‘Confessions on the 7:45’ by Lisa Unger on Amazon USA harpooned my attention because it had more than 1.6 million ratings. So I bought it but, unfortunately, I couldn’t finish it.
Reading this murder mystery is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The story is told through several characters’ POV (point of view). Though there are only six or seven POVs, I found this book difficult to read as you have to figure out the connections among them. (But psychological thriller aficionados may say that's part of the fun.) And you've to read slowly, requiring patience (not my virtue). Furthermore, backstories are not indicated by a 'signpost', for example, “fifteen years ago.” Only after reading partway, do you realize that a particular scene happened in the past. This moving back from present to past and vice-versa annoys me.
The novel’s plot is this: Selena Murphy catches her husband Graham fucking their children's nanny Geneva on the spy camera. Later, while riding home on the 7:45 train, she tells a stranger Martha about her cheating husband. Martha, in turn, confesses she’s having an affair with her boss. Days later, Geneva disappears, and the cops investigate. Meanwhile, Selena keeps getting strange text messages from Martha. Who’s Martha? What does she want? Who murdered Geneva?
Out of patience at the 50% mark, I flipped to Chapter 42 (third last chapter), where Detective Grady Crowe fills in part of the mystery to Selena. More confusion popped up and I gave up on this international bestseller. Who the murderer is also disappoints me.
GIVEAWAY: You want a PDF copy of ‘Confession on the 7:45’? I’ll send it to you. Of course, it's free. Perhaps your taste differs from mine, and you may enjoy this psychological thriller. Just drop me your email address at thewordslinger@yahoo.com. This giveaway ends one week from the date of this posting.
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