The Girl on the Train: A Novel

This book was on my "must listen" list because I actually take the 8AM train into work each day. Like "Rear Window", I can easily imagine looking into the windows and backyards while imagining what kind of life the occupants lead.

Three characters tell this story from their viewpoint. I am so glad that Audible chose three different narrators for Rachel, Anne and Meghan. It made this story much easier to follow when each scene changed. Like "Good Girl" none of these characters are candidates for citizen of the year. In addition, can you rely on their viewpoint? Rachel's life is a drunken shambles, Anne is the "other woman" and Meghan goes missing and we are not sure why.

This is a twisty, well plotted mystery that will keep you riveted and guessing to the very end. Occasionally, I listened to a chapter again and continued to make links with other information I learned. Listen carefully and you will be rewarded. This book will be a huge success. Enjoy!

Just exactly who the "crazy" person is in this story was the puzzle from the beginning! Was what was being said "real" or a "dream" or "a mix of imagination and reality?" And wow! It just kept getting better. . . and in the end, I was still wondering who was crazed, who was the killer, who was the victim, who was the truth teller! Can't beat that for an exciting listen.

The narration was excellent, with great voices for all the characters imparted by the various performers. All were easy to listen to and added much to the depth of the characters.

The story itself defies much reviewing since most statements would be a giveaway to the plot. It is good. Very good.

From the onslaught of pre-release reviews for this book I was very prepared for the *unreliable narrator,* that tricky little beastie that requires the reader to stay on their toes, but, when our girl Rachel settles onto the train and pops her canned gin and tonic for breakfast, I knew we were in for one helluva ride. In what has been called an *amnesia thriller,* been compared to Hitchcock's Rear Window, and tacked with the ubiquitous "the next Gone Girl" tagline (when will that stop?) author Hawkins gives us one of those always entertaining train-ride thrillers told from the pov of 3 female narrators -- one of whoms story is ala Mary Alice Young in Desperate Housewives, from the grave. Their connection...a man, a neighborhood, and a fateful event.

Not much should be said about the story because it relies heavily on slowly revealing a little more with each clickety-clak of the rails. I'd suggest just settling in and riding along as sad, overweight, unemployed, newly divorced, and barren Rachel rides the train and peers into a certain yard/window of a house that borders the tracks along her journey. Looking out the window of the train at that house, she projects everything she wished for onto a certain willowy blonde she names *Jess,* and her husband. Rachel used to live in the same neighborhood -- now her ex lives in the home with his new wife and baby girl.

Hawkins dishes out the information with a controlling hand, and might rely a little too much on this tactic to keep a sense of tension when more information, fleshing out the characters a little more, could have given the story more psychological depth -- she certainly has created characters with the underpinnings of a great psychological thriller and shows talent as a writer. Maybe I've seen too much Hitchcock, read too many Flynn novels; I didn't find the story really thrilling or mysterious, but that's OK -- it was fun and entertaining, and I flew through it enjoying every minute. I have to say it is a much lighter read than that GG novel (except for the issue of alcoholism, which is especially dark here).

The narrators did a good job keeping the novel moving and interpreting the characters and make this all the more enticing.

I am in the minority not liking this book. I felt like I slogged thru every word. There was no sense of suspense, the women were all needy, brainless, self indulgent dimwits. I didn't like a single person, nothing to admire or relate to, unless you commit adultery or are a drunk.
Wasted credit - more important: I squandered time I can never recover.

I understand this is the first book for the author and she did manage to come up with a different idea for the book. It is interesting that I find myself able to observe this book in the manner I think the author had intended and find the author’s approach to the book interesting. As a reader, I did not feel the book pulled me in nor did I become involved in the story; I stayed an observer of the story. I am not sure why I could not become involved in the story but I am sure it’s me, not the author’s fault.

The girl on the train is Rachel. She is divorced, an alcoholic, and unemployed. Her daily commute into London on the commuter train is a sham. The train passes through the neighborhood where her ex-husband lives with his new wife Anna.

One day Rachel sees a glamorous young couple in a house a few doors from Anna’s home. She creates a fantasy about them to help compensate for her own life. One day she sees something. Megan is the young women she is fantasizing about. The question the reader needs to solve, is did she really see what she thought she saw or was it an alcoholic hallucination or was she so drunk she confused what she saw.

The book is well written and ingeniously constructed. The first person narration goes between the three main female characters Rachel, Anna and Megan. The book uses three different women narrators to enhance the effect; they are Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey and India Fisher.

The portrait of Rachel as a chronic drunk who just might save herself by playing detective is intriguing. The ending had a twist which could catch one off guard. The book dragged at times but the suspense kept me reading. The book did have some profanity which I was not aware from other book reviews or from the publisher. I normally avoid books with profanity. Otherwise I found the book quite interesting and a nice break from reading non-fiction.

ONE of the characters in this complex thriller is a master manipulator--which one is it?

