The laughs of children and the memories of summer fun ripple along the surface of the tantalizing river, a river with secrets just below the surface. In Into the Water by bestselling author Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, the secrets, lies, and deception of one small town is explored; one river will link them together and will also lead them on a dangerous journey filled with murderous neighbors, dishonest teachers, and bitter housewives. With a vivid and lyrical writing and a pulse-pounding story about the darkness of human nature, Hawkins returns with another dark, disturbing, and exhilarating thriller that readers are guaranteed to find themselves absorbed in.

Into the Water tells the story of Jules, a girl who must return to her hometown due to the death of her sister. But with her sister’s death comes the responsibility of caring for her now orphaned daughter, Lena. Jules may have thought going back home would be troubling, but the memories that resurface from deep beneath the water are more than Jules could have ever predicted. She must face her niece whom she has never known and also confront her hidden reasons for ignoring her sister, who was more troubled than Jules ever knew. With deaths being tied to the ominous river and with the number of suspects increasing, there’s no telling who’s responsible. And as Jules and Lena soon discover, everyone has something to hide, and no one is free of blame. Told with the same intrigue and intensity as The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins latest will not disappoint – chilling and disturbing material covering each and every page.

Having thoroughly enjoyed The Girl on the Train, I was unsure if Into the Water could live up to the excellence of Hawkins’s first novel. But her second thriller was just as incredible, if not better. While The Girl on the Train was more focused on the dramatic events following the downfall of marriage and the unreliability of a woman who can’t remember her own past, Into the Water takes a more sophisticated look at the intricacies of a small town and the eeriness and uncertainty following a river that holds the bodies of murdered women. While it’s very different and focuses on both teenage and adult characters, Hawkins’s voice is much stronger and her characters even more human (and creepy). For those in search of a book that is sure to instill fear in readers and present small towns and rivers in an entirely new way, Into the Water is a novel that must be read. This is a book that will not disappoint.

Jules has many questions. She is forced to face her past and the horrors that controlled much of her childhood, but she also must account for her own wrongdoings and misconceptions about herself and the people around her. Told with extreme intensity, chilling moments, and characters that are horrifyingly real, Paula Hawkins comes back and will give the world another novel that will leave readers shaken and addicted. Step “into the water” if you dare; the water is nice, as long as you don’t like breathing, of course.