I'm always on the lookout for that special domestic thriller that will actually thrill me rather than just make me roll my eyes throughout. Unfortunately, Confessions on the 7:45 wasn't it.
Selena had a rough day. She just found evidence that her husband is cheating on her with the nanny. So when she boards the train to go home and strikes up a conversation with the stranger in the next seat, she confesses everything. After all, what does it matter, since they'll never see each other again? But soon after, the nanny goes missing, and Selena realizes the perfect life she's cultivated is spiraling out of control.
This story is just ridiculous. From the main characters to the supporting cast, every single person in here acts so stupidly, and nothing they do makes any sense. Find evidence your spouse is cheating? Stick your head in the sand and hope it will go away! Random stranger messages you to meet up? Go meet up with them to see what they want! Discover who the bad person is? Don't tell the police, go fix it yourself!
This story is written from so many points of view, and a lot of them are not necessary to the progression of the plot. In fact, some of them are quite dull and obvious and could easily have been excluded. Everything is spelled out for the reader, slowly and in detail. But it's not hard to infer where the story was going, so I found it really hard to keep my attention throughout.
There also seems to be some sort of woe-is-me complex going on that drove me crazy. The characters are whiny but unable to accept that they controlled their actions and the outcome. Instead, they justified everything by saying how they had no choice and they had to do it, no matter how outlandish. It was so annoying to read this defeatist attitude over and over.
When I first started this book, I thought I'd found that rare domestic thriller that would grab me. And the initial setup was amazing. But once we got past that and are into the main part of the story, I started losing interest. Nothing in here really surprised me, and the characters all acted against their self-interest. Honestly, I was bored out of my mind, and I'm happy to be done.
Readaroo Rating: 2 stars
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