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.

The Orphan's Tale, by Pam Jenoff | Historical Fiction | World War II Europe | Book Review

Heartbreaking Historical Fiction

This book broke me.

It's been a good few days since I finished reading it, in part because I had to take some personal time once it was finished to come down from the trapeze. 

No, seriously. This book destroyed me. It didn't break me. No. It SHATTERED me. 

Alright, alright. I should tell you, first and foremost, that I love all things circus. This probably sounds ODD coming from someone who hasn't read Water for Elephants (in my Amazon cart right now!) or Night Circus (on my bookshelf!) yet, but the fact remains this book appealed to me because of its circus plot.

That is certainly MUCH of what HELD my interest throughout the experience reading The Orphan's Tale, by Pam Jenoff.

I loved this for two reasons. The first is that the circus created an amazing backdrop for the story and creates the cornerstone for the relationship between the two women, Noa and Astrid. The other is that it is historically relevant to the experience of Jews during occupied Europe during World War II.

This book, therefore, brought me gently back to World War II fiction (something I was needing anyway) by connecting me to it through my love of circus settings. It has been YEARS since I read World War II fiction at all. (And by YEARS I mean I was in middle school at the time.) The Orphan's Tale gave me a reason to pick up historical fiction again. It started a ball rolling I'm grateful to have rolling.

So here's what you need to know before you commit to reading this book.

First, the synopsis is meaningless.

I bought this book based on its circus setting because the synopsis was too weak to gain my interest. The book's inner flap describes this as a novel of two women, at first enemies and then unlikely friends, whose secrets threaten to tear their friendship apart.

That's not what this book is about. In fact, I'd venture so far as to say this synopsis is INACCURATE to describe this book. Not only are the secrets between Noa and Astrid minor in most cases, but they aren't FRIENDS in the sense of most chick-lit.

This REALLY isn't a story about a friendship. It's a story about a circus sheltering Jews during World War II when the Nazis were everywhere.

If you want to read a book which demonstrates how people passively allowed the atrocity of the Holocaust to take place, or if you wish to read a novel which demonstrates how ordinary people did extraordinary things, then this book may excite you. I've not read other books on this topic in a long time, and can make no comparison to popular novels such as The Nightingale, but I can speak to the merits of THIS book.

I loved the relationships between people and their situation more than the relationships between the characters in the book. How they interacted with the circus and with the war is remarkable and fascinating. This is what was most important to me.

You may also want to know this book contains a racial slur referring to a woman of Roma descent. Before you argue that this is simple historical accuracy, you have to understand the reader does NOT encounter a lot of supremacist talk against JEWISH PEOPLE (which would also have been historically accurate).

I believe this is a situation where the author may not be educated on the use of this term, but I would have preferred it to be omitted OR used to the story's advantage.

After all, the Romani people were also targeted during World War II.

Therefore, I also find myself concerned by the missed opportunity on the part of the author. She could have discussed the protection of the Romani woman in this story, or addressed HER fear of the Nazis, but this never came up. 

In my opinion, if a racial slur is used for historical authenticity, it's important it be placed in context, and I didn't feel it was in this story. Whether Jenoff realized "gypsy" is a slur or not is irrelevant. The use of the term felt contextually out of place with the rest of the story, and served as a missed opportunity to address the plight of the Roma people during this period of history.

The book is written in first person present tense from the alternating perspective of Noa and Astrid. This keeps the tension high, as the circus is in constant peril, the characters at risk of being discovered by the Nazis. This is a HUGE plus for me.

I recommend this book, and I hope you love it as much as I did. This is a novel which stayed with me long after I had finished reading it, and I still have dreams of the flying trapeze (which takes up a large portion of the story)! 

Please let me know what you thought of this one!

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase The Orphan's Tale from this page, I will receive a small compensation from Amazon.

With Love from the Inside by Angela Pisel | Family Drama | Legal Thriller | Book Review

A Roller Coaster from Start to Finish! 

This book made me FEEL things.

