As new books go, the buzz
surrounding Paula Hawkins’s debut novel The
Girl on the Train was practically deafening. I was unable to get a review copy since it’s a
UK book, and there were hundreds of people ahead of me on the library’s waiting
list. But when my book club calls, I
must read, and when it finally arrived, I excitedly sat down to begin…
And I must say, I’m not
quite sure what all the buzz is about.
Hundreds of 5-star reviews can’t be wrong, but calling it the next Gone Girl is a bit of a stretch. For one, I loved GG and was fully engrossed
in Nick and Amy’s story. While this one
definitely had its share of suspense and I liked Hawkins’ writing style, I was
slightly let down by the ending.
The Girl on the Train is about – wait for it – a girl on a train. We’re speaking about Rachel, a woman who
rides the commuter every day, passing the same houses and seeing the same
people. But Rachel is definitely not all
she appears to be, and the reader is left disoriented throughout her story
(which involves periods she can’t remember), as well as
Megan’s, a woman who suddenly disappears. I really enjoyed the way Hawkins
interwove each character, all while muddling the readers’ perceptions of each
one.
I rapidly raced to the
finish, but this is another book that really didn’t surprise me. Hawkins leaves plenty of clues about what
really happened to Megan along the way, so by the time I got to the ending, it
was predictable. However, that doesn’t mean that getting there wasn’t a lot of
fun!
MY RATING – 3.5 (can’t
quite reach a 4, but above average enough not to get a 3)
