The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

Book Blurb

WELCOME TO ERIS – A SCOTTISH TIDAL ISLAND WITH ONLY ONE HOUSE, ONE INHABITANT,
ONE WAY OUT. . .

A place that is unreachable from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day. Once the hideaway of Vanessa, a famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

Now home to Grace. A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, Grace receives an unexpected visitor.

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge . . .

My Review
I think we all know Paula Hawkins from the bestseller The Girl on the Train, but since then she has written three more novels including her new release The Blue Hour. Set mainly on the Island of Eris off the coast of Scotland, an island that can only be accessed at low tide, an island with only habitant. The most famous inhabitant was artist Vanessa Chapman, whose husband disappeared after viiting her. Now it is Grace who lives there, custodian to Vanessa’s legacy until one of her pieces is called into question. And so starts a chain of events that see Grace’s solitude disturbed and with it a lifetime of secrets.

Paula Hawkins is known for her unreliable narrators and in Grace she has a woman who lives through her memories, and we all know that as our late Queen said “recollections may vary”. From the beginning of the book Grace is very posessive of Vanessa’s memory, obsessive about their relationship and thrives on her solitude. Becker is the one that intrudes on her life, coming to collect art works for an exhibition. He is an expert in Vanessa Chapman so they have common ground, but Grace is not one to give up the art and her memories so easily. Whilst at first, apart from Vanessa, they seem to have little in common, but both have imposter syndrome, are loyal and are part of a love triangle; for Becker his wife Helena was engaged to his friend and boss Sebastian, and for Grace, it is with Vanessa and her husband Juan. Whilst Vanessa is dead, her prescence is still a huge part of this book via her dairies, she is always in the background especially on the island.

What had me addicted to The Blue Hour was that this is a real slow burner, the drip effect of clues. The writing is beautifully descriptive, taking note of the slightest detail and making it feel important to the plot. Paula Hawkins really captures the wildness of Eris, the crashing of the sea, the woods and how the extreme weather influenced Vanessa’s art and her moods. I loved the details of Vanessa’s art, the descriptions were visceral so I could see them in my mind; the colours the textures and the medium she used.

The Blue Hour is an atmospheric, gripping and simmering thriller. I really enjoyed the slow pace, more of a long hike than a short sprint, and that compelled me to keep reading. The plot is definitely twisty, you think you know something and then the tide comes in and washes it all away, leaving you reeling and wrong footed. There is a sinister undercurrent throughout, you know something bad is going to happen but just not what, and this darkness is what I loved most. Having read previous books, I think this is her best book yet.

I would like to than Doubleday Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.