Confessions on the 7:45

Post contains affiliate links; read my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Trigger warnings: domestic violence, murder

Selena's husband Graham lost his job and is screwing their nanny. Anne is sleeping with her boss, whose wife owns the company. Selena meets Martha on the night train and they confess their secrets to each other while the train is delayed. Selena's nanny Geneva is hiding something, and Pearl is a complete mystery.

The book begins with an unidentified woman who is stalking someone, and one of the mysteries is trying to figure out which one of our characters is the stalker.

Selena has had a turbulent marriage with Graham, who is a repeat cheater. She thought their years of therapy were helping until she sees him with Geneva on the nanny camera. A series of events leads her life into a downward spiral and she begins to second-guess her husband and the woman on the train.

Geneva keeps mentioning a sister and a previous nanny job gone wrong. Why is the sister absent, and what happened at her last job?

Anne keeps getting threatening texts from an unknown source. She isn't a saint; she's continuously committing a crime no one knows about in addition to her affair. She comes off as a career con artist. She's a little crazy and emotionally disconnected. It's hard for the reader to feel anything for a character who herself doesn't feel.

Pearl's story revolves around her relationship with one of her mother's boyfriends -- he encourages her to grow intellectually and finally feels like the father she's never had. She doesn't trust Charlie completely, but her fears may be unwarranted. Will Pearl grow up to be one of the other women, or is her story connected to them in another way?

The reader starts to realize something isn't right when the woman on the train introduces herself as Martha. Who is Martha? Her story of having an affair with her boss matches Anne's. All of the women's stories have missing elements to keep the reader guessing, and the identity of the woman at the start of the novel isn't initially revealed.

Minor characters sometimes enter the narrative -- Selena's son Oliver, a police detective -- and add information unknown to the women and outsiders' perspective to the story.

Lisa Unger proves she is a master of the genre with this novel. The surprises keep coming until the very end.

Vivienne Leheny is a great narrator and gives different characters different timbres to help distinguish dialogue.

Filled with twists and turns, this novel is great for mystery and thriller fans. Fans of women's fiction looking for an exciting story may also enjoy this novel.

Lisa Unger is a bestselling and award-winning author of suspense novels. She lives in Florida.

Publisher: Park Row (print), Harlequin Audio

Narrator: Vivienne Leheny

Running Time: 12 hours, 28 minutes

Length: 368 pages

Release Date: October 6, 2020

I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I also received a digital audio recording of this title from the publisher through Libro.fm as a librarian review copy, and this is the format I ended up reading/listening to. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.