Helpful Score: 3
Book Description:
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 fromâa 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 surfaceâyou never know what lies beneath.
My Review:
I listened to this book on audio. I found it too confusing because the story is told with the point of view of at lest ten characters. It was hard to understand who was speaking at different times and who they were in relation to the story. Changing from person to different person upset the flow of the story. This book should have been edited better. This book cannot compare to The Girl on the Train. Paula is lucky getting 2 stars from me because I found this book to be one jumble of a mess. Don't waste your time on this one!
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 fromâa 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 surfaceâyou never know what lies beneath.
My Review:
I listened to this book on audio. I found it too confusing because the story is told with the point of view of at lest ten characters. It was hard to understand who was speaking at different times and who they were in relation to the story. Changing from person to different person upset the flow of the story. This book should have been edited better. This book cannot compare to The Girl on the Train. Paula is lucky getting 2 stars from me because I found this book to be one jumble of a mess. Don't waste your time on this one!
Helpful Score: 2
I should've loved this book. It has many ingredients I usually love in a book: connected story-lines, multiple viewpoints, mystery, plot twists, but something seemed to be missing. I didn't dislike the book, but I didn't love it. I liked the writing style and the plot kept me guessing until the end. I think the main issue for me was the characters. I didn't like any of them, nor were any of them interesting enough to hate. My other main complaint is that the historical parts didn't connect well with the modern mystery. It seemed like they were just plopped it to make it more interesting, but not necessary to the plot. There are so many stories going on that they end up not being developed enough. I think it would've been better to just focus on three or four characters. A good book, that could have been great.
I have rarely, if ever, not finished reading a book and I tried and tried to like this book. It was way too confusing for me. Too many characters from too many different times. It became a chore to read so I quit (and my husband cheered because he was tired of me griping about it!)
On another note I loved The Girl On The Train!
On another note I loved The Girl On The Train!
Helpful Score: 2
While I was not a fan of The Girl on the Train, I thought I would give this one a try. I liked it much better - but it was still just okay! There was just enough mystery and suspense to keep me entertained, although the teenage protagonist was very unlikable. She did things way too advanced for a fifteen year old and I kept forgetting that she was just a child. The relationship between her deceased mother and her aunt was infuriating and sad. The reason her friend went "into the water" was infuriating and unbelievable. The way in which she acted and responded to people was infuriating and rude. The fact that I finished the book and wasn't upset that I did, says something for the story. This may be my last Paula Hawkins book - we'll see
