Into The Water is an addictive novel of psychological suspense about the slipperiness of the truth, and a family drowning in secrets.
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.
Beware a calm surface you never know what lies beneath.
With the same propulsion that captivated millions of readers worldwide in her debut, The Girl on the Train, Hawkins unfurls a gripping, twisting, layered story set in a small riverside town. Once again in her new novel, Hawkins demonstrates her powerful understanding of human instincts and the damage they can inflict. Into The Water is an addictive novel of psychological suspense about the slipperiness of the truth, and a family drowning in secrets.
Paula Hawkins says: “This story has been brewing for a good while. For me there is something irresistible about the stories we tell ourselves, the way voices and truths can be hidden consciously or unconsciously, memories can be washed away and whole histories submerged. Then two sisters appeared, and the novel began to form.”
Review by Sarah McDuling
After the phenomenal success of her debut novel Paula Hawkins set herself a hard act to follow. Luckily her new novel, Into the Water, is every bit as compulsively readable as The Girl on the Train – though admittedly a very different sort of book.
While The Girl on the Train was an emotionally fraught rollercoaster ride, Into the Water is more of an ominous and grimly foreboding ghost story. Told through the eyes of multiple characters, this is a mystery that crosses back and forth through time, and constantly threatens to tiptoe over the line between reality and the supernatural.
For me, one of the most intriguing aspects of Into the Water was the way in which Jules’ backstory slowly unfolds, revealing the heartbreaking cause of the animosity she has always felt towards her older sister. I also found myself desperately hoping that Jules would find a way to connect with her troubled young niece.
This is a truly addictive read – a tense psychological thriller with an ending that definitely caught me by surprise. For fans of Paula Hawkins, be aware – this book is quite different from The Girl on the Train. Nevertheless, it still possesses that same ‘impossible to put down’ quality which urges you to keep reading long past your bedtime.
Industry Reviews
"Paula Hawkins does it again! Into the Water is a moody and chilling thriller that will have you madly turning the pages. A gripping, compulsive read!" * Shari Lapena *
"Wondering if Into the Water could be as good as The Girl on the Train? It's better. A triumph." * Clare Mackintosh *
"Fans of Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train rejoice: her second novel Into the Water is even better. A brilliantly plotted and fast-paced juggernaut of a read that hurtles to a heart-stopping conclusion." * Good Housekeeping (Book of the Month) *
"It's like PD James wrote an episode of The Wire... A twisting whodunit that leaves you both gratified and surprised (also the best kind)... Not just a brilliant thriller but also a furious feminist howl..." * Stylist *
"The prose is powerful and richly descriptive. As the threads of the plot mesh together and the tension builds it develops into a brooding and complex read that deserves to make a splash in its own right." * Sunday Mirror *
