The Book:
Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger
Published: October 6, 2020 by Park Row Books
Date read: December 22, 2020
The Characters:
Selena, her husband Graham
Martha
Get it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Selena Murphy is commuting home from her job in the city when the train stalls out on the tracks. She strikes up a conversation with a beautiful stranger in the next seat, and their connection is fast and easy. The woman introduces herself as Martha and confesses that she’s been stuck in an affair with her boss. Selena, in turn, confesses that she suspects her husband is sleeping with the nanny. When the train arrives at Selena’s station, the two women part ways, presumably never to meet again.
But days later, Selena’s nanny disappears.
Soon Selena finds her once-perfect life upended. As she is pulled into the mystery of the missing nanny, and as the fractures in her marriage grow deeper, Selena begins to wonder, who was Martha really? But she is hardly prepared for what she’ll discover.
The Twist:
Martha from the train was really Pearl, Selena’s half-sister, and Geneva (the nanny) was Pearl’s sister. They were grifters and con artists, and Selena was their most recent target.
The Ending:
Graham got fired for harassing a female coworker and then killed her. He also nearly killed Selena, but Pearl saved her.
The Review:
This wildly popular thriller was quite the (train) ride. It’s packed full of twists that keep the reader on their toes. The story begins with multiple seemingly unrelated storylines, and proceeds to expertly weave them together. For an avid thriller reader, some plot lines may be easy to guess, but the writing and characters held my interest to the end.
I listened to this one on audio. The narrator was great, but the last third of the book was extremely action packed, and at times it was a little hard to keep up. I had to slow down and rewind a few sections when I found myself confused as to who was who.
This was my first book by Lisa Unger, but it definitely won’t be my last. I’m excited to dive into her backlist to see what other gems I can find.
