Selena Murphy has just discovered her husband is having an affair with their nanny. On the commuter train home she strikes up a conversation with one of her fellow passengers, Martha. The women open up to each other--Martha shares the story of an ongoing affair and Selena talks about her husband's deceit, grateful that she can unburden herself with a total stranger she will never see again. Things get complicated when Selena's nanny disappears and police suspect a crime, perhaps involving Selena's husband. Meanwhile Martha keeps texting. What does she want?

Though this book was inspired by Strangers on a Train, it is more of an homage than a rewrite. The characters in the book have lots of secrets that are revealed gradually and unexpectedly.

I don't think I've ever read a book by Lisa Unger before but I expect I will in the future. .

Below are a few (somewhat) brief, $.02 opinions about books I've read or listened to recently but don't have time, inclination or opportunity to review in full. Their appearance in this recurring piece generally has little to nothing to do with merit. Many of these books I enjoyed as much or more than those that got the full court press. I hope you'll consider one or two for your own TBR stack if they strike your fancy whether they struck mine or not.

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Confessions on the 7:45, by Lisa Unger

Second verse, almost as same as the first. I requested this title early on since I love Lisa Unger's work and she's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Publication date was 10/6. Publisher ignored my request until, you guessed it, 10/6. I'd rather be rejected than get an approval on publication date when there's no chance I'll (1) be able to read and review by publication date or (2) get the book into the schedule at all. Poor form. I did listen to the audiobook later in October, and this Strangers on a Train take was a good listen, but I'm never able to immerse myself in audio as a means to form a review. So I'll urge you to read/listen if you are a Lisa Unger fan.

I've read other books by this author, so I was excited to read this one. I did have some problems getting into this story. Normally, I enjoy multiple POV books, but this one was a bit more confusing than I expected. 

I loved the concept of how a random stranger can impact someone's life. As far as the plot overall, there were some twists, but not as many as I'd hoped for. I had expected a bit more tension and mystery. The pace was too slow at times. I did enjoy the story, and I was curious enough about how it would all play out that I stuck with things. It just didn't have the "wow factor" I'd hoped for based on the summary.

This book was very confusing at first with multiple perspectives and unreliable characters. I wasn't sure who was who at first, but Unger leads us through until the twisty end.   I found the plot interesting, but you will need to suspend belief as to what actually happens - it seems pretty far-fetched. A decent read.

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger is a twisty read about how a random encounter with a stranger can alter the course of your life in unpredictable ways. Selena meets Martha on the train one night and they share confidences with each other that they might not have shared if they hadn't been on a stuck train. Shortly thereafter, Selena's nanny disappears and her husband might be the one responsible. Meanwhile, Martha keeps texting Selena to find out how she is and when they can meet up again. Read and enjoy!

This synopsis sounded like everything I could have wanted. 

I liked Selena well enough. She’s smart and much sturdier in her life than she thinks. There are a good amount of other characters in this story and I’m not going to mention any of them. 

Plot wise, it was okay. I was expecting twisty deliciousness and it never quite captivated me. There were a couple of reveals that semi-surprised me, but also felt borderline obvious. 

Overall, it didn’t have the tension and mystery I was expecting. I was curious to see how it would play out, but sadly, I don’t think this one will stand out for me. 

**Huge thanks to Park Row for providing the arc free of charge**

This is the first book I've read of Lisa's and I thought it was so much fun!!  She had me turning pages so fast from the first chapter on.  She gave us nice short chapters and kept us wanting for more.  This supposed chance encounter of two women on a train leads us down a path I didn't see coming.  I will definitely be reading more of her books in the future!!

Well written with great plot twists. A rather large cast of characters, but all are well developed. A great thriller and a fun read

This was a fantastic thriller! So many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. It wasn't quite five stars because it got a bit boring in the middle, but overall, it was really good!

