Review: The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've had this on my "to read" list since the start of the year, and finally got a chance to give it a read! I'm glad I did!

Rachel is a basketcase, pure and simple. She's an alcoholic, divorced, and obsessed with her ex. She's lost her job, but continues riding the train into the big city every day, just to make it seem like she's not a jobless loser. Every day, she watches her old home, and the neighbours, fabricating the perfect life for them in her mind.

Anna is the new wife, and thinks she's queen of the universe, loving her life, her husband (that she got by running around with her husband when he was with Rachel) and their little girl.

Then there's Megan, whose life seems great, almost as good as Rachel's imagined life for her. Nothing is ever as good as it looks like from the outside though.

Megan turns up murdered, while cheating on her husband with her therapist. Rachel, wanting for feel important, pushes herself into the mystery, wanting to help, but mostly getting in the way. Anna gets more and more angry at the sight of the ex, invading her space.

The book switches from woman to woman, from present to past, which can get a bit confusing at times, but that was my only complaint.

I loved the mystery, as well as the writing. I truly hated Rachel though, but I think this was the writer's intent. She was pitiful and annoying, the sort of person that if I were Anna, I'd also want her to get away from me!

There are plenty of twists and turns, with not everything as it seems at any given point. Totally worth taking a few hours to read straight through, if you can get the time!

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