Rachel used to live in the same neighborhood - now her ex lives in the home with his new wife and baby girl. 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. 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. 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. Their connection.a man, a neighborhood, and a fateful event. 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. Not recommended.įrom 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. Or, adolescent angst from supposedly mature people. Maybe it’s just clever marketing … but The Girl on the Train has created an amazing, albeit completely puzzling, buzz.

Frankly, the fact that this story is a mega-hit and has hogged the best-seller list for months and months is beyond me, but it’s the reason I finally succumbed. In my opinion, the story should have been several hours (pages) shorter. The lead character, Rachael, is a ridiculously self absorbed alcoholic who has memory black-outs, witnesses what she believes is wrong do-ing, and is obsessed with her ex-husband. All of the characters are so into their own self analyzing angst, including the supposed victim of a crime … it’s maddening. With regard to the audiobook … The Girl on the Train is narrated by several female readers, which is fine … but, they basically sound alike … they all emote a lot. Reviews are from 1 to 5 stars, opinions are varied.

So … if you need synopsis of detail, you’ll have no trouble finding. There are literally thousands of reviews of this book on Amazon and Goodreads.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins