Growing up, I always wanted to be a writer. As I got older, I realized that I'm not good at finishing anything and I would end up starving to death if I focused primarily on writing. So, like most wannabe writers, I became an avid reader instead.

Last year I read Paula Hawkin's debut novel, The Girl on the Train, and let me tell you... I loved it. Absolutely. I was reminded of Gone Girl, and let's be honest here... everyone loves Gone Girl. The more shockingly fucked up a book is, the more entertaining it is. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I learned of Into the Water.

Synopsis

Into the Water is a 'who-dun-it' novel that takes place in a quaint English town. A river wraps itself around the entire town, but the best spot is called Drowning Pool which is adorned by a precarious cliff face that troublesome women make a habit of jumping from.

When Nel Abbot is found floating dead in the pool, her estranged (and strange) sister Jules comes back to her hometown in order to take care of her 15-year-old niece, Lena. Joined by a full cast of characters, we learn how the pool got its name and uncover the secrets behind the women that are found floating on its face.

Cast of Characters

Each chapter is narrated in the first person by different characters. The story unfolds through the different perspectives of the main characters. Intermittently, in a typewriter font, stories written by Nel (the deceased) are shared. I decided to include a cast of characters because a lot of people who read the book had a hard time keeping them all straight.

• Jules
  If I had to choose the main character, Jules would be it. She is the somewhat awkward younger sister of Nel Abbot. She is haunted by the past that involves her sister and a near drowning in the pool.

• Lena
  As a co-star, Lena steals the show. She is the orphaned 15-year-old daughter of Nel. She is still mourning the suicide of her best friend, Katie, mere weeks preceding her mother's death. Her tough exterior hides many truths.

• Josh
  When Katie jumped into the river, she left behind her shy and awkward younger brother, Josh. He is hopelessly in love with Lena and confused about his sister's death and his mother's happiness at the death of Nel.

• Laurie
  Driven half mad by the suicide of her favorite child, Katie, Laurie seems publicly ecstatic that Nel turned up dead. Up one minute and down the next, Laurie disrupts everyone's lives with her emotional outbursts.

• Mark
  Seemingly disconnected from the lives that are spinning out of control around him, Mark is surprisingly distraught by the deaths around him. How does this school teacher fit into everything?

• Sean
  As a local detective, Sean has been involved in many of the Drowning Pool cases in town. He investigates Nel's death in an effort to get to the bottom of a death that seems less and less like suicide than previously assumed.

• Patrick
  Grumpy retired detective and widower. He is not well liked in town, aside from by his family; Sean and his wife Helen.

• Helen
  The meek principal at the high school which Katie and Lena attend and married to Sean, Helen is stable and trustworthy. She dotes on her father-in-law, calling him dad.

• Nickie
  Is this a ghost story? Nickie will have you second guessing what kind of book you're reading. She is the local psychic. Everyone assumes she's a fraud, but could her negative vibes about Patrick be right?

• Erin
  Young and spunky, Erin is an outside detective assigned to Nel's case. She isn't shy to ask the hard questions, which means most people don't like her much.

My Thoughts (no spoilers)

Some books are just hard to read. They don't grab you from the beginning. It's almost a chore to get to the 'good parts'. The build up as just as tough for us to read through as it was for the author to write. This book was nothing like that. I was grabbed from the very moment I began reading. I didn't want to put it down. I read voraciously - staying up past my bedtime and falling asleep at work.

I found it interesting that the issues in this novel are feminist based. After reading further, I decided that this is, indeed, a homage to feminist issues. The women encounter a plethora of common (and not so common) sexist tropes. The heroines are all different and well thought out. But the men were lacking in substance.

The characters were a little cliche and the twists weren't quite a shock like The Girl on the Train. There were some loose ends that didn't get cleaned up, which left me wanting.

All in all, I would recommend this book. It was a thrilling, fast read that was fully entertaining from beginning to end. Just don't start by comparing it to The Girl on the Train, as I did.

Questions (SPOILERS)

If you read this book, you might be wondering some of these things...

• What happened to Mark?
  The book implies that Lena killed him. But if so, how? How did she remove the body? She couldn't possible drag a grown man very far.

• What happened to Jeannie?
  Patrick admitted to killing Lauren and Nel (even though he didn't), but we didn't learn anything about Jeannie's demise.

• What about Sean?
  We were told that he killed Nel. But I felt like the explanation was lacking. Also, he mentioned earlier in the book that he saw a 'look' in his mother, Jeannie, and Nel's eyes when looking at him. This almost implies that he had something to do with all 3 murders.