BOOK REVIEW: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Thrillers are not my favorite mystery genre, but I thought since this book had garnered so much acclaim, and a major motion picture, that the book would be different. You know, it would be a biting of your thumbnails type of page-turner, especially after seeing the advertisements for the movie.

I was wrong. So, so wrong.

The premise is interesting: a woman, Rachel, who is down on her luck, watches the houses she passes while riding the train to London everyday, while making up stories about the occupants of the homes. However, one day Rachel sees something that doesn't fit with what she thinks is going on with the family. Events happen, and Rachel finds herself in the middle of a missing person mystery.

Part of my dislike of the book was due to the unlikable characters. Rachel Watson and Anna Watson were much the same characters, one an ex-wife, the other a wife of Tom Watson. At times it was hard to distinguish their voices, then again, that might have been a trick to lure the reader into complacency. The problem, though, was that I didn't like Rachel or Anna. I didn't feel compelled to care about either side of the story. In fact, at times I wanted Rachel to torture Anna more so that I would have a valid reason to dislike her.

Jess/Megan Hipwell, the woman Rachel had watched from the train, was such a turn-off of a character for me that at the end, I didn't care anymore who was behind her disappearance. Don't even get me started on her husband, either. Predictable characters, and predictable plot.

I had been debating about placing a review about this book on my site or not, but then I realized that not every book is going to be great, and that what I don't like, someone else might. So, read my comments with an open mind.

WHAT I LIKED: The premise was well thought out, and had a lot of potential. I did like Detective Gaskill, and even Cathy. They both seem to want to help people.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The characters. Not one character was likeable for me, which made the reading slow. I had a stomach bug over the weekend, and wanted to lose myself in the characters, but I couldn't. The protagonist is a whiny alcoholic, who continually complains about her life, but refuses to do anything about it, except lie and mess up her life more.

The ending was predictable as well. I figured it out halfway through the novel, and because the novel was moving so slow, I kept hoping I was wrong, or that I had read something wrong (I was debating about finishing the novel or not, so I read the ending to see if I wanted to see it though. I decided to because I wanted to see if other characters made a dynamic change). But, I wasn't. However, I do want to point out that the last 20 pages went fast, because there was action going on in the plot. This bumped my rating up by one star.

Rated:2 Stars

I think I learned my lesson on thrillers.

NOTE: This review is also posted on Goodreads. Additionally, I bought and paid for the book on my own, and did not receive any compensation for this review.