#BookReview ‘Confessions On The 7.45’ by Lisa Unger

About the book…

Everyone has a secret. Who would you trust with yours?
On Selena Murphy’s train home from work, a mysterious woman named Martha strikes up a conversation and shares a confession: she’s having an affair with her boss. In turn, Selena shares her own secret: she suspects her husband is sleeping with the nanny.

At Selena’s station the two women part, and Selena never expects to see her again. Until she receives a message.

I’d love to continue our conversation. Can we get together? It’s Martha, by the way. From the train.

But Selena never gave Martha her number. She brushes the message off – until days later her nanny goes missing, and Selena begins to wonder if it’s all connected. Who is Martha, really? And what does she want with Selena?

My thanks to publishers HQ Stories for approving my request on Netgalley,to read ‘Confessions On The 7.45’ by Lisa Unger which is available now in e-book and paperback formats.

You might start reading this book, thinking that it is a modern take on the classic , ‘Strangers On A Train’, you would be a little right (after all, a train is involved and Martha and Selena begin as strangers) but the only thing in common is the noir-ish tone of the tale which is being told.

A chance meeting, a long day with 2 women at the end of their tether, take to confiding their secrets with each other. The expectation is that this is a fleeting reprieve, bonded over a drink and their lot as 21st century women, to then part at their destination, never to meet again.

However, events have been set in motion so that whilst Selena gets off the train in a physical sense, her journey is just beginning.

Between Martha and Selena’s narratives, through which you build up a clear idea of their lifestyles, there is that of a girl named Pearl, the daughter of a single parent who lives above the bookshop she runs. Who Pearl is, and what she has to do with the 2 women is not immediately obvious, but as the 3 tales begin to plait themselves together, the suspense is heightened to torturous levels for the reader who is pulled into a web of intrigue, deceit and mystery.

Martha’s text messages, requesting a meeting , collide with the disappearance of Selena’s nanny, Ginny. Having suspected her of having a fling with husband, this appearance could not have come at a worse time. Barely clinging to financial security, supporting the entire family, the last thing on her mind is meeting up with the woman to whom she disclosed her darkest secret.

And yet, Martha may have not only the solution to Selena’s dilemma, she could also be the key to events in Selena’s past which, till now, never really made sense.

As the plot comes to a point of cohesion, there is no let up in the tension between these women who both have incredibly valid reasons for behaving the way that they have. It is a world which is cruel and manipulative towards women, the expectations on, and for them, are written from the day they are born, and it will take a cataclysmic act to break the chains holding Martha and Selena down.

I loved the nuanced layering of these characters, Selena appears to have it all, and on paper, it looks like she does but she knows her entire existence is predicated on a lie. Martha has told so many fictions that finding a path back to herself seems next to impossible. And yet, together, they just might affect a change for one, or both of them.

I loved the high wire tension of the story, the way the first person narration really puts you inside the heads of the protagonists, and how you trust the author to not let you down. There is just the right amount of suspense, too much and you feel like you cannot breathe or need a break, but the pitch is just great, I was swept up in this feminist murder mystery and could not finish until I had reached the denouement.

Definitely a new convert to Lisa Unger, I will be looking for her back catalogue for certain!

About the author…

Lisa Unger is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author. With books published in thirty languages and millions of copies sold worldwide, she is widely regarded as a master of suspense. Her new novel LAST GIRL GHOSTED releases Oct 5.

Unger’s critically acclaimed books have been named on “Best Book” lists from the Today show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, People, Amazon, Goodreads, and many others. She has been nominated for, or won, numerous awards including the Hammett Prize, Macavity, Thriller Award, and Goodreads Choice. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award nominations, an honor held by only a few authors, including Agatha Christie. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Travel+Leisure. She lives on the west coast of Florida with her family

Links-http://www.lisaunger.com/

Twitter @lisaunger @HQstories