The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

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?

Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on

5 of 5 stars

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Five Caffeinated Reasons to grab your ear-buds and listening to The Girl on the Train

  • You love psychological thriller and figuring out the players and pieces. Hawkins does a fantastic job hooking the reader, and dropping red herrings. Her use of an unreliable narrator as the main character is brilliant.

  • The characters are complex and as you listen, you suffer a range of emotions from distaste to understanding. Hawkins slowly reveals their stories allowing you to gain understanding even as you want to shake them and say, “Enough, don’t do this.” The tale unfolds from three distinct characters and is broken out in chapter form. Chapters are dated so you are able to connect perspectives and timeline. Rachel our unreliable narrator is the main perspective and we get bits of Anna, her ex-husband’s new wife, and that of Megan the woman whose been murdered.

  • The Girl on the Train is addictive from wondering what outrageous thing Rachel will do next to who killed Megan. Hawkins makes you think about what we see when we catch glimpses of others. Have you ever envied a neighbor whose life and family seems picture perfect from those glimpses? Only later you find out things were dreadful. Hawkins will make you as the listener think, as you crave for more answers.

  • When done right the audio edition of a brilliant novel can add another layer to the characters and story. Clare Corbett, India Fisher, and Louise Brealey brought these characters to life allowing me to feel their frustrations, taste their fear and become completely immersed in the events that took place. I enjoyed their interpretation of the characters. I listened to the last part as I cooked and my hubby was sitting nearby and he became curious.

  • The Girl on the Train is the perfect buddy- read or book club read because you will want to talk about it. It has been five days since I listened and I can still hear the characters in my head. I still cringe when I think of things that happened and the way in which characters behaved. When I drive with my husband in the car and gaze out the window at others ..I cannot help but wonder.


Audio provided by publisher, full review on blog. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 13 January, 2015: Finished reading
  • 13 January, 2015: Reviewed