A slow-burning character-driven mystery that spins an actually fairly straightforward plot into novel length by using a tortuous time framework.

In the present day, James Becker is the curator of a private collection of artwork gifted by the now-deceased Vanessa Chapman to the Lennox family at Fairburn House. When it emerges that one of the pieces features what looks like a human bone, his boss tells him to get up to Eris Island where she lived with her companion Grace, and collect all the remaining notes and artwork that were bequeathed to them.

Second timeline is extracts from Chapman’s diary, somewhat pretentiously labeled as Interstitials. These have no dates on them so we don’t know where exactly they fit into the past. Also in the past, we have snippets of Grace’s history.

Though Becker is ostensibly the protagonist, he’s a bit of a blank. We mainly know him through his convoluted relationship with his employer and his family. Really, Grace is the lead and she is a not unfamiliar type: an embitttered woman who silently seethes about what she sees as all the injustices done to her.

By jumbling all these timelines together, what actually happened to Chapman’s husband, Julian, becomes the big mystery and we are nudged into thinking that’s where the human bone came from. Far too obvious, of course!

The author does a great job in building a creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere, both at Fairburn House and, more notably, on Eris Island. Grace is a terrific flesh and blood version of her stereotype, and while she never transcends that origin, she makes a very heavy presence on the page.

Paula Hawkins, of course, made her name with The Girl on the Train, but none of her subsequent novels have quite lived up to that genre game changer. The Blue Hour doesn’t either, but it’s a step or two closer than her previous ones.

Thanks to Mariner and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

I am a huge Hawkins fan from her first book and while I read every one of her new books, I have to say that they just don't hit as much as the first one did. This one was pretty good though, and I did love the main (?) female character.

If Paula Hawkins writes it, I'm going to read it.
I loved the overall message in this one. Things may not always be what they seem. Although predictable in the end, this was still a very entertaining, captivating read.

This book was had a slow pacing, which I don’t normally mind, because it was still suspenseful. Except in a thriller, the ending should have a good punch. The ending here was good, but I feel like there was something missing. It felt underwhelming. Overall, I enjoyed reading The Blue Hour, I liked the characters and the diary entries.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very middle of the road read for me. I really enjoyed the premise (a late artist's piece is found to contain human bone years after her husband mysteriously disappeared!!!), but the characters were almost entirely unlikable, and the plot DRAGGED. The first third was a lot of vague interpersonal drama, the middle third hooked me, and the final third made me so angry I wanted to screech. I guessed the twist, still managed to enjoy the twist, and then hated how everything barely wrapped up. I genuinely thought there was going to be another chapter to this book, but it just stopped. I wish Hawkins could capture the pacing and mystery from The Girl on the Train, and this is certainly an improvement upon some of her other titles, but it just didn't do it for me.

3/5

Paula Hawkins so far is hit or miss for me. I - like a lot of people - loved The Girl on the Train! Then I read Into the Water last year and was very underwhelmed by it. This one kind of sits in the middle.

I was intrigued by this one and the plot - this story starts out with a bang! An artist dies, leaves her work to a foundation run by a man she used to be involved with, and then one of her works of art is believed to feature a human bone - which is interesting since her husband went missing years ago. Is it his bone? Did she kill her husband? Why did she leave her life's work to a man that in the end was her enemy? Why does her friend who is the keeper of her journals and art work seem to be hiding them from the foundation? I was all in!

This book involves the art world, a remote island, unreliable characters, and so much more that was keeping me super invested in the novel. I would say it's a slow burn mystery/thriller - do NOT go in thinking this is a fast paced thriller because you may be disappointed. I was all in for about the first 2/3 of the book and then....the last 1/3 and that ending...

I just don't know now. I was left really kind of wanting to throw the book (it was on my kindle so naturally I couldn't throw it!) across the room. After all that - and it taking me a tad longer to get through than expected - I was very disappointed and a tad shocked at the way the book ended. There was a fun twist that I eventually did see coming - but I was just left feeling cheated after being so invested in the book.

So overall - I am not sure. She is a great writer and I was super into most of the book. It's worth reading and maybe the ending will work for others but it left me a tad frustrated.

