Into The Water by Paula Hawkins – Review

It’s Monday guys! I hope you are having a fantastic start to your week. Today, I’m reviewing Into The Water by Paula Hawkins. This was a confusing, twisted, and messed up book. I thought there were too many characters and that the plot was messy, but the ending was great and explained a lot of things.

Book: Into The Water

Author: Paula Hawkins

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Summary: In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind. But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped. And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool . . .

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

*Jules. Usually, the first character that is introduced in any book is the character that I grow to trust, support, and feel the most for, even if they are bad (minus those in which we read from the killer’s perspective first!). Jules was that character in this book and even though she wasn’t a great character, I was her biggest champion and felt defensive of her whenever people judged her without knowing what she was really like. She also provided a lot of insight into the other side of Nel when they were both kids and what happened for their relationship to deteriorate so badly. She, unfortunately, was the only character that I liked in this book.

*Dark. For some reason, I like really dark themed books, but not anything too heavy. I like books with messed up characters, terrible secrets coming to light, pasts coming back to haunt characters, morally grey characters, etc. This book was very full of secrets, terrible pasts, and messed up characters. It was one of the reasons why I still enjoyed the book.

*Ending. The ending made so much sense and I understood everything that was going on. It explained the twisted up plot and characters and was not very shocking (except for one part) but it was still good.

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Quote: “The things I want to remember I can’t, and the things I try so hard to forget just keep coming.”

*What is going on here? I was confused throughout this story until the end, and even then there were times when I was utterly lost. The plot was so complex and it would have really helped to know whether Nel had committed suicide or had been murdered. Just when I’d decided that maybe she’d committed suicide, somebody would pop up and tell us something new which would make me erase my theory. The same happened when I thought that she might have been murdered.

*Too many characters. Someone else mentioned that they felt very sorry for anyone who happened to listen to an audio-book of this, and I agree. There were waaayyy too many POVs going on. It was hard to keep track of how each person fits into the story. Every time I started a new chapter, I had to go back to check who and when this person was narrating. It was frustrating and added to my confusion.

*Slow. The first around 50 to 60% was slow. Nothing was happening, we were getting background information, getting introduced to the many characters, and I just wasn’t feeling it. I put it down for a day, and then picked it up and forced myself to finish it. The last third was thankfully a lot more quick paced and was more of a thriller than the rest of the book.

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Quote: “Anything was possible. When you hear hooves you look for horses, but you can’t discount zebras.”

In the end, I was kind of relieved to finish this, and to find out what exactly was going on and who was responsible. It was a confusing, yet interesting read, and I would recommend it, but with the warnings mentioned above. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it!

One sentence summary: A confusing, yet interesting book with a satisfying ending.

Overall, 3 stars.

★★★☆☆

Have you read Into The Water? What did you think? I’ve been contemplating giving The Girl On The Train a second chance. Do you think it’s worth it? Let’s chat in the comments below!