Into The Water is the latest psychological suspense novel from Paula Hawkins, and its publishers will no doubt be hoping that it is as much as a runaway success as its predecessor, The Girl On The Train. If it does attract a similarly broad readership, it will be well-deserved. Hawkins has not opted for the easy option – à la Dan Brown – of churning out the same hackneyed plotlines and characters to keep the masses happy. 
Instead, this is a much more ambitious novel – one that is a little reminiscent of both The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend. Hawkins unfurls a gripping and layered story, even if the prose may be a little clunky. Still, while Hawkins might never win the Booker, she certainly knows how to keep the the reader’s interest piqued. Indeed, this sinister novel about a family drowning in secrets might just be the blockbuster of the year. Expect the cinematic adaptation to follow in short order.