The Girl On The Train By Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train, the debut novel by British author Paula Hawkins, has sold in excess of 10 million copies worldwide. It is a 409-page psychological thriller novel that is so engrossing that I managed to finish it in one day.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The narrative is skilfully split between three women whose lives interlink tragically: Rachel, Megan and Anna. Hawkins has skilfully plaited together the stories of her three narrators, moving back and forth in time as she narrows in on one fateful – and forgotten, in Rachel’s case – night.

Rachel is a wreck who seeks solace in gin and wine and is reeling from the dissolution of her marriage to Tom, who left her for another woman Anna. Rachel’s drinking has caused her to lose her job and have frequent binges and blackouts. He is now married to, and has a daughter with, his former mistress Anna – a situation that fuels Rachel’s self-destructive tendencies, as it was her inability to conceive a child that sparked her alcoholism.

Concealing her unemployment from her flatmate, Rachel follows her old routine of taking the train to London every day. The journey takes Rachel along the backs of houses on the street where she used to live. Unable to look at number 23, her old home, where ex-husband Tom now lives with new wife Anna, she focuses instead on number 15. She has become obsessed with the beautiful young couple living there, whom she names Jess and Jason. Rachel looks out for the pair every day, daydreaming about their perfect lives. One day she sees Jess kissing a man other than her husband, and when she reads in the paper that “Jess” – who is really called Megan – has vanished, she decides to tip off the police. She is convinced that “Jason”, now the prime suspect – and really called Scott – would never harm his beloved wife.

Rachel, sure that Megan’s husband Scott is innocent, tells the police that she suspects Megan was having an affair. The police are reluctant to believe her as Rachel is prone to blackouts, irrationality and drunk dialling.

I won’t reveal too much about the plot of The Girl on the Train. It’s best for readers to dive in spoiler-free. The novel is perfectly paced, with the surprise-packed narratives hurtling toward a stunning climax. It kept me guessing until the very end.

This is a book to be devoured!