Think "Strangers on a Train" and then go on the wild ride.  After seeing her husband and the nanny in a compromising position, Selena meets a woman, Martha, on the train on her way home.  As the conversation goes, Martha admits to an affair and Selena admits her suspicion that her husband is unfaithful.  Martha suggests "wouldn't it be nice if your problem disappeared".  Days later the Nanny disappears and everything spins from there.  Already a fan of Lisa Unger, this was one I couldn't put down.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Oh wow. I’ve read a fair amount of Lisa’s work- some I’ve LOVED, some I’ve just liked- but Confessions on the 7:45 is def a good one!!!!

What I Liked:

The cover- I like the whole looks of it- especially that font!

How the story was divided up. It kept my mind thinking about what would be revealed next!

Selena. I worried at first that I was not going to like her- but she  was a great character.

 

Bottom line: Definitely add Confessions on the 7:45 to your TBR list. You won’t be sorry!

This was a decent thriller with a lot of twists and turns that kept me guessing.  I would definitely recommend this to library patrons looking for a thriller without a lot of violence.

First, I loved the title of this book. Confessions on the 7:45 sounds awesome. The book itself was very good, although there were a lot of characters to try to keep straight and figure out who was who. It was clear that some of the characters were either the same people or connected, but since everyone was lying about who they were, it was hard to keep track of.

Selena Murphy has caught her husband cheating with the nanny on the nanny cam (ironic?). She isn't angry or upset for some reason, but it does bother her. On her way home from work (on the 7:45 train), she sits near a woman who she is drawn to. They share confessions and the story is born. Who really is Martha from the train? Why is she looking to befriend Selena? When the nanny disappears, who is the reason for her disappearance? All these questions are raised (and answered) which makes for an intriguing read.

I liked the story, but I did figure out most of it. However, that didn't detract from wanting to read and see how it all came together. Overall it was a solid thriller, but not one that I'll remember as one of the best ever.

This book is well written and I really wanted to like it, but it simply moved way too slowly for me. I know the author was setting the table with various perspectives to advance the plot but I just was not interested in the lives of any of the characters nor the murder victim. I did not finish it.

The confessions on the 7:45 is a great book for fans of Girl on the Train and Someone's Listening. 

While this is like those stories, the narrator is quite as unreliable. Selena is like every suburban, working mom trying to balance her life, only when the book opens she has discovered a terrible secret: her husband is sleeping with the nanny.  Then she meets a woman , Martha, on her commuter train who is oddly captivating and slowly her life begins to unravel.

I loved that Selena fought for herself, but I could have used some more common sense from the main character.  At one point she goes to meet Martha for drinks, after Martha texts her without giving her number.  Martha texts Selena, selena blocks that number, Martha uses another number to text Selena, then Selena decides she should fo alone to meet this woman form the train. It's maddening because it's nonsensical. 

No one would do this in real life.

After that point, though, the story weaves and winds its way to an unusual conclusion.  I figured out the big twist early on, but that's because I'm a professional skeptic.  Years of soap operas and reading suspense novels have made me suspicious of everyone and everything.

The ending was very satisfying because so much happens. The pace builds beautifully and the ending just explodes with emotion and action.  Couldn't put the book down in the last 25%.

Whoa.... this was quite the runaway train.....

This is definitely my favorite Lisa Unger novel. I was captivated from the beginning and the train encounters had me on the edge of my seat!

"It's Martha , by the way. From the train."

I found the story line quite addictive and oh dear, Martha, what is it about you? Selena wonders if she shared too much with a complete stranger. What in the world compelled her?

Let the games begin! Selena gets a text and the crazy train starts to derail just a little at a time until there is NO turning back.

Unputdownable and suspenseful. This would be a fun buddy read because I had so many theories and suspected a few different characters. I really wanted to talk about my suspicions!!

When Selena Murphy is riding the train home one evening, she tells a woman that her husband is having an affair with their nanny. A few days later, the nanny, Geneva, disappears. Her disappearance is suspicious, and Selena worries about the stranger on the train who knows about Selena’s husband’s affair. Selena hopes that the police won’t make a connection between her husband’s affair and Geneva’s disappearance. When the stranger starts texting Selena out of the blue, she has to wonder if that woman is connected to Geneva.

