This is another multiple perspective mystery from Hawkins--like 'Girl on a Train'--and while there are many things the author does well, ultimately the multiple perspective blunt the suspense rather than enhancing it. The premise is that the river running through the small English town of Beckford has an irresistible draw for the town's women, or perhaps for the men who find them troublesome. When Nel Abbott is found drowned there, her sister Jules returns to take care of her niece Lena and try to understand why a vibrant woman who was writing a book about the river's history would commit suicide. Hers is not an investigation, except into her own relationship with and estrangement from Nel, but the investigation bubbles around her, with multiple characters exploring their own relationship to the river. In the end the climax is less surprising than inevitable; having followed the soap opera entanglements of the various characters throughout the book, the resolution doesn't actually resolve anything. This reader was left with the sense that these stories were a snapshot in time of human involvement with the river, which perhaps was Hawkins' intention, but it doesn't make for a very satisfying story.

Three stars for the interesting and historical premise; two stars without it.