Book Review: Paula Hawkin's The Girl On The Train

I was very excited to dive into Paula Hawkins’ The Girl On The Train, especially because I was in the mood for a twisty tale. I kept hearing many comparisons to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and was intrigued to see how it would compare.

The lead character is a young woman named Rachel, who has gone through a recent divorce and struggles with alcohol. She takes the train every day into London, and passes the house she used to live in. Her ex-husband is still living there with his new wife and child. As she passes the home each day, she longs for the life she once had. During her daily commutes, she also daydreams about a couple a few houses down the road. She knows nothing about the couple, but thinks they lead the perfect live. One day, as she watches from the train, Rachel witnesses something that puts her in the middle of a missing person case.

For 75% of the book, I found The Girl On The Train to be a wild ride as I tried to piece together the mystery. The final 25% was disappointing though, as I could see the final twists coming a mile away (and was hoping I was wrong.) The story is similar to Gone Girl in the sense the story is told in more than one point of view, and the reader isn’t really sure who to trust. Many of the characters are also difficult to like, which is a factor Gone Girl also had. Even though The Girl On The Train’s Rachel had her personal struggles, I found the story benefitted from the fact that she was a bit unreliable, and the reader got to unravel the truth about her life with her. 

Something I particularly loved was the setting of trains and the London commute. Since I had some experience with that when I was there for school, I found myself even more invested in the story because I could really imagine what Rachel would see on the train each day. Although I was disappointed with the ending, the book certainly kept my interest, and each day I would excitedly reach for the book, anxious to see what would happen next.