Into the Water: A Novel

A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged. Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she’d never return. With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present. Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath. My Thoughts: After the body of Nel Abbott is found in the water, the police conclude that she jumped. But her sister Jules and her daughter Lena, a troubled teen, are not convinced.A short time before her mother’s death, Lena’s best friend Katie had died, also in the river, and Lena is keeping a big secret about the events leading up to Katie’s death. Lena and Katie’s brother Josh are holding what they know close, pretending ignorance. Because of the history of the Drowning Pool, with suicides ending up there, and then, as Patrick Townsend had been known to say, the river took care of “troublesome women,” some of the women in the English village of Beckford are starting to speculate. Like Jules. And like the psychic Nicki. What stories are the women telling Nel, who is writing a book about the history of the river? Her focus is on how the women are punished, even though the men were also behaving badly. Years before, Patrick Townsend’s wife Lauren, the mother of Sean, a police officer, died in that river. What had happened? Had she been troublesome? Why does Sean blank out suddenly, and why does he tug at his arm, where someone cut him at some point? What memories are he suppressing? What really happened between the teacher, Mark Henderson, and Katie? What does Lena know? Into the Water: A Novel was a convoluted tale with many red herrings, too many characters, and a lot of confusing elements. At the very end, in the last lines, we finally realize what must have happened to at least one of the dead women. But was there more to the story? I could have enjoyed the story more if it had fewer narrators, but the themes of crime and punishment did keep me intrigued. 4 stars.

The river flows quietly and into its waters a lot of secrets go. Into the Water is the long awaited second novel by the most talented suspense author Paula Hawkins. I’ve been waiting for this book for so long. Anyone who have read and enjoyed her first book, The Girl on the Train, must have probably been doing the same. I couldn’t wait to lay my hands on this book. The river town awakens to the striking news. A young mother, Nel Abbott, is found dead in the river. She is not the first to face this fate, and she will not be the last. That’s the unuttered fear in everyone’s mind. Beautiful Nel Abbott leaves behind Lena, her teenage daughter. She also leaves behind a lot of secrets. She’s been working on a book about the secrets of the river and all the women who had lost their lives there. A book that many people would have one reason or the other to wish it unpublished. Upon receiving the bad news of her sister’s death, Jules Abbott rushes into town. She had left the town early enough leaving behind lots of memories, most of which were unhappy. She had been the younger, fat and not beautiful sister of Nel. She had been mocked, laughed at and even worse in her childhood and teenage years. Moreover, she was not on good terms with her sister. Still, she’s trying to understand what had really happened to her sister. Though she’s staying with Lena, they don’t seem to be getting along. And the more she stays in town, the more the long forgotten bad memories come back to her. Murder, suicide or accident? That’s the big question. No one really knows what happened to Nel, not even Lena. Moreover, some people are relieved Nel is dead, while others are stricken with grief. Nel hasn’t been the first victim. So, can those deaths be linked? What about the deaths centuries before? The entangled web of long hidden secrets tighten. But as it tightens, more secrets evolve. No one is totally guilty, yet no one is totally innocent. And in the deepest corners of the human soul lies the answers to all the questions. But maybe some questions are better left unanswered! This is absolutely one of the best books I read this year. It actually reminds me why I love Paula Hawkins’ books. I have been waiting for her second book ever since I finished reading her first book, The Girl on the Train. What I know for sure is that when an author’s debut is as successful as The Girl on the Train, it’s quite a challenge to come up with the next book. There’s always the big question: Will it be as successful as the first one? Actually, such question can be crippling. In such cases, it’s the second book that determines the real talent of the author. And yes. Paula Hawkins did it. She proved that it wasn’t a matter of luck or chance. She is really one of the most talented writers. When it comes to Paula Hawkins’ books, it’s the ride you enjoy most. I loved the story of course, but what I enjoyed most was her way of telling it. I’ve really seen nothing similar to that. She has a unique style. To start with, she had a wide cast of characters, so many threads and multiple timelines. The amazing thing is that she could control all of this so brilliantly. It’s easy to get lost in such a rich plot. She didn’t. She controlled the strings and knew exactly when and how to pull them. Paula Hawkins is truly the queen of suspense. This is a title well deserved. Not only did she control the plot, but she also had her unique suspenseful writing style. Not only were the scenes packed with suspense, but the suspense was building up through the whole plot keeping the reader wide-eyed. This is exactly what I meant by enjoying the ride. Anyone can tell you a good story. If you ask me what the story of this book is I can surely tell you the whole story or a summary. But that won’t do it. Again, it’s not about the story. It’s about the brilliant story telling. I tried to read this book as slowly as possible. I wanted to have something of her book to read every day. Unfortunately and like all the good things in life, the book ended. Now I have to wait for her next book. A little whisper in Paula’s ears “Please please please … Don’t let us wait for so long … We NEED your next book”