If you've ever been a mother, or if you've ever had a mother, this book will make you feel things, too. Some of them may be heartrending, others tragic, but this book will make you feel things. 

I loved this book. 

With that said, let me (as I like to do) go over what I feel you need to know about this book before you purchase it. Whenever I can, I like to help readers avoid purchasing books which will provide unexpected or unwanted surprises.

First, while not what I'd call "Christian fiction," the religious aspects of this book were a bit of a smack for me. It might help to note that my to-be-read shelf (the one in my home, as I don't keep one on Goodreads) includes Witch, by Lisa Lister, 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack, and The Inner Sky, by Steven Forrest.

If you're not at all interested in religious undertones in your fiction, skip this one. While it's not exactly "in your face" it was a bit much FOR ME, and I tend to be pretty diplomatic about these things. (Heavens, I even read Christian fiction from time to time. As long as I know it's Christian fiction, I'm fine with that!)

Second, it's implausible. I'm having a difficult time believing a woman was sentenced to death for the murder of an infant. I probably SHOULD be able to believe it, but I watch true crime shows and read enough true crime novels to find this difficult to swallow. 

Because it is SO CONFUSING whether this novel is set in North or South Carolina, it's difficult to track down the information on death row convictions for the state in which the novel is set (but I think that would be important information. I WAS able to find the site where Pisel appears to have done her research on the female death row.

It strikes me this may have been the only research into females on death row in North Carolina the author did at all, and that astonishes me. The topic should have been more well-researched than that.

The final thing I think you need to know before committing to this book is the editing is odd. I wish, now, that I'd taken better notes with the book as I read it. (I'm terrible at this, by the way.) In one case, the author used an ENTIRELY WRONG word (one which sounded similar, but was NOT a homophone AND had an ENTIRELY different meaning).

Alright, so now you know what you NEED to know before you commit, I'd like to talk about the details, plus my feelings on this book. No worries! I don't include spoilers in my reviews. 

Like the past two books I've reviewed, it was written in alternating perspectives from Sophie (the daughter), and Grace (the mother). Sophie's parts are written in third person, and Grace's in first. 

It is crucial for me to mention this because there are some problems with the perspective I want to bring to light. 

Specifically that Grace's portions alternate between past and present tense and her first-person perspective is in itself a potential spoiler for a novel. If you've ever read a first-person novel from the perspective of someone whose life is in peril (and Grace's is, considering she's on death row for the murder of her infant son), you'll note most of them are written in PRESENT TENSE in order to avoid alerting the reader this character survives to tell the story.

Plus, you'll note my admonition on the editing, above. This is troubling for me as this book was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons (a division of Penguin Publishing) and it seems the editing should have been SUPERIOR. Watch out for this if you're accustomed to reading better edited books!

Some story lines hang out with loose endings. In the case of this book (and I won't spoil which loose ends aren't tied up), I feel like the sub-plots are mostly unnecessary. There are three major sub plots throughout this story. None of them resolve completely. Each of them has some gaping hole which doesn't get filled by the author. The reader is left to simply drop this sub-plot entirely as though it never happened. It's frustrating.

Not only that, but the sub-plots mostly bored me. I found all but one totally uninteresting, and they had little impact on the story as a whole, other than (perhaps) to make Sophie (who is altogether unlikeable as a character) more sympathetic to the reader. At least one of these sub-plots introduces what may be her only positive traits to the reader.

Also, without giving it away, I had suspected the ending purely based on the dust jacket. If you read deeply at all, the ending is wholly predictable.

So why did I love this book so much?

It touched on issues I can understand and relate to. It made me feel things I hadn't felt in a long time. It brought emotions I had refused to feel to the surface and forced me to deal with those feelings in a healthy manner.

I loved it because it made me not only cry, but WEEP. I loved it because of the emotional tone and quality of this book, and because of how deeply it touched me. I loved this book. I did. 

I think a lot of others will love this book as well, if they can tolerate the negatives and overlook those for the good in the novel. I hope you'll give it a try!

