Title: The Blue Hour

Author: Paula Hawkins

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Publisher: Doubleday

Publication Date: 10th October 2024

Rating: 4.5/5

Cover:

Summary:

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 . . .

Review:

I remember loving The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and I recently also read and enjoyed A Slow Fire Burning so I was excited to get my hands on this book, which many have said is Hawkins’ best yet. I have to fully agree with that assertion, The Blue Hour is a mysterious, elegant, sinister and intelligent read that had me hooked from beginning to end. It involves so many things I love in a mystery, with its heightened sense of atmosphere, beautiful writing and a plot that covers the art world, the Scottish landscape and so much more. 

The Blue Hour has a real undercurrent of dread to it, which seeps off the page with subtle menace. There is also something quite melancholic and aching about the whole book, which perhaps has something to do with the connection to the shifting and dangerous tides which rule the island of Eris. I found the story totally captivating and filled with characters which, although not particularly likeable, are deeply fascinating. The Blue Hour is a novel of creative expression, longing, intensity and the depths of obsession. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves an intelligent and truly haunting mystery. 

★★★★.5 

Thank you so much to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me on this tour and organising it. I kindly received a copy of the book from the publisher. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.

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