Thank you Bookoutre and Netgalley and sorry for the delay in reading!
I was hooked from the start, then it slowed a bit and then I was hooked again.
An enjoyable murder mystery which I thought was going to be a bit like Girl on the Train.
I enjoyed the dual timelines and think other books will follow - let's wait and see.
I would give a 4 but for me where it slowed a bit let it down so have had to do a 3 instead of a 3.5!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

"The Woman in Carriage 3" by Alison James is a riveting psychological thriller that transports readers into the seemingly mundane routine of a daily commute that turns sinister. The story unfolds through the eyes of Hattie, a regular passenger on the 18:53 train, who finds herself embroiled in a web of deceit and danger following the sudden death of a fellow commuter.

James masterfully crafts a narrative that is both intimate and expansive, delving deep into the psyche of her protagonist while painting a vivid picture of the ensemble of characters that populate carriage 3. Each individual is rendered with precision, their secrets and lies interwoven into a tapestry of suspense that propels the plot forward.

The novel's strength lies in its ability to maintain a relentless pace, with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the very end. The author's use of detail is meticulous, creating a palpable tension that mirrors the claustrophobia of the train's carriage. As the story progresses, the line between friend and foe blurs, leaving Hattie—and the reader—to question who can be trusted.

Recommended for any fan of psychological thrillers.

What a unique and suspenseful read! I loveddd this book. Girl on the train vibes but a totally different story. 5 stars!

2 stars

I thought the book was ok, it started off strong, but I felt that the story started to get stilted and slow half way through.

The publicity blurb was misleading and sold a different story.

It was difficult to like the characters which made it more difficult to feel anything for them.

I didn’t know what to expect with this one at first it was giving off The Girl on the Train vibes, as it starred to evolve it got a lot more gripping and I enjoyed trying to guess the twists, some seemed a little predictable but others where a complete surprise.
Overall I really enjoyed this and it’s definitely an author I will look out for in future.

If you were gripped by The Girl on the Train, then you are going to be glued to the pages of the latest unputdownable thriller by Alison James, The Woman in Carriage 3.

Hattie’s weekday routine never varies. She makes it by the skin of her teeth to the station where she gets the 18:53 train every day. She gets into Carriage 3 and sits in the same seat surrounded by the same people day in, day out. The journey is always uneventful and nothing out of the ordinary ever happens – until one evening when a passenger drops dead and shockwaves ripple all through the carriage. The lights go off and everyone is trapped in darkness until further notice. What on earth is going on? Was this death a tragic accident? Or something far sinister?

With everyone trapped in one carriage, this group of disparate people who don’t usual speak to one another find themselves opening up to each other. Hattie hopes that they do not take too close a look at her and her dishevelled hair and smell the alcohol on her breath – especially as she has done things in her past she is not proud of and has secrets she would go to great lengths to keep hidden. Can Hattie trust her fellow passengers? Are they as nice as they seem? Or might one of them be responsible for the death in Carriage 3?

Alison James has written an intelligent, unpredictable and nail-biting thriller where she blends the closed-room mystery – that has long been a staple of crime fiction – with chilling domestic noir that will keep you guessing from beginning to end. .

Tense, taut and terrifying, Alison James’ The Woman in Carriage 3 is a cleverly written and deftly constructed thriller that will have you thinking twice about your next train journey.

Thanks to netgalley for providing an advanced copy for the purpose of review.

This was a tense psychological thriller that had me guessing throughout. The story kept me hooked.

This was a great book but I did feel like it was predictable. It was definately more of a character driven book rather than the action. It was just a bit too slow for my liking.

The book started off slowly but certainly picked up pace! Each character was developed beautifully with just the right amount of mystery to keep you guessing. There were many twists and turns, some of which I guessed but overall a great read.

After a broken relationship Hattie is back living at home with her parents. She drinks too much as has a lot of disastrous blind dates. She has a temporary job and has to commute to London daily and has a regular train she uses. She sees familiar faces every day on the train and as it comes to a stop when one of them becomes ill they all start talking. They share drinks and form a What’s App group. One of them in particular attracts Hattie, it is the charming Casper. When they realise that their fellow passenger had died and it was found that his drink had been spiked, suspicions fall on that group. Hattie soon embarks on an affair with Casper but he reveals that he is married and she soon discovers that he has secrets as have most of the group, I really enjoyed this book. It was gripping and tense with lots of twists and turns. A fantastic summer read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book,

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. It didn't disappoint! Must read!!

