Here's a read that starts off on a slow, measured pace that builds and continues to build to an ending that isn't quite expected.
The atmosphere, throughout the book, is tense and is not your routine thriller. This is more of an exploration and character study of troubled people and how they interact, which keeps you guessing as to the outcome.
This is quite an intense story, which I expected from the author who always delivers!

3.5 ⭐️’s
Vanessa Chapman was an enigmatic artist, living on an island in Scotland that was only accessible at low tide, an island that contained some dark secrets. Vanessa worked diligently on her art, but not her social skills. When she met Grace, a physician, after breaking her arm, the two became unusually entwined. Grace needing Vanessa much more than Vanessa needed Grace. When Vanessa’s notoriously unfaithful husband, Julian goes missing, all eyes are on Vanessa, but nothing is ever proven. Years go by and when Vanessa dies, she leaves her entire art collection to her arch nemesis Douglas Fairburn. Why? When a human bone is found in one of her art pieces, everyone is sure it’s Julian’s. As the Fairburn Gallery tries to figure out what’s going on, and get Grace to finally part with the remaining pieces of Vanessa’s estate, the secrets of the island start to enfold. When Becker, representing Fairburn, goes to Eris Island to speak with Grace, he doesn’t push, he decides it’s better to go as a friend, to learn as much about Vanessa as possible, after all, he rather idolized her. But as things turn darker, Becker is caught in the middle, a middle he desperately wants out of! This story was a slow burning tale of underlying suspense. One that kept the pages turning, never quite answering all the questions. One that Hawkins writes beautifully, but going for the shock factor in the ending pages left me frustrated, hoping for just one more page …
Grace is reminiscent of Annie Wilkes from Steven King’s Misery. An eccentric character to be reckoned with! Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I really, really enjoyed this slow burn mystery. I think many readers were anticipating a thriller, which this is not—more an excellently written tale of secrets and dread, which I will express when selling it. I hope it does well!

I am so thankful to Mariner Books, Paula Hawkins, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this galley before publication day. I really enjoyed the dialogue and plot of this book and can’t wait to chat this one up with my friends!

I normally like Paula Hawkins’ books but this one was so slow and boring. The characters are all horrible people, the plot line is predictable, and I hate the ending. This one was not it for me.

This was slow going for me until about the halfway mark and then it ramped up majorly. I was kind of getting Misery vibes and I love that but the ending did nothing for me…I feel like there was no closure and I was kind of waiting for it. No, actually, I really need it to be happy. But overall, it was entertaining and that’s what I’m here for!

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins is such an atmospheric novel! It’s set on an island that is routinely cut off from the world due to the tide blocking any exit routes. This book features a dysfunctional family, messed up friend relationships, and an art mystery that might involve a human bone. I really liked this story and recommend that readers check it out. It makes for perfect dark and stormy fall reading. Read and enjoy!

A very atmospheric thriller that will have you questioning every character and their motives. The story centers around the works of the elusive Vanessa Chapman, a famous artist whose last years were spent in Eris, a remote island only accessible for the twelve hours that the tide was out. A revelation about one of her pieces of work opens the door to the secrets hidden away and safe guarded by Vanessa’s friend and companion, the embittered Grace.
The story is a slow burn, with the Scottish island a haunting character in itself. The stormy remoteness not only sets the mood but provides the added danger and mystique to the setting. The character driven story is woven through a dual timeline with flawed, unreliable and unlikable narrators who lives are an entanglement of deceit and love. The pretentious sophisticated aspects of the art world clash with the simple nature of the people on the island like the waves crashing ashore.
What emerges is a sense of foreboding within this locked-room mystery until reaching its final twisty climax. It was just too much of a slow burn which made it drag in parts for me.
More psychological suspense then thriller, means the suspense relies on the mastery of Hawkins writing. And in that, she does not disappoint.

I always look forward to books by Paula Hawkins - this one was no exception! Hawkins knows how to keep me engaged and turning pages. She turned this into a one sit read for me!

From the first page I was hooked. I enjoyed the art aspect of it and liked the alternating timelines. The short chapters kept me reading. I liked the Vanessa and Grace story line. Grace definitely had some mental issues which contributed to her actions while on the Isle. This book was a slow burn and at times too slow and too wordy. It's interesting to me that a book a little over 300 pages felt much longer than that. Overall a good mystery that had a great ending.

If you tell me a book is set on an isolated Scotish island, I am definitely going to read it. The setting felt like it’s own character throughout, providing for an atmospheric and haunting read. The dynamic between Grace and Becker was so interesting as they both loved Vanessa in their own ways. At the end of the day, I would call this a suspense and not a thriller.

Wow- what a thriller- very cerebral and psychological. I have a slight pet peeve of being trapped and this book really hit a nerve. Living on an island that is cut off to the world depending on the tides would be a recluse's dream. Vanessa, an artist, has her studio there. Posthumously, a human bone is found in one of her pieces and now a mystery starts to unfold. Who's bone is it? How do all these characters intertwine and fit into the story. I found this one to be a very slow burn but still poignant and bothersome on the human condition. Thank you to Mariner Books and Net Galley for an advanced copy.

A slow-burning character-driven mystery that spins an actually fairly straightforward plot into novel length by using a tortuous time framework.

