'The Girl on the Train' by Paula Hawkins is a psychological thriller that revolves around three women - Anna, Megan, and Rachel - whose lives intertwine in a dark and horrific manner. The story is narrated through multiple perspectives, offering a tale full of hidden secrets, desires, and passions. The plot unfolds with suspense and mystery, as the characters grapple with damaged pasts, alcoholism, and dark secrets that lead to a shocking and unpredictable ending.
The book is praised for its innovative storytelling, time-shifting narrative, and the ability to keep readers engaged with its suspenseful twists. Despite some readers finding the characters unlikable or the ending abrupt, the overall consensus is that 'The Girl on the Train' is a gripping and compelling read that delves into themes of trust, deception, and the dark side of human nature.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include alcoholism, emotional abuse, domestic violence, infidelity, and trauma.
From The Publisher:
The #1 New York Times Bestseller, USA Today Book of the Year, now a major motion picture starring Emily Blunt.
The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives, from the author of Into the Water and A Slow Fire Burning.
"Nothing is more addicting than The Girl on the Train."-Vanity Fair
"The Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl. . . . [It] is liable to draw a large, bedazzled readership."-The New York Times
"Marries movie noir with novelistic trickery. . . hang on tight. You'll be surprised by what horrors lurk around the bend."-USA Today
"Like its train, the story blasts through the stagnation of these lives in suburban London and the reader cannot help but turn pages."-The Boston Globe
"Gone Girl fans will devour this psychological thriller."-People
EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life-as she sees it-is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.
UNTIL TODAY
And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
Ratings (358)
Incredible (20) | |
Loved It (126) | |
Liked It (109) | |
It Was OK (59) | |
Did Not Like (36) | |
Hated It (8) |
Reader Stats (503):
Read It (368) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (81) | |
Did Not Finish (10) | |
Not Interested (43) |
8 comment(s)
The cover copy makes this sound like Rear Window, and there are definitely nods to that movie in the book, but it is so much more than that - it owes a lot to the play and film Gas Light as well.
Rachel is an unemployed, divorced alcoholic who takes the train into London every day to look for work. Her friend/landlady believes she is still working. The train pauses on the track behind Rachel's old house, where her ex-husband Tom lives with his new wife, Anna. Just down the street are "Jess" and "Jason," a couple Rachel doesn't know but who she watches from the train every day, making up a story about their life in her head. One day "Jess," real name Megan, disappears, and Rachel has some information she thinks will help "Jason" (real name Steve) find her.
What follows is a mystery in which almost every single character is a suspect, including the narrator. Rachel is incredibly unreliable, something she freely admits to herself, since her drinking often leads to blackouts. Tom frequently told her about the things she did while drunk during their marriage. Then there is the fact that she only knows what she saw from the train, and given that she was already making assumptions about these people her eyewitness account is not trustworthy. Hawkins writes a great mystery, but she also writes wonderful character sketches of men and women who treat each other badly in different ways. Everyone, including the missing Megan, is fully realized in all of their goodness and badness. I loved how multifaceted each of these characters is. Nothing and nobody can be trusted, but after the plot tears through you you will have plenty to think about in terms of relationships, abuse, and dependence.
Thrilling, suspenseful
Dark and disturbing psychological thriller & a quick easy read, but I felt there were a few too many cliches from the genre for me to really love it.
This book strung me along and had me hoping the plot twist would be shocking. Sadly, it wasn't. Rachel spent the whole book trying to remember "that night" and then she all of a sudden remembers... Dumb
Predictable
Ugh.
To keep with the spirit of this book, I'm going to write my review in the same style of the author, there are way too many comma splices. I'm all for using comma splices in the name of artistic license, it's a fine way to develop character voice. Problem is, there are three different POVs, they all sound exactly the same. One drinks more than the others, that's about it. The comma splices don't add to the story, they are annoying and unnecessary.
Speaking of the story, almost nothing actually happens in it, it's mostly people sitting around and thinking about what could have happened. Sometimes they talk to each other, a lot of the time they lay in bed or sit on the train and think about things. I particularly hate the trope of "I am going to spend the entire book trying to remember something that already happened because it is an absolutely crucial memory," this book does that. There is no real sense of character, the settings are never really developed, either. On top of it all, the bad guy is quite easy to spot even before the halfway point, it takes the fun out of it. There weren't any particularly shocking twists, everything is fairly predictable.
I regret that I spent my Sunday reading this, should have just watched the movie.
All the MC's are toxic, and it felt like Anna was the only normal person.
Meh
What can you read after
The Girl on the Train?
About the Author:
Paula Hawkins is the author of the #1 New York Times-bestselling novels Into the Water and The Girl on the Train. An international #1 bestseller, The Girl on the Train has sold 23 million copies worldwide and has been adapted into a major motion picture. Hawkins was…
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