Book Review: The Girl on the Train

It is the book that everyone is talking about. It became a bestseller pretty much as soon as it hit shelves earlier this year. It has been heralded as “the next Gone Girl.” I knew I had to pick it up.

The Girl on the Train is the newest bestselling psychological thriller. The story pivots around Rachel, a witness to (or perhaps a key player in) a murder. Unfortunately, due to the utter breakdown of her life, this murder happened while she was in a drunken stupor, and the whole incident is completely blacked out of her memory. Still, she is certain she is connected to it. Or maybe, she just desires to be connected to something so Rachel inserts herself into the investigation and the life of the surviving spouse.

Paula Hawkins wrote a great debut thriller! The Girl on the Train had me hooked, if not from the first pages then definitely a few chapters in. I especially didn’t want to put the book down once I got midway through the novel. It is a whodunnit that I thought I had figured out, but I really didn’t. I was second guessing characters and fell for characters that I shouldn’t have. As the novel wrapped up, I found myself seriously being affected by the awfulness of at least one character. I was clearly emotionally invested in the story.

Is The Girl on the Train “this year’s Gone Girl“? Maybe. It definitely has you questioning everything you think you know throughout the whole read and has deservedly become a widely read and popular book. But Gone Girl actually seems to leave readers feeling a little ambivalent, unsure if they liked the book (or the ending). I think The Girl on the Train is likely to leave readers feeling more satisfied.

The Girl on the Train is a four star read for me. It is definitely awesome. It won’t make my list of all time favourites, but that just might be because this genre doesn’t speak to me as highly as some others do.

Have you read The Girl on the Train yet? If not, how come? Everyone’s doing it!

Moms Reading (or, #MomsReading) is a book club designed for busy Moms in mind. It is an online book club that meets once a month on Facebook to discuss that month’s book. Check out the MomsReading page, Like us on Facebook, or join the Goodreads group to keep up to date with our book choices and the book chats.

April’s book club meets Wednesday night, April 29th when we’ll be discussing The Girl on the Train. Tune in and join the discussion at 9pm Eastern on Facebook. If you can’t join us in April, then start reading our May book! We will be reading The One That Got Away by Simon Wood. The discussion will take place on Wednesday, May 27th at 9pm Eastern.

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