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Book Summary and Reviews of The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

The Blue Hour

A Novel

by Paula Hawkins

  • Critics' Consensus (10):
  • Published:
  • Oct 2024, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The propulsive and powerful new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train.

Welcome to Eris: an island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day.

Once home to 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, a visitor comes calling.

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge....

 A masterful novel that is as page-turning as it is unsettling, The Blue Hour recalls the sophisticated suspense of Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith and cements Hawkins's place among the very best of our most nuanced and stylish storytellers.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
  1. Becker serves as an intermediary between two conflicting interests—Grace's and those of Fairburn House. How would you describe his own interests and motivations?
  2. The tide is a prominent symbol throughout the novel. What do you think it represents? What other symbols did you notice in the text?
  3. Lady Emmeline insinuates that, because Helena left Sebastian for Becker, she must be untrustworthy and is likely a serial cheater. Julian had multiple affairs, always returning to infidelity even after reconciling with Vanessa. Do you believe in the mantra, "Once a cheater, always a cheater?" How do you think perpetrators can redeem themselves after a betrayal, if it's possible?
  4. How does class impact the relationships ...
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Reviews

Media Reviews

"This propulsive thriller twists into the dark and bloody underbelly of the world of fine art." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Mystery and psychological thriller readers will enjoy peeling back the countless layers of this novel." —Library Journal

"[P]redictable...Hawkins manages few surprises and fewer insights into her characters, resulting in a narrative that's curiously uninvolving even as her skills as a stylist are on full display. This fails to add up to more than the sum of its parts." —Publishers Weekly

"The Blue Hour is an atmospheric, stylish puzzle box of a thriller with a deliciously inventive premise. I love a locked-room mystery—or, in this case, a locked-island mystery—and Paula Hawkins has delivered a truly exceptional one." —Liz Moore, New York Times bestselling author of Long Bright River and The God of the Woods

"An atmospheric and marvelously twisty novel—Paula Hawkins returns with an examination of legacy, and the mountains we'll move to feel like we belong. The Blue Hour builds a labyrinth of surprises, which deliver through to the very last page." —Danya Kukafka, author of Notes on an Execution

This information about The Blue Hour was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Paula Hawkins Author Biography

Photo: Kate Neil

Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before turning her hand to fiction. She lives in London. The Girl on the Train is her first thriller. It is being published all over the world and has been optioned by Dreamworks

Link to Paula Hawkins's Website

Other books by Paula Hawkins at BookBrowse
  • The Girl on the Train jacket
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More Recommendations

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