Format: E-book
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Transworld Digital
Hero: NA
Heroine: Rachel
Sensuality: NA
Date of Publication: January 15, 2015
Started On: March 16, 2015
Finished On: March 24, 2015

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is one of those debut novels that has received rave reviews practically everywhere. This book first came to my attention through my sister, who is particularly choosy when it comes to reading. The next time happened to be when I walked into a bookstore here; I just had to pick it up from the prominent display right at the entrance and then I just had to get a copy after reading the blurb. Well, you know how that goes.

The Girl on the Train has an interesting premise, one that perhaps observant commuters who travel back and forth to work or anywhere for that matter, can relate to. Rachel is the woman who commutes to London to work everyday and back, a journey that takes almost an hour of her time in the mornings and evenings. What Rachel does to while away the time is to watch the view beyond the windows of the train. The one thing Rachel does focus on everyday is the couple that she has come to call Jess and Jason, a couple that she believes to be in love, a couple who has got it all, unlike her failed marriage to Tom, the man with whom she shared the house just a couple feet away from the house her Jess and Jason occupy.

When Rachel sees something she would rather not on one of those long commutes and it suddenly comes to light that the woman she has started calling Jess in her mind has gone missing, Rachel does the one thing any civic minded woman would do. She goes to the police to tell them of what she knows.

Thus starts a tale that keeps the reader guessing, that tells the story of a woman who continues to live her life as an alcohol addict, who has a difficult time letting go of the husband who had divorced her for another woman. Rachel finds herself in the midst of a circle of distrust, both from the police as well as the spouse of the woman that has gone missing. The rampant circle of distrust becomes more corrosive driven by the fact that Rachel has a hard time trusting her own memory when it comes to her alcohol riddled mind.

Ms. Paula Hawkins takes the reader through a journey of the impact of emotional and physical abuse, and how debilitating that the former as well as the latter can be when it comes the self confidence of a person. The truth emerges slowly and painfully, at least for Rachel and gives the reader a chance to delve deep into the psychology that drives Rachel to seek out what had actually happened the night “Jess” had disappeared.

While I had my finger on who the villain would turn out to be, The Girl on the Train nevertheless proved to be a story that kept the pages turning, because there is a quality to the voice of it all that is just compelling. While I am not one to stray into genres that do not contain any elements of romance in it, I found myself the least bit bothered with the lack of it because Paula Hawkins delivers a damn good story! Recommended!

Final Verdict: Makes for compulsive, addictive reading!

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