Reviewed by Leah on
I didn't quite know what to expect from The Girl On The Train, except for y'know a girl on a train. What we get is three different narratives. One from Rachel, who's cuckoo-crazy and probably an alcoholic, one from Anna the new wife to Rachel's ex Tom with their perfect baby girl, and one from Megan, who ends up going missing. All the narratives are in the "now" apart from Megan's which starts a year prior and works up to the time she goes missing. And it was interesting to put together the pieces and see how the puzzle came together.
I wasn't as taken with The Girl On The Train as I expected, but for what it's worth it's a fairly decent thriller. I certainly kept reading, but I was never quite sure about any of the characters because they were all liars. It was so hard to take Rachel seriously when what was coming out of her mouth was lies, lies, lies. It was like she insinuated herself in to Megan's disappearance because she had absolutely nothing better to do, having been sacked from her job. And while she might have initially had something to add to Megan's disappearance, I found that she just became a nuisance in the end, and I was irritated with her trying to solve a cash she had nothing to do with.
The payoff with any psychological thriller is the ending. It's the only thing I really get excited for, because it's usually where the author trips you up and reveals the bad guy was someone you didn't suspect at all, ever. But, with The Girl On The Train, I figured out who had done it fairly early on. It wasn't a massive secret, although I will say that I enjoyed seeing Rachel piece it all together. Sure, she was an absolute hot mess who had no right to be in the investigation, but having stuck it out with her the whole novel, it was gratifying to see her get it, eventually. It was an interesting read, I was never fully invested in any of the characters because, like I said, they were all big fat liars and I hated that. But I'm glad I read it, because it was interesting. Not edge of the seat stuff, but interesting enough.{Leah Loves} http://leah-loves.com http://leah-loves.com/books-girl-train-paula-hawkins/
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 17 December, 2014: Finished reading
- 17 December, 2014: Reviewed