In the spirit of darker, chillier nights, I picked up a mystery thriller novel called The Girl on the Train. Written by Paula Hawkins, the book is all about a group of people simultaneously caught up in a woman’s murder.
The chilling, thrilling and enthralling novel debuted in the number one spot on The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2015 list (print and e-book) dated 1 February 2015, and remained in the top position for 13 consecutive weeks, until April 2015. It’s also a fantastic film.
Why a train?
You may be wondering what the book has to do with trains. Well, a whole lot actually! Rachel is an alcoholic going through a divorce. She’s lost her job but pretends to everyone around her that she still goes to work. So, she takes a train into London every morning, and one out every evening.
On her journey, she goes past a street of houses and creates scenarios for the people she sees in their homes. But the first plot twist… Rachel used to live on the street herself, with her ex-husband.
Who are the characters?
Three women narrate this story, Rachel, Anna, and Megan. Also known as, an alcoholic, a liar and a cheater (now deceased). It’s Megan who is murdered, but Rachel actually knows her as Jess. Megan lived on the street that Rachel watched, and Rachel imagined her as a woman called Jess. Megan was neighbours with Anna, the new wife of Rachel’s ex-husband.
It sounds very confusing, and it is. But that’s one of the great things about this novel. It keeps you guessing. These women are unknowingly (or, in Rachel and Anna’s case, knowingly) involved in each other’s lives. Especially when Rachel watches Jess one day from the train, and sees something that changes the entire novel. The men in this novel include Tom, Rachel’s ex-husband, Scott, Megan’s husband, and Kamal, Megan’s therapist. In this novel, everyone is a suspect.
Except it’s hard to tell who really is a real suspect. Each narrator is unreliable in some way, which makes it hard to make any deductions.
What would I rate it?
I’d give The Girl on the Train 4/5 stars. It’s missing one because the thriller genre is not my favourite genre, and I struggle to commit to it. This was an excellent book for so many reasons, however. For one, it’s absolutely full of secrets. Everybody has at least one! Because of this, it’s quite an uncomfortable read, because you never really know who to trust.
It’s a really creepy read that will definitely have you questioning any nights you can’t remember.