His Book Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (2015)

Why he read this book: Read/heard stories from NPR and Huffington Post about the positive buzz around the book

Would he recommend this book: Yes

His review: Gone Girl has many accomplishments–a well-written, popular mystery that became the hit book of the year. It also has become the barometer for other books focused on women, with a mystery, and the potential to be a popular pager-turner. Hawkin’s book’s appeal starts with the simple setup–a woman, Rachel, riding a train, wonders at the lives of the people in the homes she sees each day on her commute. For me, this setup was eerily familiar, as I had just started reading her book a day after departing (for a visit to Wales and the Cotswolds) from the station the woman describes.

We find, though, that Rachel is not just a curious commuter. The home and couple she fixates on live just down the road from her ex-husband and his new wife. When the woman that Rachel has been watching goes missing, Rachel is compelled to become involved–or perhaps she is already involved. Rachel is a alcoholic, and the resulting blackouts that drove the end of her marriage also find her with memories of being in the woman’s neighborhood, bloody, the same night the woman disappeared.

I don’t read many mysteries, as I don’t find the “whodunit” aspect particularly appealing. I assume its the least likely suspect, and am rarely surprised by the outcome. I had an inclination, about halfway through, of who did it, although I didn’t know the why (we in fact don’t know until the end if the woman is alive or dead). But I read this book quickly and with much enjoyment because of the characters that Hawkin’s creates. Hawkin’s weaves her story through the narratives of Rachel, the missing woman, and the new wife. It is as much a mystery as a character study of three women, looking for love, for redemption, or simply an excuse for the next drink.

This was an enjoyable novel, and worth reading.