In the present day, James Becker is the curator of a private collection of artwork gifted by the now-deceased Vanessa Chapman to the Lennox family at Fairburn House. When it emerges that one of the pieces features what looks like a human bone, his boss tells him to get up to Eris Island where she lived with her companion Grace, and collect all the remaining notes and artwork that were bequeathed to them.

Second timeline is extracts from Chapman’s diary, somewhat pretentiously labeled as Interstitials. These have no dates on them so we don’t know where exactly they fit into the past. Also in the past, we have snippets of Grace’s history.

Though Becker is ostensibly the protagonist, he’s a bit of a blank. We mainly know him through his convoluted relationship with his employer and his family. Really, Grace is the lead and she is a not unfamiliar type: an embitttered woman who silently seethes about what she sees as all the injustices done to her.

By jumbling all these timelines together, what actually happened to Chapman’s husband, Julian, becomes the big mystery and we are nudged into thinking that’s where the human bone came from. Far too obvious, of course!

The author does a great job in building a creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere, both at Fairburn House and, more notably, on Eris Island. Grace is a terrific flesh and blood version of her stereotype, and while she never transcends that origin, she makes a very heavy presence on the page.

Paula Hawkins, of course, made her name with The Girl on the Train, but none of her subsequent novels have quite lived up to that genre game changer. The Blue Hour doesn’t either, but it’s a step or two closer than her previous ones.

Thanks to Mariner and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

I am a huge Hawkins fan from her first book and while I read every one of her new books, I have to say that they just don't hit as much as the first one did. This one was pretty good though, and I did love the main (?) female character.

If Paula Hawkins writes it, I'm going to read it.
I loved the overall message in this one. Things may not always be what they seem. Although predictable in the end, this was still a very entertaining, captivating read.

This book was had a slow pacing, which I don’t normally mind, because it was still suspenseful. Except in a thriller, the ending should have a good punch. The ending here was good, but I feel like there was something missing. It felt underwhelming. Overall, I enjoyed reading The Blue Hour, I liked the characters and the diary entries.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very middle of the road read for me. I really enjoyed the premise (a late artist's piece is found to contain human bone years after her husband mysteriously disappeared!!!), but the characters were almost entirely unlikable, and the plot DRAGGED. The first third was a lot of vague interpersonal drama, the middle third hooked me, and the final third made me so angry I wanted to screech. I guessed the twist, still managed to enjoy the twist, and then hated how everything barely wrapped up. I genuinely thought there was going to be another chapter to this book, but it just stopped. I wish Hawkins could capture the pacing and mystery from The Girl on the Train, and this is certainly an improvement upon some of her other titles, but it just didn't do it for me.

3/5

Paula Hawkins so far is hit or miss for me. I - like a lot of people - loved The Girl on the Train! Then I read Into the Water last year and was very underwhelmed by it. This one kind of sits in the middle.

I was intrigued by this one and the plot - this story starts out with a bang! An artist dies, leaves her work to a foundation run by a man she used to be involved with, and then one of her works of art is believed to feature a human bone - which is interesting since her husband went missing years ago. Is it his bone? Did she kill her husband? Why did she leave her life's work to a man that in the end was her enemy? Why does her friend who is the keeper of her journals and art work seem to be hiding them from the foundation? I was all in!

This book involves the art world, a remote island, unreliable characters, and so much more that was keeping me super invested in the novel. I would say it's a slow burn mystery/thriller - do NOT go in thinking this is a fast paced thriller because you may be disappointed. I was all in for about the first 2/3 of the book and then....the last 1/3 and that ending...

I just don't know now. I was left really kind of wanting to throw the book (it was on my kindle so naturally I couldn't throw it!) across the room. After all that - and it taking me a tad longer to get through than expected - I was very disappointed and a tad shocked at the way the book ended. There was a fun twist that I eventually did see coming - but I was just left feeling cheated after being so invested in the book.

So overall - I am not sure. She is a great writer and I was super into most of the book. It's worth reading and maybe the ending will work for others but it left me a tad frustrated.

Title: The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
Publication Date- 10/29/24
Publisher- Mariner Books
Overall Rating- 3 out of 5 stars

Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: This was so close to being an excellent book. I was really hooked in at the start of the novel when we find out that a bone in an art museum has been identified as a human bone. From there we meet a cast of characters who are in many different ways, involved with the investigation. Most of our time is spent on an isolated island (very cool) with reclusive, pretentious artists (kinda cool, kinda not) swirling in infidelity and secrets threatened by the incoming tide (cool for some, mostly not for most). I really, really enjoyed the first third of the story and felt fully invested. By the 40 percent mark I felt like we were going around and around the same story just holding on to an appropriate time for a reveal.

The ending was predictable, but I did think it fit the story well. My main problem with this book was the lackluster middle 40ish percent. When you first start reading it can be kind of confusing and hard to grasp who’s who and what’s really happening. That does become more clear over time and then the suspense dies down and you’re left with annoying characters and no reveals. I actually really like morally grey, annoying characters but when that’s all that’s happening for far too long, it’s not enjoyable anymore. The pacing was very off. The tone and the atmosphere were a strong suit.

When I put this book down for the last time I felt disappointed. It was so close to being a really interesting story. There are some aspects that will stick with me, it’s dark and gloomy and human. I just really wish that middle part was not so boring, everything else was enjoyable.

This book was not for me. I found it slow, uninteresting, and without a touchstone character that was well developed enough to really root for. I can see how it might make a good miniseries, because it did read like a slow burn of a TV show, but reading it was not engaging.