While this was a good thriller, I didn't love it as much as Girl on the Train. SYNOPSIS For centuries women have been dying in a small part of a rural English river locally referred to as 'the drowning pool.' In the 1600's it gained infamy when a suspected witch was put to death in the river and throughout the years, it seems to call to suicidal women. But have they all been suicides? Is it possible that some of these women have been pushed to their death? -That is exactly what Nel Abbott was trying to figure out. In fact, she was writing a book on the subject when her body was discovered in the drowning pool. When Nel died she left behind a 15 year old daughter, Lena and her estranged sister, Jules. Jules has never even met her niece and has now become her guardian. In addition to losing her mother, Lena recently lost her BFF to the drowning pool. Although Jules and Lena are at odds, they try figure out what happened to Nel. Are the two deaths related? This becomes a story of three potential suicides, a major scandal, sisters holding onto old grudges and the effects of grief. WHAT I LOVED I loved that the story started and ended strong with nonstop action between. I truly love a good thriller set in Great Britain with flawed yet relatable characters and a good dose of creepy! Paula Hawkins delivers on all my favorites. The descriptions of the town, the river and the mill house were perfect. I as if I were there. The teenage relationship between Nel and Jules was well written yet painful to read. It reminded me of many sisters I grew up with. My sister and I fought behind closed doors but always had each other's back in public. Apparently Jules and Nel did not believe in that theory which made it hard for me to initially like Nel. She was a bit lacking in big sister skills. I absolutely loved the whole creepy vibe in the small town with so many women dying in the river, the psychic (who most of the town totally discounts) and the nearly constant rain. Such a perfect setting. The side story with Lena's BFF was an excellent plot line. With no clear reason for her suicide,those who loved her were devastated and searching for answers. They found way more than they could have imagined. WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE There were to many story lines and back stories crammed into the book. Dropping a story line or a character's back story would have streamlined the plot and made it easier to follow. It could be both distracting and confusing at times. I found it hard to follow the switches between characters narratives and past and present. OVERALL Not a bad book. If I had read it before 'Girl on a Train,' I would have probably given it a higher rating but it just didn't quite grab me the same way.

First and foremost, this book isn’t The Girl on The Train. It’s not supposed to be, so I’m going to do my best to not compare the two. Yes, I loved The Girl on The Train, and I anxiously awaited Paula Hawkins second novel, and I will now anxiously await her next one, because in my opinion, she’s a great writer. Into The Water showed me more of just what she is capable of. I liked this book, found it very enjoyable, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. It wasn’t until near the halfway mark that I found myself really enthralled by this book. I love books with multiple, alternating narrators, but honestly, this book had too many. For me, this was confusing and a little exhausting at times. However, once the story “took off” I didn’t mind it as much, and by that point I was familiar with the many characters, so it wasn’t as distracting as it was during the first half. The characters are all flawed in one way or another, and I personally found it hard to find a single one of them completely “likeable,” but they are wonderfully developed, and if there is one thing I have to give Hawkins credit for, it’s her ability to properly develop characters. Even if none of them were one hundred percent lovable, they each felt so real. The story itself was well written, with clever and interesting twists and turns. The final reveal was a bit disappointing, and there’s not a whole lot of shock value in this book, but it still makes a good mystery/thriller, and Hawkins does a great job tying together different stories and times. Without drawing direct comparisons to The Girl on The Train, I will say this much- this book is definitely different from her debut novel, but different in a good way, in a way that I appreciated and enjoyed.

