The Girl on the Train

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Hawkins, Paula, Adult Book / Fiction / Thriller / General / Hawkins, Paula
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Hawkins, Paula	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Hawkins, Paula	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Thriller / General / Hawkins, Paula	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Thriller / General / Hawkins, Paula	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Thriller / General / Hawkins, Paula	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Thriller / General / Hawkins, Paula	4-week checkout	Due 04-27-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Thriller / General / Hawkins, Paula	4-week checkout	Due 05-19-2024
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Thriller / General / Hawkins, Paula	4-week checkout	Due 05-04-2024

"A novel"--Cover.
After witnessing something shocking, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Gripping submitted by eapearce on March 30, 2015, 4:46pm This mystery is thrilling and devastating. Narrator Rachel is an alcoholic who is close to rock bottom. Having lost her job, she continues to take the train into London every morning at the usual time to avoid telling her roommate about her job loss. As the train chugs along, Rahcel stares at the house where she lived with her ex-husband, who now lives there with his new wife and their child. Rachel also admires the lives of a young couple living nearby, whom she imagines to have a perfect life. When she witnesses an event that explodes these visions, she is unexpectedly thrown into a missing person's case. Readers know from the beginning that Rachel is unreliable, and I thought that her inconsistent narration would annoy me, but it never did. I found myself wanting her to remember key events as much as she does, though clouds of alcohol and hangovers obscure many of the most important parts of her life. The outcome of this psychological thriller really shocked me. It was not until the last fifty pages that I even began to get an incline of what might have truly transpired. The final scenes are exciting, horrifying and suspenseful. Fans of Gone Girl must give this book a shot!

Compelling, Unlikeable Characters submitted by sdunav on June 12, 2015, 2:18pm Immensely popular right now - and I think you're likely to like this if you enjoyed "Gone Girl". There are several unreliable narrators, alcoholism and unfaithful marriages, and a possible murder, all centered around an English neighborhood near a commuter train line.

It took me a while to get into it, and sometimes the time shifts confused me (I had it from the library on my kindle, and it is a little harder to flip back to a previous chapter to check on the dates to understand what's going on with an e-reader), but in the end it was pretty compelling.

contrived submitted by monkk on June 12, 2015, 3:38pm I didn't like this book, and I liked Gone Girl. I didn't feel like any of the things that happened in this book could happen in real life, and I absolutely hated every single character. Still, I had to finish it to find out what ultimately happens. I found the ended to be predictable and disappointing.

good read submitted by lawrencekl57 on June 12, 2015, 8:22pm This book, for me, got off to a really slow start. A couple of friends told me to keep reading, and I'm glad that I did! About halfway through, I couldn't put it down.

OK submitted by leenajong on June 26, 2015, 1:07pm I think it just ok to read. Not as good as other mystery books that I had recently read like husband secrets.

Overrated submitted by emjane on July 1, 2015, 5:45pm Perhaps because it was compared to Gone Girl when it was recommended to me, I may have come into this with too high expectations. The storyline is moderately predictable, and the writing is unimpressive.

not great at all... submitted by bookher on July 28, 2015, 3:58pm Well, it's obvious that this author was jumping on the Gone Girl theme but in my opinion seemed to be trying to hard to copy a writing style instead of coming up w/a great story/mystery. If you enjoyed Gone Girl, you may or may not like this one depending on why you liked Gone Girl.

Nail Biter submitted by jenduman on August 3, 2015, 11:06pm I couldn't put this book down, I liked it even more than Gone Girl.

Disappointing submitted by Karen Caldwell on August 6, 2015, 1:10pm If I had read this before Gone Girl, I might have given it a higher review. The plot feels a little rough and less sophisticated than Gone Girl.

Gone Girl ?? submitted by johnbiancke on August 12, 2015, 3:40pm Readers keep comparing this book to Gone Girl. I don't' think that at all. The crafting of the journal-style narrative gets riveting after about 100 pages - you won't want to put it down. The ending is perfect.

