Sometimes it’s much easier to talk to a stranger. Selena is heading home on a commuter train when she begins to talk to the stranger sitting next to her. She makes an almost-instant connection with Martha and finds herself telling her she suspects that her husband is sleeping with their nanny. When Martha makes an odd comment, “Maybe she’ll disappear”, Selena dismisses it, the two women part, and Selena assumes they will never see each other again. But, just a few days later, the nanny vanishes. Now Selena begins to wonder about that conversation, especially when she receives a text message from Martha.

Confessions on the 7:45, by Lisa Unger, is a twisty story that, at first, reminded me of Strangers on the Train. But, it is much more than that. It is a psychological thriller that deals with deceit, secrets, and lies. As Selena navigates her fractured life, she is forced to re-evaluate her relationship with her husband, the effects various events will have on her children, and even her feelings about her own parents.

The story is told from different perspectives, several timelines, and plots that weave around each other. It is definitely a book that demands the reader’s full attention. But, it is well-worth the effort. Confessions on the 7:45 was hard to put down and thoroughly enjoyable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Confessions on the 7:45: A Novel by Lisa Unger releases on October 6, 2020. This thriller was very twisty and was an enjoyable book. The story is told from several perspectives to tell a story that all connects so well by the end. Two women meet on a train and share their secrets which is just the beginning of their lives changing and finding out the truth about their lives. I would highly recommend this book to those that enjoy a good thriller. Thanks to Park Row via Netgalley for this review copy.

I have a soft spot for a good con, confessions to strangers and a convoluted past. You know how when you make a friendship bracelet you take a few different colors and then weave them together until they make this beautiful piece of jewelry that you tie off and give to a friend? That's kind of what this book felt like. Each color a different layer and then it all ties together at the end. And that friend is ME! OH geezuz, I just compared a psychological thriller to a friendship bracelet. Um....

This is my fifth Unger and I always look forward to her reads. My all time favorite is still The Red Hunter followed closely by Ink and Bone.... and now Confessions on the 7:45 is right here with them. I loved getting all the different POVs. At one point I thought it was going to be a little difficult keeping track of everything but then.... *light bulb*... I GET IT. Tricky, Tricky.... 😉

Here's the thing, I think some readers are going to think it got just a little bit too convoluted and it possibly did but personally, I was here for it. I really liked how it all came together and while one particular character had questionable morals, I truly grew to get her. There were definite moments where I said outloud, "WHAT?" Wasn't expecting that! I did feel there were a couple repetitive moments which were unnecessary but overall, two snaps and neck wring for this thriller!

Takeaways: Be careful about confessing to strangers on a train, always keep your phone fully charged and never get a person to the point where they have nothing to lose.

"Because everybody counts."

This is a very enthralling and well plotted out book but, unfortunately, it didn’t quite reach my expectations. The story was bogged down by a lot of preachy societal commentary about how people falsely present themselves on Instagram, toxic men, well, really, just men in general. While all of that can definitely be true at times, I didn’t appreciate how much it took over the story. It felt like anytime the story really got going the plot was paused to add in more unnecessary commentary. I love when mystery/thrillers have multiple narrators but another aspect of this story that dragged it down was when we inexplicably got more viewpoints. The only thing that they seemed to add was to the author’s commentary and not much plot wise. I feel like this book could have been streamlined to make the pacing faster and everything feel more immediate.

The book starts with four main narrators and I really connected with Anne. She is such a complex, shifty character and I really appreciated what she brought to the story. Another character that I mostly enjoyed was Serena, although she had major moments where I just wanted to shake her. Serena reminds me a lot of the characters that I used to read a lot of back 5-6 years ago. Where the woman is such a mess and makes excuses for her life instead of just owning that her choices put her where she is.

However, despite all that, I found the story so captivating that I read this book in about 24 hours. The plot was predictable but I still really enjoyed seeing everything come together. I also really enjoyed the ending and Unger wrapped things up perfectly. If you love domestic thrillers then I think this book could be one that you really enjoy. I know that there were aspects of this story that I didn’t like but there was also something about that kept me engaged and thinking about it. So, for that reason, I will be trying some of Unger’s backlist to see if I fare any better with those stories.

Wow, this book kept me on my toes. There were so many twists and turns that I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride. It was an excellent ride though. I'm still a little dizzy from the ending.

Each chapter is told from different characters but was very easy to keep straight. I enjoyed the different points of view. Without giving anything away, the different points of view allow you to feel compassion for characters you might not normally feel compassion towards.

This was my first Lisa Unger book and it won't be my last.

If you like thrillers, suspense, domestic thrillers then this is the book for you. Once you start you will be hard-pressed to stop until you turn the last page.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, Harlequin, through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Park Row Books for the gifted digital ARC of Lisa Unger's fabulous new book - another 5 star thrill ride!

