THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by PAULA HAWKINS

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

BY PAULA HAWKINS

THE BLURB:-

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens.

She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. Their life- as she sees it- is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking, and in one moment everything changes.

Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she's only watched from afar.

Now they'll see: she's much more than just the girl on the train...

THE REALITY:-

OMG! Wow! Christ on a bike and Christ on a cracker! This was some novel! I started reading it on the Thursday afternoon and had ploughed my way through 408 pages by Sunday morning, and the days in-between included working and a day out in Greenwich. This novel was extremely unputdownable and I raced through it in search of the conclusion. And, let me tell you, the perpetrator is not obvious until right at the end of the novel and the twists and turns as you frustratingly hope for Rachel to unlock the secrets of her mind not predictable in the least.

The character of Rachel is very sad. She is an alcoholic and is firmly in the grips of the disease. She's more than just a drinker (and, believe me, the analysis of this character made me question my own drinking habits) and has sank into a state where she's totally out of control and has really lost the plot. During the course of the novel, she has to reach back inside her head and gradually the pieces come together to form a startling discovery. But, throughout this journey, you want to reach in and shake her into getting herself some help- AA would be a good start. I do question how someone could allow a man to destroy them that much. We've all been hurt, but my motto- probably the best thing my parents ever taught me- has always been, 'Pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and start all over again.' That and, 'The best way to get over someone is to get under someone...' And for the latter to be possible you need to have retained some modicum of dignity.  The fact that she can't get pregnant by her husband doesn't mean that she can't get pregnant by another man.  I've always thought it blindingly obvious that some couple combinations are more compatible when it comes to conception (excuse the alliteration!)  But to find that out, Rachel needs to renew her hope and get out there and... well, having bloody sex would be a great start! C'mon now! 

Such a simple tale, in theory- that of someone witnessing something from a train that usurps everything they've been believing in their mind but, in this case, one extremely well played out. There are some highly interesting characters in this book and you learn- if you didn't know already- that not everything really is at it seems. And that's all I'm going to tell you. I'm not going to be dishing out spoiler alerts as this is one book you HAVE to read.

A winner- I don't think even I have read a novel this quickly before!