It seems to be only fitting that the first review I ever publish on this blog should be of The Girl On the Train as I’ve been dying to read this book for absolutely ages!
Let me begin by making my opinion of this book very clear – I thought it was undeniably fantastic! I for one am impartial to a psychological thriller, and this was by no means a disappointment. So I somehow now have a job of convincing you to stop what you are doing and go and get your hands on this book. IMMEDIATELY.
While many are quick to liken ‘The Girl on the Train’ to Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’, the key difference here I believe lies with our main protagonist Rachel Watson, a divorced alcoholic prone to blackouts and self-destructive behaviour. Paula Hawkins does a fantastic job of making Rachel relatable despite all of this, and we really begin to pity her as a character, while also remaining fearful in light of her own terror and uncertainty of what she may or may not have done during those blackouts.
Rachel Watson is, as mentioned above, a divorced alcoholic, catching the train into London everyday to keep her flatmate from realising she’s been fired. It’s on this daily train from Euston that she passes by the house she used to share with her husband in her formerly joyful life, that he now shares with the woman he left her for and their child. However, it’s not just this house Rachel focuses on, but the house a couple of doors down, in which Rachel sees what she believes to be the ‘perfect couple’. She names them ‘Jess and Jason’ and they develop in her imagination to become the ideal couple with a perfect relationship she cannot help but fantasize about.
The plot thickens when, from her seat on the train, Rachel witnesses something that changes everything in their perfect little worldRachel was so envious of. The next thing you know, Jess has gone missing, and Rachel can’t help but become more and more intertwined with the police investigation.
The suspense builds as more and more horrible truths come to light. The way Hawkins cleverly shifts from the perspective of no only Rachel, but also Anna (her husbands new wife), and Jess herself adds further dimensions to the twisting plot, adding to the undeniable addictiveness of the novel as a whole, and putting forward an inescapably difficult question. Who do you trust – the alcoholic, the liar, or the cheat?
The best thing about this book is that Paula Hawkins skilfully keeps so many viable options, all the way through to the end, to the extent that I simply couldn’t put the book down until I knew who it was! I also loved the way the author used Rachel’s depression and alcoholism to create this unreliable protagonist, constantly doubted by the reader and thereby adding a further cloud of suspicion over the true events of Jess’ disappearance.
Unlike most books, there’s no ‘good’ character we’re rooting for, and combined with the startling truths and horrific painful secrets, this creates a very tense, suspenseful psychological thriller.
Overall, a 4.1/5 from me!
– Anastacia x
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