In the days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.

This has got to be one of the most anticipated books of 2017. Following the phenomenal success of The Girl on the Train, Hawkins has returned to the psychological thriller genre that made her a star. Comparisons to her first novel are inescapable, and it was almost inevitable that Into the Water was not going to be as good as Hawkins’ debut.

The main problem is one that most reviewers have picked up on: there are just too many narrators (11 in all). This means we are jumping around to different perspectives so often that we don’t become truly connected to any of them. As such, many of the characters are reduced to clichés and several could have been cut without it affecting the story too much.

Each of the narrators are very similar in tone and while some are written in first person, others are in third person, which just adds to the confusion. None of the characters react to events in a way that makes sense (many of them burst out laughing for no reason) and their motives seem forced. It’s very similar to Broadchurch; a small town where everyone has a secret and everyone has a connection to the person who died. But it lacked the tension and convincing characters to pull off such a plot.

Unlike The Girl on the Train, there is no tense, heart-stopping confrontation at the end, but it rather peters out with a confession. Even without comparisons to any other book, there’s no denying that Into the Water is lacking in suspense.

That’s not to say that this book is without its positives. Though some of the supernatural elements felt tagged on, I enjoyed the atmosphere and the constant, brooding presence of the Drowning Pool, where Nel’s body is found. The focus on memory and the tricks our own minds can play on us are interesting themes Hawkins explores throughout the book.

If you enjoy psychological thrillers, you will probably enjoy this book. However, if you found The Girl on the Train confusing, Into the Water is going to feel like a circus. Hawkins clearly took a gamble with this one, but it doesn’t quite pay off.