The Book:
The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
Published October 29, 2024 by Mariner Books
Date read: October 22, 2024
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The Blue Hour spoilers can be found below, but they’re hidden under a spoiler tag so you’re safe to keep scrolling if you’d just like to read my review.
The Characters:
Becker – art dealer
Sebastian – Becker’s boss
Helena – Becker’s wife
Vanessa Chapman – the deceased artist Becker is interested in. She bequeathed her art collection to Sebastian’s family after her death
Grace – Vanessa’s former companion/lover
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
Welcome to Eris: an island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day.
Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.
Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.
But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling.
And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge.
The Blue Hour Spoilers
The Reveal:
Vanessa Capman’s companion, Grace, had killed Vanessa’s ex-husband. When Becker came to realize the truth, Grace said that Vanessa had killed him and Grace just covered up the murder to protect Vanessa.
The bone didn’t belong to the ex-husband, though. It belonged to someone named Nick, a past romantic interest of Grace’s. Nick had come to see Grace while recovering from a drug addiction. Grace thought he was going to stay with her, and when he laughed at the thought, she got mad and killed him. She had buried him in the woods and Vanessa happened upon his bones, thinking it was something like a deer.
The Ending:
Grace drugged Becker on the island when she realized he had figured it all out. She drove him and his car into water somewhere, and the book ends with Becker’s final muddled thoughts as he dies. No resolution was given–presumably Becker’s wife would go looking for him though? Sebastian knew where he was…
I hope these The Blue Hour spoilers were helpful.
The Review:
Same as Hawkins’ previous book, The Blue Hour was a VERY slow burn. I don’t think I’d classify it as a thriller, but there is a hefty dose of atmospheric suspense. I loved the setting: a remote island off the coast of Scotland, where a famous artist’s former companion lives in isolation. Our main character Becker makes frequent trips out to the island to try to learn more about the deceased artist.
Vanessa’s history is laid out in an interesting way: Grace tells Becker some portions in the main text, and the reader learns a bit more through passages from Vanessa’s diary. As multiple secrets were introduced I was excited to see how it all came together, but I found the ending to be somewhat lackluster.
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