Whoa Nellie (no pun intended)...Did Paula Hawkins write this book or did somebody else write it? It has an almost separate style and tempo than her recent bestseller, The Girl on the Train (see my review of 8/16/2015).This is a somewhat puzzling story encompassing a English country town (Beckford) full of apparently guilty people who occasionally commit suicide by drowning themselves in the pool of the town’s river (or were some of them murdered?). Sigmund Freud could have made a nice living in this town. When you read this novel make sure that you have pen and paper handy because you will need to take notes to remember the myriad of characters in this story. Paula, if you are going to have what seemed like twenty five main characters...insert a dramatis personae in the novel. Okay, as the story starts to unravel, the reader remembers who is who, but it took me almost two hundred pages to get there. In your new novel, I did like the short chapters and the different narrators for each chapter. I’m going to say that Paula Hawkins narrowly missed having a sophomore jinx on her hands. But in the last two hundred pages, she pulled the 'rabbit out of the hat' and saved the novel. Her endgame was intense and maybe a tad brilliant. Paula Hawkins made the river seem like it was alive...was it a drowning pool or “a place to get rid of troublesome woman?” That’s for you to find out. Jules (Julia) Abbott hears from the police. Her estranged sister, Nel Abbott, has drowned in the pool of the town’s river...they think it might be suicide. Jules ponders to herself, “I was thinking about what I was going to say to you when I got there, how I knew you’d done this to spite me, to upset me, to frighten me, to disrupt my life. To get my attention, to drag me back to where you wanted me. And there you go, Nel, you’ve succeeded: here I am in the place I never wanted to come back to, to look after your daughter, to sort out your bloody mess.” Jules goes back to her former town and old house. It’s empty, so she lets herself in and starts looking around Nel’s old room (which is now Nel’s daughter Lena’s room). Jules is looking under the bed when she hears, “What the f**k do you think you’re doing?” Nel’s teenage daughter, Lena, has arrived. Jules says, “I’m sorry. I’m Jules. We haven’t met, but I’m your aunt.” Lena instantly dislikes her Aunt Jules. Lena tells Jules that the police are down stairs. Jules meets Detective Inspector Sean Townsend and Detective Sergeant Erin Morgan (two more of the main characters). Det.Townsend tells Jules, “DS Morgan will be your liaison with the police. She’ll keep you informed about where we are in the investigation.” Jules asks, “There’s an investigation?” DS Morgan tells Jules, “Your sister’s body was seen in the river by a man who was out walking his dogs early yesterday morning...she was fully clothed, and her injuries were consistent with a fall from the cliff above the pool.” Jules asks, “You think she fell?” Lena says, “You don’t think she fell, do you?” “You know better than that.” Did she commit suicide, fall or was she pushed over? Nel had been writing a history of all the drownings that occurred in the pool of the river that was below a cliff. Most of the town’s population were annoyed with Nel’s version of the drownings. Lena Abbott’s best friend, Katie, recently committed suicide in the drowning pool. Katie’s mother, Louise Whittaker, blamed Lena and Nel for her daughter’s death. Was Louise involved in Nel’s drowning? Was Katie’s teacher, Mark Henderson the reason Katie drowned herself? What did Katie’s brother, Josh, know about her drowning. The town’s psychic, Nickie Sage had her own theories on how Nel and Katie drowned. Nickie thinks their deaths are linked with the long ago drowning of Detective Sean Townsend’s mother, Lauren. And what does Sean’s father, Patrick, the town’s retired disciplinarian policeman, have to do with these deaths? Why did Sean’s wife, Helen Townsend, hate Det. Erin Morgan and seem to have a schmaltzy type relationship with her husband’s father, Patrick? I told you that this story starts out very confusing with many characters. This is probably where a lot of the reviewers abandoned this story and issued one or two stars. If they would have continued reading, they would have seen how all this tied into a clever conclusion. My opinion of this novel changed from negative to positive halfway through the story, so I understand why the reviewers (who vacated the story) rated it so low.

INTO THE WATER is complex the way the best thrillers are. Various mysteries are going on, all interrelated, resulting in a smooth storyline. * Why does Jules hate her sister Nel? * Did Nel commit suicide or was she murdered? * Are Nickie’s accounts of murder reliable or is she just a nut? * Why did Katie, a 15-year-old girl who seemed to have everything going for her, commit a most unlikely suicide? * Are Nel’s stories of all the women throughout history who have jumped or been thrown into the river fact or fiction? * Why does Patrick maintain the cottage by the river? What went on at this site? * What is Lena hiding that might give more insight to the reason Katie would commit suicide? * Why does Helen have Nel’s bracelet? Does this mean she murdered Nel? * And why has the river that runs through Beckford been the scene of the suicides or murders of so many women there? Why is it alluring? These are only some of the mysteries going on in this book. This complexity is good. But don’t expect INTO THE WATER to be like Paula Hawkins’ other novel, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN. They’re not alike at all. That is not only in storyline. While I criticized THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, I also admitted that it is unputdownable at times. INTO THE WATER isn’t, ever. Partly that is because most chapters of INTO THE WATER are first-person, some third-person, accounts, each by one of the characters in the story. While the book thus moves along, you may find, as I did, that this becomes an exercise in memorization. There are so many characters, each with his or her own viewpoint and mysteries, that I spent most of the book trying to keep them all straight and remember who did and said what. Many times I had to page back to previous chapters to remind myself. INTO THE WATER is a good try. But, probably, readers who liked THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN will be disappointed in INTO THE WATER

