The Girl on the Train

Yes….of course…. I was one of the hundreds of other girls who was on a train whilst reading ‘The Girl On The Train’ but it still makes me chuckle!

Out of all the book reviews I’ve done so far on my blog, this is probably the one that I can skip the detail about the plot because it’s been massive in the UK and globally… I think anyone that loves reading fiction has heard of this book.

So I’ll summarise it in three sentences…
Ok here I go:

Rachel is a depressed alcoholic who enjoys watching people’s lives from a train seat.

Megan pissed off the wrong person and has ended up dead.

Anna is a woman grasping on to an idealistic life.

Done!

It’s taken me a while to pick up this book and I’m not really sure why, I’ve heard many of my friends and colleagues talk about it but I’ve never had the yearning to read it myself. I finally decided to open the book on a Monday evening on my commute home and I was pleased that I was immediately hooked. The idea of a character like Rachel appealed to me, she wasn’t your typical main female character… she was a little bonkers, a bit too nosey for her own good and didn’t know when to back off … But I liked that, that made her human!

I thought Hawkins did a great job with her characters, they were believable and their actions made sense. I fell hook, line and sinker for the plot, it had multiple twists and ticked the boxes for a page turner. I loved the idea of having the view points from the three key female characters, it added the right level of perspective so that you didn’t end up siding with one character over the other.

I really enjoyed that I couldn’t work out who killed Megan until a chapter before it unraveled… That for me is the sign of a well thought out plot!

What I thought let this book down was the writing, if I was going to be picky I’d say you could tell it was a first novel, it wasn’t quite up to standard – it was a little sporadic at times and sentences sometimes appeared abrupt. I wouldn’t say I’m trying to put down this writing technique because some would argue it’s very fitting for this type of thriller, as jumpiness and the sense of a rush can add to the adrenaline feeling of reading this genre of book… But for me, it was a little disappointing.

Needless to say, I think this plot will make a fantastic movie although I’m a little disappointed that they’ve swapped the location from the UK to the USA…!

I’ve seen a lot of people compare this with ‘Gone Girl’ and I think it’s wrong to do that… yes it’s in the same genre BUT there are also thousands of other books that are too. I’m all for comparing a book if I think the plot is extremely similar but I don’t believe this is the case with these two. I think linking this book to ‘Gone Girl’ is a discredit to both books, this book can stand on its own and become a success or a failure in its own right.

What did you all think of it? I’d love to know if you think I’m being to cynical of this book!

Until next time, Chloé x