Book Review #45: The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

Hey Guys x

I have heard so many amazing things about this book, so I decided to see what all the hype was about! It might be a bit complicated to explain but I'm going to do the best I can!

Rachel is an alcoholic. Her ex husband Tom had a new wife and baby and she's a bit depressed about that. However, something that stops her from being upset is people watching. From her usual train, she can see straight into the home of a couple, who she has names Jason and Jess, and she imagines that their lives are perfect, more than perfect, exactly the life she wants.  But then, Rachel sees something, something that she shouldn't have seen. And suddenly, everything spirals out of control. Jason is Scott, Jess is Megan, and Rachel is directly involved in the mystery that surrounds their lives. Will Rachel be able to sort herself out long enough to find out the truth? And if she does, can she ever get back to the way that things were? Most importantly, will she even want to?

I have to say right off, as much as I did enjoy this book, I don't get the hype. I'm sorry, this is probably a really unpopular opinion, but I don't get it!

For me, the book started off slowly, really slowly. Funnily enough, I liken it to a train! It starts off slowly, chugging along, stopping every so often along the way, making you wonder if the journey is even worth it. But then it picks up a bit of speed, and you become more invested in the journey, but a little part of you wonders if it's too late to get off. And then suddenly you're hurtling across the country at warped speeds and the last thing you want to do is get off. You have to see where you end up, you need to know what's going to happen when the train eventually gets you to your destination. And once you're there, you can't stop thinking about what happened.

So yes, I didn't enjoy it that much at first, but when things picked up, I definitely couldn't put it down. The book is 316 pages long and I read the last 150 in one sitting because I needed to know what was going to happen.

The twist in the story was great. I thought it was one person, then another, then someone unexpected, but it definitely wasn't what I expected at all. The book goes through so many different options and leads you to believe that it's a variety of different people, and it does this so well that you definitely can't guess the end coming. I didn't guess until I had about 60 pages to go. Having said that, there was like, one line, that allowed me to map out everything clearly, and I was right, so I was really proud of myself for that!

The story is told from the point of view of the three women within the novel, Rachel, Anna and Jess/Megan, and this in itself was done really well. All of the women have really distinct voices, and I really got into the head of all three of them, which was great! The novel itself was written so well.

What was good?
The story! It is such an original story whatever way it's written and I really wish that my own ideas for books were as original as this! I'm not generally a reader of horror, but to be honest, I didn't even miss my usual chick-lit/romance books. Actually, I wasn't able to then go back to my list and read another romance book -  after reading this, nothing seemed right, so I'm reading 'Breaking Dawn' from the twilight saga for the hundredth time! But yes, Paula Hawkins has done an amazing job with this book and, because it's her debut, I can't wait to see what's next from her!

What was bad?
Well, as I said before, the story is told from the point of view of Rachel, Anna and Jess/Megan. However, I've found that, none of the characters were likeable. Actually, there is not one character in this book that I liked or related to in any way, and that really took something away from the book for me. I kind of didn't care what happened to anyone because I kind of hated them! The only character that I somewhat liked was Cathy, and even she did a lot of annoying things!

Overall
I'd definitely recommend this book, definitely! Especially if you don't usually read books like this because that makes it even better! Because I don't read thrillers, I wasn't comparing it to other thrillers that I'd read. But also, if you can, go into this as blind as possible, don't read too much about it!

Thank you for reading

Comment below whether or not you read thrillers!

Keep Smiling - Lou xx