Into the water by Paula Hawkins

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: 

Lets start off by saying that this book is not an easy read. Had I been going through a reader's block or distractive reading, I wouldn't have been able to read past first couple of pages. The book starts off with the death of Nel Abbot by drowning into a pool running beneath the cliff located at Beckford, a small town. The pool is known as "The drowning pool" as it has witnessed a lot of deaths and all of women. Nel's death happens a few weeks after the death of another teenage girl named Katie Whittaker. Nel leaves after her a 15 years old daughter - Lena. Upon the death of Nel, authorities call Jules - Nel's younger sister who vowed never to return to her hometown. Jules wasn't on talking terms with Nel, although Nel had been trying to approach her by calling her time and again. Learning of her sister's death sort of irritates Jules as it means she has to go to her hometown. Upon her arrival, the authorities question her about Nel and if she contacted Jules and whether Jules is privy to any pertinent information regarding her death. Everyone in Beckford knows that someone killed Nel, and its not a suicide. Police open up an investigation into Nel's death as they find it quite strange that two woman pass away in a similar manner - by drowning at the pool. It can not be a coincidence. 

Nel was a famous photographer who had travelled the world and finally decided to settle back to her hometown as she was too fond of water, especially the pool. Her residence was just beside the river overlooking it. The pool was her calling and she was working on a project here, writing a book on the deaths that took place by drowning in the pool. She was interviewing the families of drowned and other witnesses. People did not want her to dig out the details and told her to stop working on the project many times. Jules has residual bulimia from an over weight childhood and she absolutely hates everyone in the town for making her feel this way as a child. She also had a estranged relationship with her now dead sister. Now suddenly she has been caught up in all this and the responsibility of Lena has also fallen on her shoulders. Lena is battling the grief of losing her mother, along with the grief of death of her best friend - Katie who died by drowning in to the pool some weeks back. Lena is a spitting image of her mother and reminds Jules of her sister both in conduct and appearance. 

There are quite a few characters in the book and each chapter opens up with narration by each character's POV. The book seems all over the place due to such narration style. Each chapter comes off as disconnected from the previous one. There are flash backs and old memories mentioned in the book and the reader has to put in an effort to figure out if its a flash back, a current memory or current happening. It really takes reader's energy to connect the chapters and make a sense and flow of the story. Every character's story runs parallel to the other's and also independently. We also get to read excerpts from Nel's writings and as per Nel - the pool is a place to get rid of "problematic" women through out time since the 17th century. Paula has shared a lot of pertinent characters to the plot but does not dive deep into them, neither develops them. Apart from figuring out that all of them are dull, boring and hiding sinister secrets, there is not much to them. 

The short chapters make the books easy to read and book, fast paced, however the monkey jumping from one character to the other doesn't make it less easy to maintain interest and keep track. The whole book is written in a flat monotone. The eerie suspenseful feeling is present through out the book, however it fails to deliver the punch. The climax is down played and passes off as a narration. There is no OH MY GOD! moment. The book gently reaches its end just like a train does at its station. 

Verdict: 

Despite the slow pace and a massive web of characters to keep a track of, the book managed to keep my interest. However, I am pretty sure at this point that Paula's writing style is not for me. I haven't read her "Woman on the train" but I have watched the movie, English and Indian remakes - both. By watching the movie, I can tell that book must have been written in a monotone as well. If you are in to such a writing style, then sure, give the book a read. 

Stay healthy and beautiful. xoxo!!!