Platform Seven

by Louise Doughty

*PAPERBACK NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER*

'Louise Doughty leads her unnerved readers into dark territory.' Hilary Mantel.

'Utterly mesmerizing, with the pace of a thriller and a sense of profound mystery in the most ordinary of settings. I was hooked from its start to its nerve-racking, surprising finish.' Deborah Moggach

The new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Louise Doughty

Platform Seven at 4am: Peterborough Railway Station is deserted. The man crossing the covered walkway on this freezing November morning is confident he's alone. As he sits on the metal bench at the far end of the platform it is clear his choice is strategic - he's as far away from the night staff as he can get.

What the man doesn't realise is that he has company. Lisa Evans knows what he has decided. She knows what he is about to do as she tries and fails to stop him walking to the platform edge.

Two deaths on Platform Seven. Two fatalities in eighteen months - surely they're connected?

No one is more desperate to understand what connects them than Lisa Evans herself. After all, she was the first of the two to die..

• ISBN10: 0571321941
• ISBN13: 9780571321940
• Publish Date: 22 August 2019 (first published 20 August 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 4 April 2022
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Faber & Faber
• Edition: Main
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

May Contain Spoilers

Platform Seven at first reminded me of the book the Lovely Bones with how the main character was now a ghost and looking back at the life she lived in order to remember how and what happened to her.

However, this book was not nearly as nice as that book when it came to ending and justice being served. Lisa is the main character with a few side characters that we meet along the way that provide insight into what happened the night she died.
Lisa is a woman in her 30s who is in a new relationship before she died one that she was happy to be in, to a certain extent. But it all starts going very wrong slowly over time and we see her being a victim of gaslighting to the extreme. We see Lisa start to pull away from friends and family slowly throughout the book as she relives her life to find out why she died that night, and along the way she realizes all that happened to her and how it even affected everyone around her.

Overall this is a story of someone who was in an abusive relationship attempting to get out and the worst happening to them without anyone else knowing about it. Its an important story, but one that just wasn't for me sadly. It wasn't really a mystery or a thriller in my opinion as it was very easy to figure out what was happening about a quarter of the way through due to how the boyfriend was acting about things. It was interesting to see how gaslighting happened in this situation and how easy it can be to fall victim to the manipulation tactics that they use.

I might try another book by this author, but its gonna take awhile.

[tylerrosereads]

3 stars

This book was enjoyable. I don't regret reading it... but i also don't feel like I was properly rewarded.
It sounded really interesting and I love a good paranormal mystery. It also happens to be the next book for Lala's Literally Dead Book Club so I gave it a go.

However a good like 150 pages there in the middle was all backstory, it was relevant, and I stuck through it on the hopes for a big pay off at the end. It's all got to culminate to something right?



Sike!
The ending definitely fell flat for me. What I wanted to happen totally didn't and we all just kind drift away from what happened and the problem.

That's mainly what knocked this book down for me. I appreciated the writing style and I liked the setting and contemplative nature of the character. But then ending left me wanting.