Tag Archives: Psychological Thriller

Review: Into the Water

Into the Water

Into the Water
By Paula Hawkins
Riverhead Books, 9780735211209,  May 2017, 400pp.

The Short of It:

Highly anticipated but not for me.

The Rest of It:

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. ~ Indiebound

You may recall the popularity of this author’s previous work, The Girl on the Train. That book wasn’t perfect but it was a page-turner and it kept me reading. With Into the Water, I really had to push myself to read it.

My thoughts:

  • In case you didn’t know, it’s about witches. Kind of.
  • Too much back and forth.
  • The characters. I had no interest in them.
  • Marketed as psychological suspense. No, it’s not.
  • Took a really long time to figure out what was going on.

I’m sure it’s very difficult to top a best seller like The Girl on the Train but this story was a bit underdeveloped. I didn’t mind the numerous points of view or even the format of the novel itself but it just didn’t grab me like her other book did.

Plus, I am not a fan of stories about witches and there was nothing about this book that mentioned witches. It alluded to secrecy and scandal and there was some of that but not enough for me to enjoy it.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Review: A Stranger in the House

A Stranger in the House

A Stranger in the House
By Shari Lapena
Pamela Dorman Books, 9780735221123, August 2017, 320pp.

The Short of It:

A happy couple, an unexplained accident and a case of amnesia leave this couple wondering if anyone is really who they say they are.

The Rest of It:

Karen and Tom Krupp find themselves questioning everything after an accident that leaves Karen with amnesia. Why was she driving so fast? What was she doing in that neighborhood? These are questions that neither of them can answer but when a body is found in the same location as the accident, the police begin to investigate.

I had a really hard time reading this review copy because my eBook was corrupted! Every other sentence was gibberish. However, I do believe I was able to piece together enough of the story to give it a fair review.

I have to admit, the story felt a little familiar and in the end, it was too predictable but I think it held up better than the other book I read by this author, The Couple Next Door. This story had some tense moments and I felt as if we got to know this couple a little better than the couple in her previous book. Overall, it was okay but nothing really stayed with me after I put it down.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.