Selena Murphy is the breadwinner of her family after her husband, Graham, lost his job. They have two small boys and a nanny, Geneva, to help out. When Selena misses her train home, she's not altogether devastated to have 2 hours to call her own where she's not an employee, wife or mother. When she gets on the 7:45 train to go home, a young woman sits next to her and confesses that she's having an affair with her boss. Selena feels a connection to this woman, Martha, and feels free to unburden the fact that she saw Graham and Geneva having an affair on the nanny cam. But soon, things veer totally out of control and Selena's life as she knows it implodes.

You're best going into this book with as little knowledge as possible. There are many layers of secrets and lies between many characters that weave in and out of each other's lives. Lisa Unger is a master of keeping all these balls up in the air and will leave you breathless as you race through the book. What lies would you tell to keep your family intact? When does the perfect instagram family become the ideal rather than the reality? What part of ourselves are we willing to push down to accept others' behavior?

My early thoughts when reading Confessions on the 7:45 was wow there are a lot of characters. Normally I’m not too bad when it comes to lots of characters, but for this novel I actually had to keep notes in my phone on how the characters were connected and who is who.

That being said, I really enjoyed the beginning of the novel and I was curious to know how all of the women (Selena, Geneva and Anne) would be connected. Then the novel went on and I started to get bored. I found that some of the mystery was revealed too early (who Anne was) and at the end it just wrapped up way too nicely. I was hoping to get more of a shocker of an ending or more of a thriller.

3 calculators out of a potential 5. Some parts I enjoyed and some I didn’t. I would recommend for those looking for a book with twists and multiple storylines/characters.

Thank you to Netgallery and HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow this book is mind blowing w/all its twists, turns, & shocking revelations into our characters lives. I love this authors books and this one does not disappoint!!!!!! Her signature style of writing that keeps you hooked & guessing until the last page is front & center in this new book. I highly recommend this book

Selena shares a secret with a stranger on her commuter train, starting a chain of events that changes her life. Suspenseful, thrilling look at secrets, compromises, and the truth and lies we tell ourselves.

This well written suspense novel was a real page turner. I could not wait to read what would happen next.

I've enjoyed Lisa Unger's writing in the past and I admit that I was intrigued as soon as I saw the mention of an Strangers On The Train element in the blurb. Confessions On The 7:45 managed to grab my attention immediately, and I have been looking forward to dive into this story. And it most definitely turned out to be an unique, multi-dimentional and intriguing read! If you like psychological thrillers and are looking for a little something different that packs a punch, this story is a great choice.

There are so many layers, secrets and plot twists in Confessions On The 7:45 and I've decided to keep my rambles short as to not spoil the fun of peeling away all those layers yourself to discover what is underneath. Trust me, this is a story where it's best to go in blind so you can fully savour the complexity of the plot and the twists! True, I do have to confess that I found the story to be quite confusing initially, as there are a lot of different POVs in play and there are even multiple identities of the same character as well as the story switching back and forth between past and present. It was quite hard to place all those different storylines initially, but once you get the hang of the basic situation you will find yourself hooked.

What initially seems like the typical psychological thriller with the complicated home situation and the cheating (an element I confess I'm never a fan of), ends up being so much more... The cheating is almost lost in the background as more urgent storylines and events take their spotlight. We have a missing person case, we have the mysterious meeting in the train, we have multiple characters with a tragic background, we have the con element... Nothing is as it seems, and while I did guess some of the twists, there were also other reveals I never saw coming.

The placement of all those different layers, plot twists, secrets and different identities is more than solid. It definitely keeps the tension and suspense in the picture, and Confessions On The 7:45 is a story that will keep you on your toes as you try to fit all the different pieces of the puzzle together. I wasn't really a fan of the characters though, but the uniqueness and complexity of the plot mostly made up for that. Confessions On The 7:45 is a multi-faceted story that will be a perfect fit if you are looking for something different.

I looked forward to reading this book for months; the idea of a woman sitting down next to a stranger on a train and spilling every nefarious secret they're hiding in their hearts and having it come back to bite them just sounded deliciously twisted to me.

It was- that part did not disappoint in the least and, in the end, I can say that everything made sense BUT there were a few chapters with perspective switches that left me scratching my head but largely Selena is the focus of this story and the mess that results when she spills her rather serious secrets to a stranger during a train stalling out on the tracks. The two swap sordid tales and then life begins to twist and turn in a way that suggests that Martha . . . from the train is not as much a stranger as she let Selena believe.

For a story that wasn't relatable (hallelu because wow if I could relate to this on some kind of personal level I would, to quote Tim Roth in '4 Rooms', have problems, plural) it certainly was engaging and satisfying in the realism of how Selena dealt with the inevitable fallout of telling a stranger with terrible intentions things better left unsaid.

Fans of Mary Higgins Clark will enjoy the hell out Lisa Unger.