OK submitted by smgop on August 23, 2015, 7:14pm This was more highly touted than what it delivers.

Over hyped submitted by steveiew on June 22, 2016, 9:07pm I read this book to see what all the hype was about and I was incredibly disappointed. I was annoyed with every single character in the story and only read through the whole thing because I wanted to see what happened. There are much better Thrillers out there.

Don't Read Overly Detailed Reviews submitted by unikitty92 on June 23, 2016, 6:19pm This is a great story that I would recommend to all thriller fans. I put off reading this book for a long time because the vague description didn't immediately demand my attention, but, like many mysteries, it is best to go into this book with as little information as possible. The Girl on the Train features a lot of lies and unreliability from the characters, and Hawkins does a fantastic job at strategically providing the reader with new information from different characters throughout the novel. She also does a great job at showcasing the brokenness of each character, leaving the reader constantly questioning who they are really rooting for. I did not want to put this book down, and I can't wait to see the movie.

Work to read submitted by kferguson on August 20, 2016, 6:56pm I di d not find it very compelling

Waste of time submitted by samanthar on October 14, 2016, 8:46am Rating this book 2 stars is being generous. I can't understand why it is so immensely popular. There is nothing impressive about the writing, nothing suspenseful or mysterious about the plot. The characters are vapid and I didn't care for a single one of them. Don't waste your time on this one. Side note: I absolutely loved Gone Girl, which is easily one of my favorite thrillers. Comparing The Girl on the Train to Gone Girl is just insulting.

Gripping, Unreliable Narration submitted by Meginator on June 29, 2017, 10:07pm I was surprised by how good this book was when I finally got around to reading it. Unreliable narration is incredibly difficult to pull off, and Hawkins does it about as well as anyone. She also makes her characters strangely sympathetic even as they're making questionable decisions (probably an understatement); how she accomplishes this, I have no idea. I did see the twist coming (I figured out the culprit relatively quickly) and the climax was somewhat disappointing, yet I always wanted to forge ahead, to see how everything would unspool. I can understand why this book is so massively popular, and appreciate the craft in it. This is a good thriller that will stick with you.

Twists and Turns submitted by ekharris on August 8, 2018, 10:50am This book was entertaining because each time I thought I had it figured out, the story would twist in a new direction. It can be a bit slow at times. The protagonist is not necessarily someone you would admire. I find it very interesting when an author makes the protagonist a bit hard to like.

overrated submitted by zora on July 18, 2019, 10:56pm This book is not all that it is made out to be. I don’t think that this is a book that deserves all the praise that it gets. I think there are other books out there that are way better at completing an intense thriller. I honestly wound not waste my time.

Good Read submitted by indhusuresh on July 22, 2019, 5:31pm Overall good to read. Not overratted

Great submitted by TLW1998 on July 28, 2019, 11:22pm Good suspenseful mystery

Title submitted by Clown81 on August 31, 2019, 3:18am Train.

Page turner, but otherwise not brilliant submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 17, 2020, 8:51pm This gets 3 stars for me for being a page-turner… it’s definitely written in a way that kept me wanting to know what would happen. And yet… the more I think about it (and I do think this was true even as I was reading it), the story itself wasn’t that strong. There were an inordinate number of coincidences. Presumptions were made that were glossed over because the reader was expected to be so drawn in that we weren’t supposed to notice or care. Was there any notable man who was decent, or were men painted as awful with a really broad brush? And the ending was totally predictable by the time we got there. So, overall not a favorite.

Not my Favorite submitted by gemr310 on July 1, 2021, 1:56pm Meh. I felt it was too long. I'd say maybe save your time and watch the movie

Good read submitted by kitkat_l on June 11, 2022, 6:46pm A good mystery and suspense novel overall! Adequately suspenseful—I enjoyed it.

Woof submitted by courtneyhooper on August 13, 2022, 12:11am So corny