Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller “The Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl. . . . [It] is liable to draw a large, bedazzled readership.”—The New York Times “Like its train, the story blasts through the stagnation of these lives in suburban London and the reader cannot help but turn pages.”—The Boston Globe “Gone Girl fans will devour this … pages.”—The Boston Globe
“Gone Girl fans will devour this psychological thriller.”—People
A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives.
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?
Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.
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For readers who like to go deep into characters’ inner workings. Hawkins creates compelling suspense, plants small clues that add up to big stories, and creates totally believable, entirely human characters who hide their flaws from themselves while they reveal them to readers. In this book, character IS plot, enhanced by the use of 3 first-person …
Sometimes I have difficulty being pulled into a book, and set it aside. Not this book! This book pulled me into the characters and the story right from the very beginning. I settled in with my kindle, and let my world fall away from me to the very last page.
Quite a ride on this one. Thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the writing of it. Recommend and best read while sitting curled up at home…not on a train.
NOW I understand what all the hoopla is about! Author Paula Hawkins didn’t write a single chapter without a hook to draw the reader in, and a cliffhanger to make them keep going — “just one more chapter” I kept telling myself. And every time I thought I had a firm grasp on where the story was going, I realized I didn’t. With twists at every turn …
The story we follow in ‘The Girl on the Train’ is so intriguing. I would recommend this book to any reader looking for a good read. Also, be sure to read it before it hits theaters, because the book is always better 🙂
Flew through the end of the last book I was reading so I could start The Girl on the Train. I started it this past Friday as I was getting the T home (fitting, right?), and didn’t stop reading until I finished it at 2 am. Like Gone Girl, I was late to the game on this one. This book has been SO HYPED yet I never felt much like picking it up.
I’m …
Great read with many twists and turns. A book you can’t put down.
Seeing the trailer for the movie reminded me of how much I liked this book. I love unreliable narrators, and I thought it was cool to see how a main character like Rachel was unreliable, vs a more devious character like (SPOILER ALERT) Amy Dunne from Gone Girl.
Finally got on board with this book — it was a fun, fast read, but not necessarily anything to rave about. I enjoyed the unreliable narrators (definite Gone Girl vibes happening with Megan and Scott), but in general, I found the characters and plot lines just a little too unbelievable for my taste.
Also, Emily Blunt is definitely not who I …
This book was a real pageturner, the characters were well developed, and unpredictable in the storyline. I couldn’t wait to see what happens next.
I loved the unreliable narrator aspect to this story, as the main character doesn’t remember her day to day life well at all. I also loved how the characters are revealed over time displaying the idealized assumptions one has when first meeting someone and how that plays out as we get to know them. An engaging page-turner.
This book definitely took me out of my comfort zone. At the start I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue reading, but the author draws you in and soon you can’t put the book down! I felt like I was in a maze and it has quite a surprise ending. Definitely a five star!
I’ve had my eye on this book for quite some time. I finally decided to head down to my local library to check it out.
This story follows the main character, Rachel. Rachel is a divorced alcoholic who endures blackouts due to her excessive drinking. She clings onto the life she once shared with her ex-husband, and how he’s now remarried and has a …
Awesome book, it truly truly is worth the money and time!
I must say I did not want to read this book, many people I talked to did not like it. It was chosen for my book club so I read it. I was ended up enjoying it for the most part. Some parts of the book were slow and the main character annoying at times but in the end I could not put it down. I could not figure out who was good and who was bad I kept …
This was serious and mysterious. After I started, I knew I had to read to the end to find out what happened!
Rachel rides the train every past suburban tracts every day. There’s one house along the tracks occupied by a young couple. From the brief glimpses of their lives as the train rumbles by, Rachel forms an impression of their lives and the kind of people they are. And then, one day, she sees something different, disturbing that changes her …
You never know what is going to happen. Disturbing portrayal of alcoholism and the skewed way it makes one think. Distorted and tragic, yet compelling.
Kept my interest, page-turning, poignant portrayal of how alcohol can affect a person’s life, as well as gaslighting. Scary and well-written.
A very good book but one that not everyone would like. It opens up issues inside your own psyche that can be uncomfortable to revisit. Personally, I like books that throw me from one place to another, but I know from experience that many readers prefer a straightforward A-Z novel with little in the way of thought having to be applied.
If you like …