Review: The Girl on the Train

Title: The Girl on the Train
Author: Paula Hawkins

Publisher: Riverhead Books
Year published: 2015
How I got this book: From my parents on my birthday this year
My rating: 4,5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:
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 know 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?

My thoughts:
  I’ve never read a book like The Girl on the Train before. I can’t stop thinking about it. I heard a lot of great things about it before I even got it, but it totally lived up to my expectations. This review will not contain spoilers, but it is a book I would go into knowing as little as possible.

First of all, we have the main character, Rachel. I did not know what to think about her. I wanted to like her and feel for her, I really did, I just couldn’t. Every time I started to warm up to her, she did something to make me mad at her again. Still, I liked to read as Rachel. She was super interesting, and we never truly got to know her. I also loved the fact that she was completely unreliable, even though it made it frustrating at times.

The other characters were just as great and complex. I couldn’t decide who I liked more or less than any of the others. They all had so many sides to them, that you were bound to like something and hate something else. Throughout the book we learn more and more about each character, but you truly don’t understand anything until the very end.

We read from three perspectives in this book, Rachel, Megan and Anna. It was a bit confusing at first, because we don’t follos Rachel’s and Megan’s story at the same time. Megan’s story takes place before the Rachel’s, and I was confused by that in the beginning, but you get used to it. You just have to pay attention to the dates at the beginning of each chapter.

As I stated in the beginning, I really enjoyed this book. It took me a couple chapters to get into the story, but after that I finished it in one sitting. The story grabs you, and it refuses to let go until you’ve finished. It’s definitely a more mature book, but if you like thrillers this is definitely your cup of tea.

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