Book Review | The Woman on Platform 8 (ARC)

The Woman on Platform 8 (ARC Read)

By M A Hunter

Boldwood Books  |  2025  |  345 pages Releasing: Monday 31 March 2025

Thanks to publisher, author and NetGalley for this ARC read.

THIS REVIEW WAS RECEIVED AS AN ARC READ. AS AN ARC READER FOR THIS BOOK, AN HONEST REVIEW WAS REQUESTED. 

I first saw her on the platform on my way home from work a few weeks ago. She had an aura about her that made people stop and stare. Then I saw her again. And again. Our twice weekly commute into London Waterloo in sync. She was always so poised, so pretty, so perfect.

Everything I’m not.

In my head, her name's Lucia, and she’s a glamorous catwalk model from Milan who commutes from Winchester to attend casting calls in the city. But this morning she’s late, barely making the train as the doors close. She doesn’t take her usual seat, instead staying close to the doors…

Then it hits me – she looks terrified.

I feel compelled to help her, and against my better judgement I stand up and move towards her. It's then the illusion crumbles. Her name's not Lucia, but Allie. Not a model, but a woman in dire need of help. She tells me she's in danger, that she's done something dreadful and I don't know why I do it, but I promise to keep her safe.

But I shouldn't make promises I know I can't keep.

Because my life isn't as picture perfect as I like to pretend, and I can't stop wondering if maybe I'm not the only one pretending...

---

Oh my God. My brain feels so scrambled in the best possible way; the way it should feel after reading a really good psychological thriller. 

I will keep this as concise as possible (I say this every time and I always lie) because I don’t want to be spreading spoilers about this book but this one had me constantly going back and forth, second guessing my own thought process and querying what side of sane I myself was on, depending on who I was backing throughout this book. 

I thought the characters were great; they kept me on my toes. I kept pinballing between my feelings for each of them. I felt that I continuously flip flopped over what I thought of them leading to a constant inner battle about who I should be rooting for and who I should be doubting. The main character, Jenna was definitely my favourite as I feel most people who read this will probably say the same. I felt so angry for her and the absolute gaslighting nature of everyone around her. She is consistently being treated as if she is crazy and honestly, every time I read the other character’s name I wanted to rip my hair out. She was so conniving and vindictive and I hated her but for an author, that’s gonna be a piece of praise.

If someone hates the character who is constantly being shadowed with doubt, it means you’re writing them correctly, in my opinion.

For so much of the book, all I could think was ‘Red flags!’ and that was about almost every single person in Jenna’s life. I especially did not care for her husband; he gave me the biggest red flag warnings and all I could think was, “Oh my God, I would never stand for this shit.” I suppose it’s a bit more complicated if you’re married with children but jeez, he was infuriating and so condescending for the majority of the book. He was so unlikeable and I don’t know if we were meant to ever like him but I certainly did not. 

Now, this book was amazing and gripping. I found that I could not stop reading it. Literally. I was reading it between mundane tasks and was hurrying back to my room to finish it when I got a moment. I more or less finished this book within 24 hours which shows that it is a thrilling read.

However, the point at which the book let me down was the ending, I have to say. There was a ‘twist’ as such at the end but it didn’t really feel like that. I don’t know, I was left more confused than shocked. It wasn’t really explained well nor was it explained clearly. I don’t know about other people but I prefer psychological thrillers to lay it all out on the table in the last 20 or so pages so that I have my questions answered and I am satisfied with the ending.

This ending did not do that for me. Maybe I am just a little dim and didn’t get something very obvious but I don’t know… it doesn’t feel that way. It felt rushed and awkwardly ended, as if the author panicked and wasn’t 100% sure on how to finish it off? The ending did leave me a tad perplexed because as mentioned, I am still left with a number of questions. Rather than it be questions regarding the ending and being in an awe struck shock, it felt like there were too many loose ends. All in all, the end just felt disjointed and messy. That was my only let down however; the rest of the book? Absolutely top notch.

Something I did find very interesting about this book was the main character, Jenna being autistic. It is mentioned early on and is referenced to frequently throughout the book. Now, I don’t have any kind of formal diagnosis of autism but I couldn’t help but compare and empathise with Jenna in a lot of scenes due to having felt the exact same throughout my own life. There is so much mention of overstimulation, routines, the loud noise in your head and honestly, she as a character I felt really resonated with me and I think it made me root for her so much more because I could understand several of the traits she struggles with in her difficult times.

Either way, ending aside, this was an amazing read and I am really glad I started reading it. When I initially started it, I only read a few pages and then just left it alone for a few days. But, once I came back to it, I binge read this in an entire night. As mentioned, I was reading this between dinner, between skincare, between washing my hair. Every spare moment I had after work, I was flipping through pages. I stayed awake until 3am to finish the book and all in all, I read this within only a few hours. To me, that is a pretty good sign of a decent thriller. 

Mainly, it was blind rage on behalf of the main character that had me hooked. I just could not believe the way people who were meant to be her loved ones were treating her. Absolutely infuriating. 

The ending of this book was the only thing that stopped me listing this as a 5 star read but otherwise, I loved this book and I’d definitely be interested in reading more by the author in the future.

Keep your eyes peeled for The Woman on Platform 8, releasing Monday 31 March 2025!