This would have been a decent thriller for a debut author, However, following up on a novel that turned into a media event --- THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN --- expectations were extremely high for Paula Hawkins' 2nd release. INTO THE WATER has good intentions and an interesting story at heart --- various women drowning themselves in a lake within a small English town. This event has repeated itself over the years which makes you believe something far more sinister may be at play. Unfortunately, there are multiple narrators to this story --- upwards of 10 different voices and not all in the present --- which makes this story far more complex and less user-friendly for the reader. If I have to put a book down for a few days I expect to be able to pick it up and dive right back in without missing a beat. The multiple narrators make this almost an impossibility. As a result, I had to reread several prior chapters more than once and eventually keep a list of the narrators and their identities. By the time the story was through I was exhausted and felt that, overall, it was not worth the effort. I'm sure a film treatment will follow that should provide a more linear storyline to follow.

There were a ton of things running through my mind as I was reading this one and at first I honestly didn't think I would like it. In fact, I almost had a DNF with this one. For one, I found the dual point of views (and there were many) to be very confusing and I didn't catch up with them until I was 40% in. Even then I had to sit back and think about who was "talking" when I saw the names which was hard because these chapters are not long and every one was from a different point of view. However, once I got to thinking about the plot and after I it the 55% mark I found that things really turned around. First, the plot got super exciting. When everything was coming into place in terms of the "who" "what" "why" and so on, I became riveted to the pages. The person who I thought was responsible for everything turned out NOT to be the bad guy, and the one person who I never expected WAS. The characters, while a bit dark and broody (much like those in the authors debut, The Girl on the Train) had been placed perfectly in the book which for me, added to the entire atmosphere of the story. And the ending? Well, it was fantastic! The bad guy got what was coming for him and all of the characters had an ending which was tied up in a neat little bow for us. I felt very satisfied with how the author brought everything together. For obvious reasons I cannot go into the plot because mystery books like this one should be read for themselves. But I did find it to be an overall good read albeit with some minor flaws that a reader like me had a hard time with. This isn't to say that everyone will feel like this, but for me, too many POV's can really boggle down the story which is what affected me the most. I also want to mention that the cover saved this book from a 3 star rating because it's absolutely gorgeous and deserves a lot of cover love. I mean WOW LOOK AT IT? I adore it to pieces!!! What that, this book would be perfect for readers who like clever murder mysteries and for those who like and ending that you won't see coming. I know this is a must have for many fans of the genre so this may be a perfect boo for you. I also think this book would pair well with fans of the authors debut novel, The Girl on the Train, and for anyone who enjoys a psychological thriller.

My review is not going to be impartial, given that I am enamoured by Ms Hawkins' style. I can't help it. She is an excellent writer. There is nothing that I could criticise in Into the water. She brings out the mood with a brilliant style, and makes you swipe the pages (I was reading on a kindle) with a gripping story. While there is absolutely nothing in common between Into the water and The girl on the train, if you like the latter, you are going to like the first.

Bello il libro, appassionante ed agevole da leggere anche in Inglese! Ha superato le mie aspettative, ancora non l'ho finito ma forse è anche più bello di "the girl on the train"

Into the Water is a gripping psychological thriller that pulls you into the murky depths of a small town’s secrets. Paula Hawkins weaves a multi-perspective narrative full of tension, unreliable memories, and long-buried truths. The atmosphere is haunting, the pacing sharp, and the characters flawed in ways that feel deeply human. It’s not just a mystery—it’s a study of guilt, grief, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. A compelling read that lingers long after the final page.

I found it very good. The story as well as the way the author presented every character. I wonder why most of the people didn't like it. I believe that if you like the summary of a book and you think that you like the theme of that book, you should read it irrespective of anyone's review regarding the book. I believe that one should form his/ her own understanding of a book. When I ordered the book I was confused for a moment when I read the reviews of the book. But I liked the summary so I bought it. If you like reading such thrillers, then go for it. I will say that this thriller is one of its kind.

Very interesting