An exceptional novel. Completely addictive and engaging as I followed Hattie and the other passengers to see where this train ended! #TheWomaninCarriage3 is an enthralling #psychologicalthriller! I’m an instant fan of Alison James!

Thank you, Alison James, Bookouture & netgalley for my copy! All opinions are my own.

Alison James’s novel The Woman in Carriage 3 is a character driven mystery.
Most of the story took part on a commuter train, the plot was established around the lives of the passengers and their interactions with each other. The commuters developed a friendship and WhatsApp group I did not find any of the characters to be that interesting or that likable. This book did not wow me, nor did it surprise me. This is an easy, predicable read; James has a good writing style she helps her readers visualize what is going on where we are and who is who…

Thank you #netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Took me a while to get into the book and I would say it’s definitely a slow burner but stick with it. It’s brilliant. So the main character is a bit of a twit but it’s a great book.

I love nothing more than close proximity thrillers but the main character Hattie was so unlikable!! The pacing just didn’t keep me interested and the twist felt lacklustre.

Please see my post for review.

Blog tour - http://ramblingmads.uk/2023/05/23/blog-tour-the-woman-in-carriage-3-alison-james/

I absolutely enjoyed this book. Thrilling. Tense. A thoroughly gripping read that I could not put down. Do read this one.

This book was a slow burn, the characters took time to develop and the story unfolded gradually, I always appreciate being deceived by an ending I don’t see coming!

Hattie is a thirty-year-old who is down on her luck and prone to one-night stands and alcohol abuse. Faced with being fired from her job, she's currently living with her parents and commuting into the city.

Every day is like groundhog day as she follows a routine and runs into familiar faces on the train. One day, circumstances make it so these strangers become better acquainted, but do you ever really know anyone? And people are only going to let you see what they want you to see.

With a few mysterious characters among the bunch, it's hard to know who you can trust, but what pulled me in was a man named Julian. Something early on caught his interest and I needed to know what that was.

This book was a twisty read, and I can recommend. The ending was certainly satisfying.

The Woman in Carriage 3 is a twisty suspense novel that pulls you in and keeps your attention until the very end.

My warning regards this book: it starts slowly and chugs along gently for quite a while.; I didn't warm to any of the characters in the first part of the story and especially wanted to give Hattie a good shake and tell her to grow up. But I recommend you stick with it because all of a sudden, things take off at quite a pace and don't let up.
Finding herself single again and living back at her parents' home, Hattie engages in a string of blind dates with internet matches and enjoys far too much alcohol than is good for her. Then one evening, the train she regularly travels home on grinds to an emergency stop and the unwritten rule of London commuting is broken, forcing a small group of the passengers to actually engage with one another. They exchange names and vague details about themselves and somehow manage to create a Whatsapp group to keep in touch with each other.
The group is extremely diverse in their ages and occupations, but one of the group catches Hattie's eye and sets her heart racing: Casper Merriweather. Despite his dashing good looks, he's not popular with all of the group. The mousy Bridget avoids speaking to him, and the more mature Julian - a judge, no less - is particularly wary of him, and warns Hattie to be careful.
Then another incident on their commute, this time much closer to home, pulls their group apart as quickly as it formed. None of the group knows who to trust any more, and they all avoid that regular journey, each stating various excuses for not being on the train. The author cleverly plants seeds of doubt about each of the group in that first section of the book - the part that seems slow is actually the part where the reader forms a lot of opinions about each passenger, without realising it at the time.
The latter part of the book rattles along at a fair old pace - I don't want to say any more about the plot or characters here as you need to let the bombshells drop as the writer intends in order to get the full effect. I was jumping around on my seat at certain points, willing different characters either to take action or dodge situations and I always feel a book has hit its mark when it evokes such strong feelings in me.
Thank you, Alison James, for a fantastic rollercoaster of a ride on the 1853 - any doubts I had at the start were truly blown away by the end of the book, and I will be recommending this to anyone wanting an edge of the seat read.