Title: The Girl on the Train
Author: Paula Hawkins
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Released: January 13, 2015
Genre: Adult Fiction, Mystery Thriller
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 336
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?
This book has been so hyped up that I expected so much intrigue and suspense. I got the suspense (if you ignore the fact that you can predict the killer right from the very start), but it wasn’t very intriguing to me. I keep seeing that this book is compared to Gone Girl or the next Gone Girl and let me just say this book is nothing like Gone Girl. Besides the, “who dunnit” aspect, this book can’t compare. It’s on it’s own and a little lacking. Almost a lot lacking.
For starters, I didn’t enjoy the writing format. Every day is told by “morning” and “evening” and many of those times the POVs are just recapping what happened before. For example, it will be evening and Rachel will be recanting what she did during the afternoon. Why couldn’t we just see it? Why do we need to be told? It’s not a huge problem, but it bugged me a bit and I quickly got tired of it. Plus, it made the POVs feel so choppy and rushed. Then we have the other two POVs. Megan’s (the missing woman) story takes place one year earlier to give insight on what was going on. Anna’s POV coincides with Rachels but feels completely unnecessary. It felt like she was just added to add more suspicions to the list. You know, like the blatantly obvious suspect at the end, if you hadn’t picked up on the clues during the whole novel.
As for the characters, they were flawed, they were unlikable, they were dark and twisted. I wish I could say I liked them, but I really really didn’t. I found myself for frustrated with them. Rachel is an alcoholic and can’t remember anything so we spend the entire book trying to figure out what happened that night while she “blacked out.” Yes, Hawkins handles Rachel’s alcoholism realistically and I am glad she wasn’t magically fixed, but still frustrating story wise. Anna thinks she is hot sh** just because she is beautiful, stole someone’s husband, and husbands check her out on the street. Her inner monologue was the worst. I dreaded her chapters because she was just a snob. As for Megan, well she is unlikable too but I actually liked her POV just because it was the only giving us clues as to what was going on. Besides Rachel, at the end.
Overall, this book was “okay.” I wasn’t blown away or completely shocked by the plot twist. But it was gripping and captures your attention because you can’t stop until you find out who did it. So I give it a star just for that fact alone.
If you enjoy thrillers, I’d recommend, but don’t have too many high expectations. You might be let down.
Have you read this book?
What did you think?
Have you seen the movie yet?
let’s discuss xxoo
until next time,