Title: The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
Publication Date- 10/29/24
Publisher- Mariner Books
Overall Rating- 3 out of 5 stars

Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: This was so close to being an excellent book. I was really hooked in at the start of the novel when we find out that a bone in an art museum has been identified as a human bone. From there we meet a cast of characters who are in many different ways, involved with the investigation. Most of our time is spent on an isolated island (very cool) with reclusive, pretentious artists (kinda cool, kinda not) swirling in infidelity and secrets threatened by the incoming tide (cool for some, mostly not for most). I really, really enjoyed the first third of the story and felt fully invested. By the 40 percent mark I felt like we were going around and around the same story just holding on to an appropriate time for a reveal.

The ending was predictable, but I did think it fit the story well. My main problem with this book was the lackluster middle 40ish percent. When you first start reading it can be kind of confusing and hard to grasp who’s who and what’s really happening. That does become more clear over time and then the suspense dies down and you’re left with annoying characters and no reveals. I actually really like morally grey, annoying characters but when that’s all that’s happening for far too long, it’s not enjoyable anymore. The pacing was very off. The tone and the atmosphere were a strong suit.

When I put this book down for the last time I felt disappointed. It was so close to being a really interesting story. There are some aspects that will stick with me, it’s dark and gloomy and human. I just really wish that middle part was not so boring, everything else was enjoyable.

This book was not for me. I found it slow, uninteresting, and without a touchstone character that was well developed enough to really root for. I can see how it might make a good miniseries, because it did read like a slow burn of a TV show, but reading it was not engaging.

Ever since Gone Girl Paula Hawkins has delivered us unlikeable characters doing unlikeable things as they slowly reveal their true nature to us. The Blue Hour is no different, but in this case it is done in a much slower fashion. The first half of the book was a to drag to read, but once I passed the 50% mark it started to pick up as the storyline did, too. I switching to the audio to keep the pace of the story as I was reading. The writing was phenomenal. The tone is forbidding, tense, with a growing sense of dread. Something is going to happen, but what and to whom? Then came the ending which was rather underwhelming and a tad predictable.

Had a hard time getting into this and staying the course. Just too historical feeling and slow for me

this book definitely sucked me in and had me on the edge of my seat for almost the whole ride. while it was well written and riveting, i found the conclusion to be a bit of a let down. the twist itself was cool but it somehow fell flat for me at the end.

3.75/5 stars

Thank you Mariner Books for the advanced reading copy!

This was a very slow burn but I was still on the edge of my seat the entire time. Artist mysteries can be so entertaining and interesting, while also being irritatingly pretentious, and this was no different. Both Vanessa and Grace were challenging to read about, but especially Grace. She was so odd and, at times, it was hard to have empathy for her character. I did, however, appreciate her complexity and all the ways that this tied into the story. On the flip side, our male MC, Becker, was so sweet and sometimes so stupid, I loved following him. This book had a lot of shocking twists wrapped up in beautiful, descriptive and atmospheric writing. All of that, plus a shocking ending made for an enticing and fascinating read. Not my favorite Paula Hawkins, but another great addition to her collection.

This was one of my most anticipated reads this year, and while I wanted to love it, I’m sorry to say that I really didn’t. The pacing was slow, which would have been okay if there had been a pay off at the end. Instead, there was a shock that just didn’t jibe with the rest of the narrative for this reader. I felt completely disconnected by the end and am sorry to say this one just wasn’t for me.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Eris Island is isolated, you have to come and go only when the tide allows. It use to be home to the late, reclusive artist Vanessa Chapman and now Grace lives there, taking care of the home. Even though Grace was Vanessa's close friend and caretaker, Vanessa left her entire estate (and all of her art) to the Lennox family. While looking at an exhibit, someone notices that one of the bones in one of Vanessa’s pieces looks human and questions come up as to whether that bone could belong to Vanessa's late husband who had mysteriously disappeared. The novel delves into the lives of Vanessa, Grace, the Lennoxes and Vanessa's late husband.

I loved Girl on the Train but this novel did not hold my attention. People seem to be very mixed on this one (either loved or hated) and I fell on the side of not really enjoying the read unfortunately. Neither the characters nor the storyline were interesting enough to draw me in and the pace was too slow. What I love about thrillers is the engrossing nature of the read, and this one missed the mark for me.

