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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Great 👍
Great story. Good twists. Interesting characters. Not as good as Girl on the Train, though. Hard act to follow. But I enjoyed very much. Great ending. Lots of layers.
Great story. Good twists. Interesting characters. Not as good as Girl on the Train, though. Hard act to follow. But I enjoyed very much. Great ending. Lots of layers.
A little too predictable and slow -- though this is the first "thriller" I've read so no idea if this is just normal pacing.
Still relatively enjoyed it. I finished it quicker than most books these days.
Still relatively enjoyed it. I finished it quicker than most books these days.
I got stuck on this one and stopped reading it for a while. Was longer than it needed to be and slow in the middle. Glad I did end up finishing. Originally three stars but gave it four because the ending truly surprised me.
Life is too short to try to read books they aren’t doing it for you. This was a DNF for me. Just couldn’t follow or keep my interest at all.
I listened to this as an audiobook and while I liked the the narrators, it was hard to keep track of the characters which made it difficult to connect with them. With that being said, there are great twists and turns!
I love this writer. Her mysteries unfold beautifully
Plot
The Drowning Pool is a notorious spot in Beckford for women meeting their end. Years ago, it was where the townspeople would drown people under suspicion of witchcraft. In more recent years, it’s where many go to end their own lives by suicide.
Nel Abbott is one of these women, or so it’s believed when her body is found at the bottom of the Drowning Pool. But her estranged sister, Jules, doesn’t think she would ever take her own life. When she comes back to town to take care of Nel’s daughter, Lena, she gets caught up in the lies and secrets that the inhabitants of the town have been keeping for years.
Lena does believe her mother killed herself, just like her friend Katie did earlier that year in the same spot.
New-to-town detective Erin Morgan doesn’t know what to believe. Does she listen to Jules and look for something suspicious? And why does no one in the town find it odd that so many women have died at the Drowning Pool, including her colleague, Detective Sean Townsend’s mother?
This book confused me
I struggled to actually figure out how much I liked it as I was reading it. The first thing that worried me was the sheer amount of characters and the fact that we jump from one character’s point of view to another and then another and so on. It’s very confusing at the start, and I thought I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with what was going on.
But once I got into the rhythm of the story and got to know each character’s voice, it wasn’t too bad. It took me a few chapters, but it did all start to make sense. I actually think this book would make a great TV show, and having faces to match to the different characters would make it a lot easier to follow.
The second thing that bugged me about this book is that everyone is so unlikeable. I mean holy moly there is so much to hate about nearly every character, except for maybe Erin.
But as I got deeper into the book, I started to have some sympathy for these people. I still disliked them. Most of their actions are despicable. But as I got to know them, I could sympathise with the reasons for their actions. Jules may have spent her entire adult life ignoring her sister when she reached out to her, but once we realise why we can almost forgive it. Louise Whittaker, Katie’s mother, treats Lena horribly for someone who has just lost her mother, but when we find out the circumstances around Katie’s death, her dislike of the Abbots make a lot more sense. I can’t give any more examples without spoilers, but there are plenty more.
The characters in this book illustrate perfectly how no one is purely good or bad. There are grey areas that muddle it all up. But that’s what makes them all the more realistic. Real people aren’t good or bad, so why should these characters be?
This isn’t your typical thriller
Don’t go into this thinking you’re getting a high-tension thriller like The Girl on the Train. It’s a much slower paced book and is more eerie than tense. The ending isn’t one big final showdown scene like a lot of thrillers are, either. There’s no big reveal or shock-inducing twist, it’s much more matter-of-fact than that.
But I actually liked that about this book. I think it worked really well for a story that’s so character-focused. When you’re not constantly on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next, you’re more able to focus on what’s happening now, on what each character is thinking and saying and how they’re developing along with the story. It makes for a surprisingly enjoyable story.
Into the Water is definitely worth a read, but be prepared for a slow burn that doesn’t end in one big explosion.
(This and other reviews can be seen on my blog at https://stuckinagoodbook.wordpress.com/ )
The Drowning Pool is a notorious spot in Beckford for women meeting their end. Years ago, it was where the townspeople would drown people under suspicion of witchcraft. In more recent years, it’s where many go to end their own lives by suicide.
Nel Abbott is one of these women, or so it’s believed when her body is found at the bottom of the Drowning Pool. But her estranged sister, Jules, doesn’t think she would ever take her own life. When she comes back to town to take care of Nel’s daughter, Lena, she gets caught up in the lies and secrets that the inhabitants of the town have been keeping for years.
Lena does believe her mother killed herself, just like her friend Katie did earlier that year in the same spot.
New-to-town detective Erin Morgan doesn’t know what to believe. Does she listen to Jules and look for something suspicious? And why does no one in the town find it odd that so many women have died at the Drowning Pool, including her colleague, Detective Sean Townsend’s mother?
This book confused me
I struggled to actually figure out how much I liked it as I was reading it. The first thing that worried me was the sheer amount of characters and the fact that we jump from one character’s point of view to another and then another and so on. It’s very confusing at the start, and I thought I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with what was going on.
But once I got into the rhythm of the story and got to know each character’s voice, it wasn’t too bad. It took me a few chapters, but it did all start to make sense. I actually think this book would make a great TV show, and having faces to match to the different characters would make it a lot easier to follow.
The second thing that bugged me about this book is that everyone is so unlikeable. I mean holy moly there is so much to hate about nearly every character, except for maybe Erin.
But as I got deeper into the book, I started to have some sympathy for these people. I still disliked them. Most of their actions are despicable. But as I got to know them, I could sympathise with the reasons for their actions. Jules may have spent her entire adult life ignoring her sister when she reached out to her, but once we realise why we can almost forgive it. Louise Whittaker, Katie’s mother, treats Lena horribly for someone who has just lost her mother, but when we find out the circumstances around Katie’s death, her dislike of the Abbots make a lot more sense. I can’t give any more examples without spoilers, but there are plenty more.
The characters in this book illustrate perfectly how no one is purely good or bad. There are grey areas that muddle it all up. But that’s what makes them all the more realistic. Real people aren’t good or bad, so why should these characters be?
This isn’t your typical thriller
Don’t go into this thinking you’re getting a high-tension thriller like The Girl on the Train. It’s a much slower paced book and is more eerie than tense. The ending isn’t one big final showdown scene like a lot of thrillers are, either. There’s no big reveal or shock-inducing twist, it’s much more matter-of-fact than that.
But I actually liked that about this book. I think it worked really well for a story that’s so character-focused. When you’re not constantly on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next, you’re more able to focus on what’s happening now, on what each character is thinking and saying and how they’re developing along with the story. It makes for a surprisingly enjoyable story.
Into the Water is definitely worth a read, but be prepared for a slow burn that doesn’t end in one big explosion.
(This and other reviews can be seen on my blog at https://stuckinagoodbook.wordpress.com/ )
2.5 stars. The story was interesting and would've been a 3-star book, but for the fact that I hated every single character.
I was confused at first, when the author introduced each character without context. Slowly, the tapestry was created and I could see the story clearly. She built a suspenseful story that kept me guessing. I finished it in a day.