Into the Water Query

SPOILER ALERT * SPOILER ALERT * SPOILER ALERT

CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE BOOK INTO THE WATER BY PAULA HAWKINS

Not many people read my blog, but I don’t want anyone stumbling across it and being like, what the French, toast, I just put Into the Water on my reading wishlist.

Into the Water didn’t leave me w/ that awed, breathless feeling I get when I finish a really good thriller. It didn’t leave me shaking my head and wondering who comes up w/ this stuff?!?! It didn’t leave me satisfied in any way and here is the point of this post: has anyone else read this book and had a bunch of questions at the end? B/c honestly, I’m not quite sure what was going on for those 300+ pages.

I’m not comparing this to The Girl on the Train, b/c even that wasn’t like OMG AMAZING. But Hawkins is a solid author and her writing style makes for a fine read w/ a plot that kept me wanting more. In particular, I wanted the answers to the questions I gathered while reading. 

After I finish a book and list it in my GoodReads, I’ll usually scroll other reviews to see if anyone had the same questions I had and if I can find any answers. I didn’t see anyone else wondering my questions, but I did see a lot of “holy shit, why are there so many characters in this book, too may POV’s to keep track of, wah wah wah.” It was a lot of whining for people who allegedly like reading so much, but multiple POV’s are one of my favorite writing styles, so maybe I’m biased. It’s not a book you can read two chapters of and come back a week later w/out being like, wait, who’s this, but once you get into it, they’re easy to track and there’s only four or five you care about anyway.

My questions are simple enough:

-What does Anne Ward have to do w/ anything? She was alive in the 1920’s, she killed her husband and so…..so what exactly? WTF does that have to do w/ anything else in the story? I don’t need to keep reading about “crazy Annie Ward” when there are enough people to keep track of.

-Am I supposed to feel sorry for Jules for not mending things w/ Nell before she died? I don’t care what you thought she did to you when you were teenagers, as an adult you should have hashed that shit out. She was your sister and you ignored her for your entire adult life, so have fun w/ that guilt for the rest of your life. 

-Were Helen and Patrick in love? Helen knew Sean cheated on her and she knew it was w/ Nell, so Helen seemed too obvious a suspect. I was more confused and weirded out by her relationship w/ Patrick.

-I’m supposed to believe that Sean never suspected his dad killed his mom? Sean has to be the worst detective in the world.

-Why is Nickie, the town nutjob clairvoyant, all up in arms about how Lauren started this? Didn’t it start w/ the witch trials? Is that why Anne Ward is even relevant? 

-Sean killed Nell, right? So why did Hawkins keep hinting it was Helen or Patrick? I mean, I get it, you want the reader to be surprised, but I wasn’t surprised, I was annoyed that nothing added up.

Paula Hawkins, if you’re reading this, I’d appreciate some insight. Anyone else who finished this book and had similar issues, I’d love to hear your thoughts.