3.25 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ARC to review

A good thriller, but a very disappointing ending. The premise is great, and I loved how Hawkins executed the building. However, the ending really got to me.

I’d like to call this a slow burn, but I don’t really think that was it. Maybe just a slower paced mystery with an atmospheric setting that is charming?

The writing of The Blue Hour was excellent and the parts from Vanessa’s point of view are enthralling. However, the other parts didn’t draw me in as much and overall, the mystery was fairly predictable to me.

Advance reader copy provided by Mariner and NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

I would consider this more like 3.5 stars, especially since it did keep me engaged to an extent and I overall enjoyed the audiobook - though that may be because the narrator was wonderful. I mixed in reading and listening for this one.

My main sticking point with this book is that there were too many characters, I was confused for the first half with the few different men secondary/side characters. I didn’t really *like* anyone except Becker. And you couldn’t really get your hooks into any of them, other than Grace (who I didn’t like at all, but that’s by design I suppose!)

The story is a slow, quiet burn. There was quite the atmosphere built with the island, which was well done! I was hoping for something more gripping and this really was it for me. The ending was… not great.

Overall, I was hoping for more! But it was still a good book and the audiobook was really fitting!

A remote Scottish Island, a reclusive artist, an obsessive caretaker, a foundation, and a curator caught in a love triangle. Oh what a tangled web we weave. I enjoyed the slow burn and tension of Hawkin's most recent novel, which tells the story of artist Vanessa Chapman, who bought a remote Scottish Island that was only accessible at low tide to create her unique paintings and sculptures. Vanessa had a volatile relationship with her husband, who frequently cheated on her, and always seemed to be looking for money. After her death, her artistic estate went to her arch nemesis, a man who she also had frequent trysts, despite his being married. When a museum contacts the curator, Julian Becker, that works at the foundation to tell him a human bone has been found in one of Vanessa's artworks, a change of events is set into motion that you know will end in tragedy.
So many of the characters in this book are not what they seem on the surface - no one is really likable, and several are obsessive about the artist, Vanessa, but in different ways. I could not stop reading to find out what happens. Vanessa's cheating husband disappeared without a trace late in their marriage. Is the bone in question his? The curator, Julian Becker begins to build a relationship with the executor of Vanessa's estate - her former caretaker, Grace. Why was Grace given her house on the Scottish Island, but not her art work and legacy? Why did Vanessa give her arch nemesis her artwork? Why does Julian care more about a dead artist and her legacy than his own wife and baby to be? Why does he live in a house with his wife's former fiancé, who is also his boss! It takes a while to sort through the truth, but I can't say I was shocked. I found the ending quite abrupt, and it was not what I had hoped would happen. All in all, I did enjoy the book and recommend it if you enjoyed Hawkins other books. The setting was wonderful, and I enjoyed reading the snippets from Vanessa's journals along the viewpoint of Julian and caretaker Grace

Vanessa Chapman is a reclusive artist that spends her days in a home on an isolated tidal island. When she dies, she bequeaths all her artistic works to the Lennox family, with whom she has had a longstanding disagreement over the exhibition of some of her works. Becker is the curator of Chapman’s works for the Lennox family.

When one of Vanessa’s works is on display, a paleontologist notices the bone in the sculpture is actually human and not an animal bone as the description suggests. Becker must go to Eris island and meet up with Vanessa’s long time friend, Grace, to uncover the artist’s secrets. Could the bone be that of Vanessa’s long lost husband, Julian?

This book sucked me right in. I have been a Paula Hawkins fan ever since I read Girl on the Train and A Slow Fire Burning. This book although entirely different has that same psychological thrill that I love. It is paced well and I also enjoyed the letters from Vanessa mixed in to the story.

The characters in this are so rich and the setting of this tidal island so atmospheric that you will feel like you know them all and that you have been transported to this beautifully gloomy place You may even feel a brisk chill coming off the water and traveling up your spine.

Pick this up for a well paced psychological thrill

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

This book felt different than other Paula Hawkins books I’ve read. It still had mystery and lot of complex characters, but something was missing for me. I didn’t feel the need to find out anything but kept going and was pleased with the way everything turned out. I would recommend if you like psychological thrillers about murder mysteries and fine art taking place on a private island!