When this one started, at first I thought it was your garden variety thriller. Woman catches husband cheating on her, she confronts him, and things turn out to be much worse than she thought. And it is that, but this one is so much better. And the twists and turns keep coming.

Selena is the primary breadwinner. Well, the only breadwinner as her husband is recently out of job and spending a lot of time at home. Guess who else is spending a lot of time in Selena’s home? Yup, the nanny. Tale as old as time.

How does she catch him? The nanny cam, classic. But that’s where the garden variety ends. Because so much more is going on here. And Selena and her family appear to be in danger.

But what does it have to do with the friend she made on the 7:45 train? The friend who shared a moment. Strangers swapping stories they would never tell most people they know. Strangers taking advantage of anonymity. Or so Selena thought.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Park Row Books. This one is out October 6! Get your copy.

"Don't you ever just wish your problems would take care of themselves?" 

Selena is working late when her suspicions are confirmed that her husband is cheating on her with their nanny. On the way home a stranger confides in her that she is having an affair with her boss, and Selena spills her secret as well. Martha, the girl from the train, seems a little odd, and says something that creeps Selena out, but she figures Martha's just lonely. But when her nanny never shows up for work the next day and the police get involved, secrets and skeletons long hidden in the closet start coming out. 

Told in several points of view in both the past and the present, Unger weaves what seems like different stories at first but once you figure out the connection between the women ad the events leading up to one tumultuous day you will be shocked! 

This was a great mystery with a lot of suspense without being too scary or gory. It will definitely have you questioning who to trust and leave you wondering how much your past can shape your future. 

Thank you to Park Row Books for my copy and for the invitation to this blog tour!

Thank you to the publisher, Park Row, for providing me with an ARC of Confessions on the 7:45 in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist
I have seen promotions for Confessions on the 7:45 quite a bit during the last month or so on various social media outlets.

I’m always excited when I get to read an ARC that gets some publicity. Call it a bit of pride. On my wall calendar I noted all the book reviews that are part of the Fall Reads Blog Tour and the closer we got to the deadline for the Confessions on the 7:45 review, the more excited I got to finally read it.

I am always on the look-out for new and exciting thriller/mystery/suspense novels that really grab on to my attention and won’t let go even after I finish the last page.

There has been a change in the umbrella genre of thriller/mystery/suspense novels that always leaves me wanting. I will explain in the following section.

The Details
There are so many primary characters in Confessions on the 7:45. Well, I mean I sound like I’m talking about dozens, which isn’t true. But some of the characters got more attention than others, even though they appeared to have their own little story within this grander story.

I should backtrack. Each chapter is a different character’s point-of-view. They have their own lives and challenges and except for very little, none of them cross paths.

So, the reader gets thrown into a story that starts off with Selena. Personally, I like Selena. I want to know more about her, but the next chapter introduces another character. I like her, too. Her story is also very intriguing. By the next chapter, another character gets introduced. You get the picture.

This happens four or five times. Truth be told, I lost count.

The story jumps from character to character. Each one having their own problems and challenges.

And each one I want to know more about, but I’m so confused and busy trying to keep all these “main” characters from molding into one big blob.

There are jumps in time. Each jump is different for each character. One chapter I thought it’s autumn and the next talks about January…heh? I must have missed something.

It was too much for me to form any sort of connection and dedication to care. That’s very unfortunate, because I think Confessions on the 7:45 has a really strong message. It is a collection of social commentary on the expectations placed on women.

The main characters are all women. All of them struggle to keep their lives from imploding, because of some social construct they were told must be upheld. We see cheating husbands, bosses making advances on their employees and male characters that could be good, but something seems suspicious.

During all of this it is the woman’s responsibility to take care of things, to fix them and to face the consequences.

To a lesser extend we see the absurdity of social media. It doesn’t matter how much you feel like assuming a false identity and getting the hell away, just plaster on that fake smile and post the photo with a hashtag along the lines of #soblessed.

The Verdict
Overall, for me Confessions on the 7:45 was more a social/domestic drama than a suspense or thriller. The author added elements of suspense, but they went astray for me during my attempt to keep all the primary characters from getting mixed up.

Perhaps, for me it was more of a case of mislabeling the novel. I’m giving it an extra star for not shying away from addressing some fundamental social issues.

I think I would suggest Confessions on the 7:45.

I really liked the premise of this thriller, the chance meeting on a train, a missing nanny, an unfaithful husband. There were so many great elements to this novel, and the characters were definitely interesting. I prefer my thrillers to be more everyday people, and the element of grifters and the strange side storyline felt a little unnatural to me.

