Thursday, September 3, 2015

The Girl On the Train - Paula Hawkins


Clever premise behind this book ... haven't you looked in windows or witnessed goings on in yards as you passed in a car or bus or train? If you commute everyday you must have certain views that draw your eyes, time after time. It's all very innocent, isn't it?

Reading this book made me feel squeamish sometimes. It was extremely painful to be inside the main character's head. Rachel is just such a poster child for the path to alcohol addiction. It was sad reading about her failed marriage, her constant falling toward the drinking as a way to cope, deaden pain, escape her miserable life. The strangely intricate fantasies about the couple she watched every day, as she rumbled past on the local London commuter line was downright creepy. When something dreadful happened to the woman she obsessed on, the plot began to take off.

I'm probably the only person that hadn't read this book, as it's been so wildly popular all summer, but I'm still not going to discuss the plot details, as they all work to construct a good psychological thriller. Let's just say that the whole 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned thing' played out right down to the end in grand fashion.

Comparisons to Gone Girl would not be amiss, as both authors have played with what we think we know and what we think we see and how we can be horribly wrong, wrong, wrong. It's up to the reader to pay close attention to every detail and find the little clues that help with that big 'aha moment' when we see clearly just what's been building. This was a good, fast read. I couldn't put it down and will probably have to go to bed early this evening, as I read through much of the night.

Now, I hear there will be a movie? Does anyone know anything about that ?




1 comment:

  1. Psychological thrillers are not often my thing, but you have made me very, very curious. Sounds as if it would be a good movie... (I may have to read a synopsis...you are so good at not telling secrets.)

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