Into The Water by Paula Hawkins // Review

It is a rare thing for me to dedicate an entire week's blog post to one book. Usually I would wait until the end of a month and do a monthly round-up, but this one needed it's own post. 

 When you read as much as I do, it's hard to narrow down your favourite books. The ones I have loved the most have ended up as blog titles: All The Light We Cannot See and The Night Circus for example. Having recently finished Into the Water, I knew this was going to be one of those books. 

 I fell in love with Paula Hawkins' writing last summer when I completed The Girl on the Train in a couple of days. Into the Woods not only followed in its footsteps, but exceeded my expectations dramatically. 

 It ticks all the boxes. 

 The story line is captivating. I couldn't put the book down and that's such a cliche, but it's true. I sometimes struggle to read for hours at a time; I end up falling asleep or drifting off in some other way. Not with this book. I just wanted to know what happened the entire time. Every single page of this book has vital information for the ending and thus is demands your attention in the most wonderful way. 

 I loved the story. It was everything I could want in a book; history, mystery, thrills. Not only that but the writing style is so magically crafted. 

You follow the perspectives of several different characters and with that comes a massive struggle for a writer; that is to make the narrative voice for each character different to provide some contrast. The reader needs to be able to distinguish the difference in characters. In this novel, Hawkins defeats this challenge in a very ambitious way. She explores every single person: first, second and third. Also, she shifts between past tense by giving insight into the dead characters writing project and thus, you hear the dead girl's voice as well. 

 As a writer, this book has really inspired me to test myself. 

 This book is very different to The Girl on the Train which can fall into the generic plot of a thriller. Into the Water is like nothing I have read before or probably will again. It's one of those books that will leave you stumped as to what to read next because it was just too good. 

 Please take the time to read it if you can, you'll love it! 

 See you next week.