This story was told from multiple perspectives. It was confusing at the beginning because the first few chapters each had a different perspective. The stranger that Selena met on the train even gave a fake name, which was confusing since it happened right when the characters were being introduced. Some of the chapters only used a character’s perspective once or twice, which I think could have been removed or changed to a main character to make it a little simpler to follow.

The characters did a lot of reflecting on what was going on in the story. Since the characters spent a lot of time thinking about the events, the twists were easy to figure out before they happened. There was also a lot of unnecessary background on the characters. They had detailed life histories, which were thought out and provided motive and connections, but they didn’t really progress the story.

This was a good crime story, but not as suspenseful as I expected.

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I read that this book this might be similar to Strangers on a Train ,I really wanted to return to Lisa Unger, an author I enjoyed years earlier. For some reason I stopped reading her thrillers but decided it was time to remedy that.

The set up for this thriller one was good, Selena Murphy works in New York city and one day she misses her train home from work so she catches the 7:45 instead.  Sitting next to her is a woman who strikes up a conversation, the woman who says her name is Martha, tells Selena she has been having an affair with her boss. (LOL- who does this with a complete stranger? )  In turn, Selena feels comfortable enough to tell Martha that she suspects her husband Graham, is carrying on with the nanny, Geneva. (She's actually caught them on the nanny cam.) The two say goodbye and Martha tells Selena that perhaps the nanny will disappear.  A few days later Geneva is missing and her car is parked down the street from Selena and Graham's home. When Geneva's sister report's her missing, it isn't long before the police arrive at the Murphy residence with lots of questions.

This book starting out well and engages me but, it quickly became a struggle and did not work out well as an audio. There were far too many characters introduced into the mix, each have a separate story and some even have a story within a story. I struggled to keep it all straight.  To have made this audio book work, I  felt multiple narrators were needed to help distinguish all these individuals. To complicate matters even more, we learn that some characters have changed their names in order to keep up their cons.  I didn't care about any of the characters, even Selena after a while. Perhaps this might be easier in print (I'm sorry I did not read it in print). Vivienne Leheny narrated this one and she did a fine job but, additional narrators were needed.

Rating - 2.5/5

3.5 stars.  I was really taken in by this one in the beginning and although I enjoyed the story, I was hoping for more suspense.  There were some twists and turns.

I’ve enjoyed Lisa Unger books in the past, and was in the mood for a solid DAY of escape from pandemic and election frenzy. Confessions of the 7:45 is perfect for that, and I am grateful to Harlequin/Park Row and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for this honest review. 
 
Selena Murphy is on the commuter train headed home when the train stalls out on the tracks. (reminded me of being stuck on a BART train UNDER San Francisco Bay - eeek!) Selena strikes up a conversation with a woman in the next seat, who introduces herself as Martha then instantly goes all TMI and tells Selena about being stuck in an affair with her boss. Selena, also TMI, tells this perfect stranger that she thinks her husband is sleeping with the nanny. I immediately thought “aha! Martha is Selena’s nanny!” which makes no sense because of course she would have MET her nanny previously. Good example of how terrible I am at figuring out mysteries. Fortunately, this one doesn’t require that much thinking, just a willingness to go along for the ride and enjoy the story. 

A few days later, Selena’s nanny disappears, then things start to get weird. Who the heck is Martha, anyway? What happened to the nanny? Did Selena really see what she thought she saw when she logged on to view  the live nanny cam at home? And what is going on with Selena’s marriage/

Excellent plotting makes this one stand out. It is somewhat reminiscent of Strangers on a Train, but it’s a more traditional thriller that also makes the reader consider “who can I really trust with my secrets?” (For me, the answer is “well, for sure NOT a complete stranger on your commute train!”) Four stars.