There are so many suspects here--and seemingly everyone has something to hide--starting with the main character, Rachel, who talks in her own head in a whispery voice throughout most of the book. If there weren't two other narrators to break up the monotone of Rachel, it could have become tiresome. However, the three narrators work very well together and serve to keep us clear on who is talking.

I think it fell short of the fabulous Gone Girl--but really you can't compare a best seller from a seasoned author with a debut novel and do either of them justice. This novel kept me listening straight through--it has plenty of twists and enough suspense to keep the iPod running.

There were a few times I thought a reasonable person would not have done what one of the characters did - but thinking about the particular situation, I had to admit that perhaps that was exactly what someone would do when faced with that kind of stress. I like the novel for those kind of deeply relatable actions--one of which nearly brought me to tears. I won't say more so as not to ruin the enjoyment others will have when listening to this novel.

Recommended!

Came off of a Gillian Flynn kick, having started with Gone Girl, then Dark Places and finally Sharp Objects. All of which were compulsive listens, the kind where you don't want to quit even though the commute is over. Even Sharp Objects, which was the lesser of the three, had people real enough (damaged, mean, yet somehow sympathetic all the same), and drama that grew organically from the characters and their relationships.

So I was excited, and perhaps expecting a bit too much, when Girl On the Train came up as an Amazon recommendation after checking to see what others had purchased based on the Gillian Flynn books (lots of the reviews touted this as the next Gone Girl).

The only thing it had in common with Gone Girl was the first person narrators and the close narrative distance (and the unlikable characters -- though Fylnn's characters, despite being unlikable are sympathetic and honest enough to identify with).

Differences were many. All the characters in Gone Girl were honest and true (to their motivations anyway). The characters in The Girl On the Train weren't true to anything. They didn't even know what they wanted. They were all clueless, wandering, adulterating, unlikable people.

The mystery was a non-mystery. The missing girl is one of our first person narrators, expounding about what happened half a step behind the 'sleuths' trying to figure it out. And if she'd been honest with the audience, meaning had she thought out loud (first person narrative) all the truth, we'd have suspected the actual perpetrator in the first third (at least) of the book and this thing wouldn't have had the feet to move passed 100 pages. Instead the author hid behind the assumed honesty that comes with a first person narrative, and the big 'twist' came in the end when we learn that two of the main characters knew that there was another person who was the most likely of suspects.

The cops are minor characters in this one, beat out by an armchair detective who is a blackout drunk; unemployed but so insecure as to take the train everyday so her flat-mate doesn't suspect she's unemployed and can't make rent (never mind that commuting each day, and drinking in London -- which is what she does most days -- would cost probably as much, or more, than her rent does). But she one-ups the coppers time and again.

All the characters, and their motivations (non-motivations) are pretty much forced; meaning this thing bends characters to a desired, poorly planned plot.

The thing this novel didn't achieve (for me anyway), that Gone Girl did was a reason to care. I never did care about any of the characters. Rachel was sympathetic in the beginning but she lost credibility pretty quickly, and not for simply being a down and out drunk, but because she was so totally lost, with no conviction whatsoever. It made riding first person with her difficult. Self-doubt is an inherent human condition which everyone experiences at one time or another, and so it's a true way to the readers heart (if it's honest). Rachel has an overabundance of self-doubt, but she also experiences (at least as many) episodes of self confidence when there should be no confidence at all. She becomes tiring in her unreality very quickly.

It started out promising, but went downhill pretty quickly. I'd have given up on this one in the first two hours if it weren't for all the glowing reviews. I stuck it out, and I was disappointed. I think if I'd listened to this without any expectations I'd have been more forgiving.

The ending was was insanely preposterous. SPOILER ALERT: Two ex-wives sitting around with a murderer as he scooby-doos his confession and motivation (which was heretofore missing) while drinking tea. Huh?!?!

On a plus side, the narrators were great, especially Louise Brealey who, with her ability, gave the character more character than was actually written there.

The idea was grand, and tantalizing, but this novel didn't deliver.

This is NOT Gone Girl. Marketing trickery. Not clever. Instead of real detective fiction the reader is dragged along by an alcoholic with a bad memory. The 1st person diary device doesn't make much sense. The voice actors were seemingly directed to approach their characters and delivery with enui and confusion. I barely cared of I finished. But that is what I get for believing this to be as good as Gone Girl. Not worth the effort.

As a independent female, I don't have much tolerance for women who make choices for themselves that are detrimental to themselves and their moral makeup. This book is full of women who I would not respect!

This book is a great listen. Told from the viewpoint of three main characters it is part mystery and part Brigitte Jones. The chance of viewpoint changes rapidly and with most books with a single narrator would lead to confusion. Here, there are three narrators each dedicated to the three main characters. The three voices are different enough and story written so you can keep track of the changes. There is a relationship between the three women that you can not quite get your head around. You suspect there is something more which you eventually discover by the end of the book. It makes for a suspenseful listen with a very seamless ending. Normally authors create a surprise by adding some previously unknown element at the end, effectively cheating. Not here. You will say, " I should have seen that coming"