The river runs deep

Author : Paula Hawkins
Title : Into the water
Published : 02/05/17
Pages : 368

     In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped.

     I picked this up having very much enjoyed Paula Hawkins first book girl on a train. Stand alone crime thrillers offer something a series tends not to do. Which is to say a book that focuses on the people effected and not just the detectives, coroners or crime scene investigators. Not that I'm opposed this in any way its just a different way of telling a story.

     The story focuses on Jules, who is dragged back to the place she grew up by the suicide of her sister Nel. The character comes across well as some one dealing with conflicting feeling. Whilst she struggles with the loss of her estranged sister she is also trying to figure out a niece who she never really knew and who is bitter and angry towards her. All the while trying to peace together how and why her sister ended up dead in the water. Lena is written well as the niece who is full of secret's of her own. As the story progress we get to better understand her anger towards those around her and part she played in her world coming crashing down.  All this is played out against the background of a small town with its politics and infighting.

    Once again the writer has done a good job of enticing us into her story. I think she has a very good knack for writing about broken people. And making them feel like they are coming off the page and in to our lives. For obvers reason the topic of suicides and the reason behind why people chose to do it features prominently. I think she does it with a delicate touch never pushing  to hard. The mystery/thriller aspect is always there pushing the story forward and never allowing things to get to stuck. This book also feature several different time periods jumping between Nel and Jules's teenage years and the present. A feature which I defiantly enjoy in books of this nature.

     It didn't take me long to read this book. The story was enjoyable and whilst I thought I had figured it out several times by the end I was pleasantly surprised by the revel. This book is not really about gruesome murders and blood spilled up the walls, its more psychological than that.  And I have to say in this case it works. so if you have some time dive in and give it a go.