Paula
Hawkins debut novel The Girl on the Train
has been described as Rear Window meets Gone Girl, and is an exceptional and
startling psychological thriller. The
buzz about this novel has been around since July last year. Some of us managed to get out hands on a
proof and read it with great anticipation.
Of course with such a buzz surrounding a novel especially a debut novel
there are bound to be comparisons.
In
this case The Girl on the Train has a
number of interesting twists and turns to keep the reader thoroughly
occupied. There is the unreliable
narrator for example but in this case we have more than one. There are in fact three; three women whose
lives are intertwined irrecoverably. With a flawed main character and two
equally dislikeable but intriguing women The
Girl on The Train juggles perspectives and timescales. It is also a novel
that will leave you a feeling of just having read a widely unpredictable but
tense thriller. Surely The Girl on the Train will be on everyone’s lips in 2015. If not I would be very much surprised. It is very Hitchcockian and the author has
managed to frighten and undermine each
of her characters.
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The
Girl on The Train
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. 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.
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 offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined
in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she
done more harm than good?
A
Review of The Girl on The Train can be found here on the Shots website.
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