Since bursting on the scene in 2015 with 鈥淭he Girl on a Train,鈥� has established herself as a reliable writer of psychological thrillers set in the U.K. 鈥淭he Blue Hour鈥� doesn鈥檛 plow any new ground on that front, but it鈥檚 a tight story with interesting characters that keeps you engaged until the end.
Set mostly on an isolated Scottish island named Eris, where a famous painter and ceramicist named Vanessa Chapman once lived and worked, the story begins with a discovery. A bone in one of Chapman鈥檚 sculptures, now owned by an estate, may be human. That revelation links together the three main characters 鈥� Chapman鈥檚 longtime companion Grace Winters, a Chapman scholar who works for Fairburn Estate named James Becker, and Julian, Chapman鈥檚 ex-husband who went missing 20 years ago.
Told in the present, in flashbacks from two decades ago, and via excerpts from Chapman鈥檚 diary, the plot moves along steadily. It鈥檚 not really a keep-the-reader-guessing type of thriller, but more of a slow build that culminates in a shocking ending.
Hawkins weaves artistic themes and the creative process through the novel. Chapman鈥檚 diary entries are filled with references to the landscape that inspires her 鈥� the 鈥渢errible chaos鈥� of waves, the sky 鈥渕iraculous azure or threatening gunmetal.鈥� The title refers to a time at dusk before the stars come out when the color leaches from the day but it鈥檚 not yet full dark. Hawkins鈥� prose often mirrors Chapman鈥檚 artistic eye. Here鈥檚 Becker鈥檚 first glimpse of Grace: 鈥淗er face is soft, cheeks relaxing gently into jowls, and her colors are muddied: from her bowl of hair to her slightly protuberant eyes鈥� she is painted in varying shades of brown.鈥�
The novel鈥檚 setting is a character unto itself. Eris is reachable from the mainland only when the tide is out, in two six-hour chunks each day, and so it鈥檚 a fine place to bury secrets 鈥� physical and psychological. Learning those secrets is the fun of the novel, and there are few authors writing today who drip them out, page by excruciating page, like Hawkins.
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AP book reviews:
Rob Merrill, The Associated Press