What did you think of With Love from the Inside, by Angela Pisel?

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Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent | Thriller | Psychological Backdrop | Book Review

The Book That Spoils Itself

I am at a loss for words.

I am SO CONFUSED, having finished this book and taken some time to process, that I don't know how to review it. 

I think I'll start with what you absolutely need to take away from this review. If you stop reading right now, I want you to know one CRUCIAL detail about the book.

If you read the synopsis of the story (on the dust jacket or on Amazon), you have the most important details. There's no thrill to this story. None. None AT ALL. That's because from the very first sentence, you know who committed the murder and who they killed.

Dust jacket reviews purport that the mystery is in WHY the killer murdered the victim, but the reader discovers this information so early in the story, and it's so easily deduced before that point, that there is no real thrill, no suspense, no wondering.

I want you to know this FIRST, because if you're looking for an exciting thriller, you can skip this one right now. This book literally spoils the suspense for itself.

The other thing you HAVE to know before investing in this book is that the ending is, well, ODD. I'd hate to spoil it for you, so I won't say more than that up here. Feel free to jump to the end to read about why the ending bothered me so much.

I've taken to looking for book recommendations on Pinterest of all places. I'm one of those people who judge a book by its cover, and Pinterest is a wealth of cover art, often linked to further information on the book it covers.

I bought this book (the day it was released, no less!) for the sake of its cover, and because it promised to be a psychological thriller. 

The cover is brilliant, isn't it? I imagined a story of the body of a murdered victim being uncovered slowly but surely, or the dirt over her grave being washed away to reveal the horror of her death. Because we know immediately who the killer and the victim are, I expected SOME kind of suspense surrounding the discovery of the murder.

Only there wasn't any suspense. The book simply DID NOT DELIVER on its promise.

I could have gotten behind this book if I wanted the killer to be discovered. I could have gotten behind it if I battled suspense because I hoped the killer would NOT be discovered. 

I felt neither as this book went on. 

It's hard to explain WHY I couldn't invest in justice for Annie Doyle. I cared about her, and it was hard NOT to care about the family torn apart by her disappearance. I cared about the family of the killer (though admittedly not the killers themselves). I just couldn't bring myself to care whether the murder was solved, and that alone was problematic.

One potential reason for this problem is the book was told in alternating perspectives among three different narrators: Lydia Fitzsimons, Laurence Fitzsimons, and Annie Doyle's sister Karen. It's hard to "choose a side" when you can see the playing field from all angles. While the actions of one of these characters are entirely deplorable, discovery affects another so deeply it's hard to decide whether to root for the bad guy or for the victim's family.

You, of course, may find the experience different from mine. It's altogether possible you'll find one of these characters particularly appealing.

It wouldn't surprise me, in fact. The character development in this story is superb, and the characters (primary, secondary, tertiary, and even ancillary) unfold slowly and beautifully, like a flower blossoming. Each is fully realized, believable, and terrifyingly like someone you probably already know.

This is a DEEPLY psychological book.

And, well, I like that. Actually, I like that a LOT.

This book WILL creep up on you. Slowly. (Too slowly for some people. ALMOST too slowly for me, to be honest with you.)

I liked it, but I didn't love it. It moves too slowly, and at least one of the three main characters appears to change suddenly. On reflection, I feel this is not a change so much as it's a revelation of the person they were from the beginning. (I'm using gender-neutral pronouns to avoid spoiling WHICH character in the beginning.)

The ending shocked me. If you want to talk about an awesome twist ending, I did not see that coming. Not even for an instant. It blew me away.

Unfortunately, it also felt rushed, sudden, and startling. This is a book which builds like a crescendo, and ends with a deafening crash. For some, this will be a "crash and burn" scenario. For others, it will be a shocking, thrilling end to an otherwise mediocre book.

For me, I found it exciting when I read it, but with a bit of distance, I'm left disappointed. Nugent could have done better.

Mostly this one just DISAPPOINTED me, and I cannot recommend the hardcover at this price point. 

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