point where I was saying ‘oh no not more’ when I turned the page. All in all, it’s a great book, lacking zing I think, because of over complications, it’s I think about 150 pages too long. I would say to people, read it though...It does create a fascinating world and it does take you on a journey.

Suppose girl on the train was always going to be a hard act to follow but this book was overly complicated with too many characters and timelines. Also none of the characters appeared likeable so I gave up caring who killed who . Wouldn’t recommend