I have a well documented problem with books that have too many characters, particularly when the too many characters each have chapters from their point of views, so I don’t think I was every going to love Into the Water… That being said, even if the novel only focused on two or three of the characters I still don’t think I would have been into it, definitely not like I was with Hawkins’ previous novel Girl on the Train or any of the other recent strings of female focused thrillers.
Nel, a single mother, is found at the bottom of the river in a small British town; suicide is suspected, just like her fifteen year old daughter’s best friend earlier in the summer, but there is still an investigation. Nel’s estranged sister, Jules, along with Nel’s daughter, Lena, and half a dozen other people’s lives begin to unravel as the police look into the two (presumed) suicides. It’s very choppily written and while there are several twists and turns, the reveal at the end is fine, there isn’t anything special or memorable about this one.
Oh! And Nel is writing a book about all the previous other deaths in the river, particularly the part of the river known as the Drowning Pool (so you know, maybe time to put up some chain link fencing…), so the various points of view are interrupted with excerpts from the novel within the novel.
Like I said, I was never going to like how Into the Water was written so it needed a really strong, captivating plot and it didn’t deliver.
The Insult & Curse Book by Michelle Lovric
I wasn’t going to review The Insult & Curse Book because it only took about 10 minutes to read but it was so funny that I couldn’t not give it a small mention here on the site. It is funny insults throughout history reprinted and crediting the insulter (and the insulted).
A female cellist auditioning for the English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham finished her first piece and asked him: “What shall I do next?” His replay: “Get married.”
My dad picked this up at a library run garage sale and was reading from it at our last family get together (you know, like most fathers) so I snagged it from him on my way out.