The Whistling Kettle Book Club pick for July 2024 is Into the Water by Paula Hawkins which has been paired with their blood orange tea. This mystery is packed with distinct voices, a centuries-long small town history, and a bundle of social commentary about relationships between males and females. As a result, it needs a sweet and electrifying tea to entice the reader to dive deep into the author’s latest offer of suspenseful escapism.
Check out my review of both the novel and the tea. As always, use my code, LAURASBOOKSANDBLOGS10, to get 10 percent off your first order at The Whistling Kettle, and get 20 percent off your order of their blood orange tea flavor. Also, don’t forget to buy or borrow a copy of Into the Water, and join The Whistling Kettle on their Facebook and Instagram pages to discuss both the book and the tea on July 27th!
Into the Water plot summary
In the small English town of Beckford, there’s a cliff that overlooks a drowning pool where several women throughout history have met their demise. From a woman accused of witchcraft in the 1600s to a single mother in 2015, the circumstances of each death varies, but each one rattles the close knit town and its residents. And the local police are determined to get to the bottom of it.
As the story unfolds, small town secrets are revealed, lies are exposed, and true colors are shown. These twists and turns continue until the final sentences when years of secrets are revealed to the reader and truths are split wide open in a cathartic ripping of the proverbial bandage.
The characters
Into the Water is told from multiple viewpoints from those both directly and indirectly involved. This has been a criticism of many readers who have trouble keeping the points of views straight. I admit that even reading this as an audiobook with multiple actors narrating the story, I had a hard time keeping track of who is who, especially because some narrators narrated multiple characters’ chapters.
There’s the Abbotts. Nell Abbott is the drowning pool’s latest victim. Left behind is her daughter, Lena, and Nell’s estranged sister, Jules, who reluctantly returns home to take custody of Lena.
Earlier that year, Lena’s best friend, Katie, was also found dead in the drowning pool. Sean Townsend, a local police officer who is investigating Nell’s death, was just a boy when his mother met the same fate.
Also featured are multiple family members, friends, and colleagues of our main characters who all have a role to play in the story. There are some helpful charts online that readers can use to keep track of the character list without spoiling anything. Much like a list of parts at the beginning of a play, it’s nice to have this list to refer back to from time to time as names get thrown around.
The story
Into the Water has an extremely slow start that at the same time plunges the reader into the dynamics of this town. Once it gets going, though, the backstories become more intriguing, and the plot becomes more thought-provoking. It’s strange to say that the middle of a story is its strongest section, but in this case, it’s true.
The story also runs a bit too long as Hawkins attempts to build suspense and instead just begins to lose the reader. The ending is also a bit lackluster and is again wears out its welcome.
It feels like Hawkins is trying to make a broad social point about women’s place in history and how certain men view women and place the blame on them for their own character flaws. But it fails to do it in any sort of unique or intelligent way. It also makes many of the characters feel more like caricatures in the way that they handle their personal conflicts.
My recommendation
I recommend Into The Water to casual mystery readers who aren’t looking for anything too complex and won’t mind the large cast of characters to follow. It’s not that it’s a terrible story. It’s just not one that will blow you away.
Hawkins’ strengths are in her dialogue and her story premises. I read The Girl on the Train years ago and found it easy to follow but also too predictable. But it doesn’t seem like she’s too concerned with being predictable. She instead concentrates more on her chosen theme and of shaping her characters around that theme rather than trying to create a complex mystery to solve. Her mysteries lie in human behavior and makes us question that behavior, making her a more philosophical writer than the mystery writer title with which she has been branded.
Blood orange tea
The blood orange tea from The Whistling Kettle is a black tea consisting of orange peel, rosehips, and hibiscus. One and a half teaspoons are brewed at 212 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 minutes.
The tea brews pink, giving it more of a rosy color than any indication that is an orange flavor. It’s also naturally sweet without tasting like hot juice, though extra sugar doesn’t hurt either. It adds an elegance to your table with its bright color, the perfect drink to sip with friends while discussing favorite topics, whether it be stories, personal hardships, or the latest in true crime.
The pink color relates to the women at the center of this story. While the deaths are not bloody, their bodies dye the drowning pool with a sinister history. And like that bright pink hue, it can be hard to ignore.
Buy it!
Buy a copy of Into the Water by Paula Hawkins here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.
Pin it!
Love a good blood orange tea!