Confessions on the 7:45 is another winner for Lisa Unger! This twisty addicting “must read” starts at page one and does not stop until the end! Confessing your marital secrets to a stranger on your way home from work is just the beginning of this psychological suspenseful thriller. The story is told in multiple point of views to keep you going! In addition to marital infidelities she throws in murder and kidnapping and the secrets just keep coming!!! Unger kept me guessing on this one to the bitter end!! I do know I will not be talking or listening to anyone on any type of public transportation......you never know who are speaking with!!! I highly recommend you go out on October 6th and get your copy of this unpredictable twisted thriller!!

Thank you NetGalley and the author for an e-ARC of this suspenseful novel in exchange for an honest review.

Confessions on the 7:45 is the latest novel to come from the mind of Lisa Unger, a well-known and loved thriller and mystery writer. Obviously, when I heard about this newest book, I knew that I had to give it a go.

There is no doubt that in this world, everyone has a secret. Some of them are simple and almost sweet. Others are much darker, and more likely to cause pain. Whether or not they come out into the light.

By all appearances, Selena Murphy has the perfect life. A charismatic husband, two adorable kids, the ideal nanny, and a job that she loves. But that image is a lie – something that Selena is about to learn the hard way.

Some of the lies she knew, of course. She's not an idiot. But even she could never have anticipated the depth in which her life was about to change. And all because of the stranger she met on a train.

“The observer only sees, never interferes. Still, tonight she felt the tingle of bad possibilities. She waited in the cool night, patient and still.”

Warnings: Confessions on the 7:45 has some pretty dark material included. Sexual assault/rape (mentioned, not shown), domestic violence, stalking, and affairs all make an appearance in this book.

I've been looking forward to reading Confessions on the 7:45 from the moment I heard about it. Yet this is not a novel that disappointed. It was everything that I, and other fans, could have hoped for from Lisa Unger's latest novel.

There's a lot to love about this novel, mainly thanks to the sheer number of layers found within the mystery. It really takes quite a bit to reveal everything going on – and yet once done, suddenly it all seems to make complete sense.

Personally, I loved the comparisons between the imagine Selena's family maintained, and the reality hidden behind her cute Instagram photos. It's poignant, to be sure. It was also the perfect setting for everything else, in a surprising way.

I also adored the hat tip to Strangers on a Train, though naturally, this one came with plenty of unique twists to come up with something new and different. It made for a thrilling read (no pun intended), and one that I read in one sitting. I simply couldn't (and didn't want to) put it down.

#Confessionsonthe745 by @lisaunger consumes the reader with twists. Told from 3 POV's, the essential ? is "Don't you ever wish your problems would take care of themselves?". As the reader learns, there is so many layers to this question & not all answers are the same. #NetGalley

Life is great for Selena. She has a nice home, two young sons and a husband she thought she could trust. Her routine is simple: get up, get the train to work, come back and spend time with her husband and kids. It should be a comfortable, happy existence.

And it is. Until the day everything changes....

Her work commute is the same as usual and she is glad to get out of the office after a hectic day at work.

When the woman in the seat next to her overshares too much, she discovers she has been having an affair with her boss. Buoyed on by this stranger's honesty, Selena voices the concern she did not want to: that her husband is sleeping and more with the nanny, Geneva.

That train journey marks a turning point for Selena and she has fight ahead of her if she is not to be pulled into the malicious game her husband is playing.

The novel has chapters in multiple points of view and is incredibly atmospheric. We see the differences in class between Selena and Geneva's lives and where and how they live.

Images speak louder than words and for me this meant that this level of detail about their lives made me more curious and want to know where the story was going.

It's not the writing style, that is perfect for this novel. What I found a little confusing at times were all the twists and turns this novel took, but that is in a good way really as it reeled me in even more.

I found myself feeling as thrown into events as the characters and I was gripped.

Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train.

I felt shivers down my spine, concern for Selena and her boys and also anticipation and curiosity as to how Geneva would be involved in the story.

I loved how, apart from the central themes in the book, the routine and how it is disrupted, then the hidden secrets, people and things seeming to be one way but being another and the quest of each character to untangle the mess that their lives have become we have other themes.

These are loyalty to those we love, how far we go to protect ourselves and others and what family really means and how much many people trust a nanny when the question is, how far should they? I was very scared for Selena's children, angry at her husband then felt for Geneva then suspected her.

I was constantly asking myself who was trustworthy, who was not and then I would be surprised again. Lisa Unger certainly knows how to keep the tension going while maintaining as "normal" a family atmosphere as possible.

Thanks to Lisa Unger and Park Row Books for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

Confessions on the 7.45 is really a good thriller to get lost in where if what you want is to be reeled in then things to take a different turn, to feel something for a character then to not know who to trust.

Even Selena's home seemed like a maze of rooms where you did not know where the "safe" place was and I was hooked even more.

The book seems even more creepy as it is largely focused around home, family work and routine.
At a time such as the present one where a lot of things are uprooted for many of us, I feel this is something we can all identify with, the extent to which we feel secure in our own homes.

4 5 stars.