Into the Water, by Paula Hawkins | Suspense | Psychological Thriller | Murder | Book Review

Everybody Has a Secret

Some people will love this book. Others will hate it. A lot of people will be somewhere in between.

I thought this would be a difficult review to write.

The truth is this is one of the most straightforward books I've read in a long time. Some people are going to love it and some people are going to hate it, but for most people it will be "just okay." Its solid three-star rating on Goodreads is an accurate depiction of the enjoyment-factor behind this book. 

For the most part, it's "just okay."

When I started reading, my first thought was "this is a three-star book." Now bear in mind I start every book out at three stars and add or subtract stars as I go along, bearing in mind the current atmosphere of the writing, the story, and how much I am or am not enjoying the book. MOST books gain or lose a star in the first chapter or two. 

I enjoy most books I read, so most books go from three to five quickly, then deteriorate after that. But this one? This one was instantly a three-star book. I knew before I finished the first "part" that it would be a three-star book.

Turns out I was wrong, but I'll get into that in a moment.

One review I read said this book isn't a page turner, but the reviewer couldn't stop turning the pages. (I apologize, because although I know where I saw this review, I can no longer find it to quote it or credit it directly. If this was your review, please comment for credit!) That is EXACTLY how I felt about this book, at least in the beginning.

The basic premise of this book is this: Ten of the eleven narrative characters in the story has a secret they are keeping from at least most of the others. The eleventh is trying to reveal the secrets of the other ten. (If this sounds a little like Pretty Little Liars [the television series, not the book series, which I haven't read], I had the same thought.)

Each character holds a single component of the mystery. As the narrators reveal their secrets (slowly) to the reader, the reader can piece together the story of how the central character died. 

That is BASICALLY what this book is. It also claims to be about memory and how elastic memory can be. While this is ESSENTIALLY true, I wouldn't recommend this book to people who enjoy books centering about how flexible memory creates an alternate reality in the mind of the person remembering. This book isn't REALLY about that.

As I usually do, I want to talk to you about what you need to know before you commit to this book. The next section is safe to read if you wish to avoid spoilers, but will footnote an important spoiler appropriately. Please do NOT read the footnote if you do not wish to be spoiled but please DO read the footnote if the section referencing it pertains to you.

This book requires a content warning.* Please see the footnote for the content warning. I recommend reading the footnoted content warning if you are sensitive to reading triggering topics. I won't go into detail right here so those wishing not to be spoiled can enjoy the rest of this review. There are three content warnings listed below. Please skip them if you don't wish to read them! (I'll put them after a cut for those reading directly on my blog home page.)

There are -- I'm not exaggerating -- ELEVEN perspective characters in this book. It's a lot. Most of the critical reviews of this book address this point specifically. 

The perspectives alternate, which is common in novels in the 21st century. Some are in first person, some are in third. And one is -- again, I kid you not -- in second person.

A lot of people struggled with this. I thought it was FANTASTIC, and it is one of the reasons the book bumped from three stars to four stars for me. Because the book was narrated from each of these perspectives individually, it allowed secrets to be revealed slowly. I discovered, as the reader, what each character knew only when somebody else also discovered it, without any one of the characters taking a priority over the others.

There is a character guide at the beginning of the book. I've noticed several reviewers saying this doesn't exist, so it might not have been in previous versions of the novel, but for me there was a guide to the connections between characters, making it easy to follow who was who. I had NO trouble keeping up with how people connected to one another, even without this guide.

(But then again, I am a writer with hundreds [close to a thousand] of characters in my head, so I'm used to this kind of keep-up.)

The book leaves some unanswered questions. It's supposed to be that way, and I'm astonished how many people have questioned this on Goodreads. This is an author trick which leaves a lot to the imagination of the reader. Personally, I love it, but you may not. 

Not to worry -- in the end we DO know how the central character died, and why. It's the details which are left to the imagination of the reader, along with some other factors.

There are graphic depictions of sex in this book. One of the common questions I see asked on Goodreads is "is there sex in this book?" Yes, there is sex in this book. Some of it is fairly graphic. All of the graphic sex I can recall is heterosexual. I mention this because...

There are undertones of homosexual romance in this book. If you're part of the LGBT community, I hope you enjoy the way this flowed as much as I did, because it's subtle and normalized, for the most part. There is ONE slur in the book (a character refers to another character as a "dyke" in a derogatory sense), but it fit with the character and the scene it was in. For the most part, the subtle normalization of homosexual relationships excited me, as a member of the LGBT community myself.

If you prefer NOT to engage with stories including homosexual romance, that is your prerogative, and I want you to know it exists within the context of this story so if you prefer not to read, you can make that decision to avoid rather than complain about its presence after reading the book.

I wound up loving this book. It kept me turning the pages, got my heart racing a few times, and the characters -- though terribly flawed and most of them in one way or another "bad people" -- were sympathetic for me. Others have described these characters as 100% irredeemable, all of them. For me, that wasn't the case. I loved their flaws, loved how real they were, and how far some of them would go to protect one another.

A lot of people are going to feel similarly to my initial reactions to this book, that it's just "okay." I respect that opinion because it's certainly valid and I went to that place initially myself.

This was also the first of Hawkins' books I've read. That's right; I've not read Girl on the Train. I will be reading it though, just as soon as I can get my hands on a copy. Into the Water made me want more by Hawkins. I'd consider that a win!

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase Into the Water from this page, I will receive a small compensation from Amazon.

* This book contains a detailed description of the rape of a thirteen year old, with all of the relevant back story, from the perspective both of the victim and the perpetrator.

This book ALSO contains references to suicide and self harm.

It ALSO includes the graphic description of a young teenager starting her period in public, and the commencing humiliation.