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My reviews
won’t ever be in-depth literary critiques, but I’ll let you know my general
thoughts on the books I read, without giving away the story. Reading is a
de-stressor for me so I don’t want to get too analytical about it.
Summary: Touted by Book Page as “The Next
Gone Girl,” I was really looking forward to reading this book. The book follows
Rachel, who is struggling with alcohol issues, as she tries to solve the murder
of a woman, Megan, she does not know but saw everyday as she passed by Megan’s
house on her train ride into London. Rachel is viewed as an “unreliable
witness” to the murder because of her alcoholism and possible mental health
issues. Rachel inserts herself into the case, nonetheless. This is very
disturbing to her ex-husband (Tom) and his new wife (Anna) and baby who live on
the same street as Megan and her husband, Scott. Rachel has a history of
harassing her ex-husband (Tom) so they don’t appreciate her hanging around the
neighborhood. As the book unfolds, we learn how the characters’ lives
intertwine.
Assessment: All the characters in this book are
a little “off,” but not blatantly so like in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. A lot of the time it is hard
to know what is happening (because Rachel blacks out) so it doesn’t have the
hooky, vindictive brilliance of Gone Girl.
Side note: If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend doing so but since I
don’t want this to turn into a comparison of The Girl on the Train and Gone
Girl, let’s move on…
It was hard
for me to empathize with any of the characters because so much of who they are
remained hidden throughout the book or the character wasn’t explored in-depth.
The storyline was fine, but it wasn’t a story that hadn’t been written before
and it was pretty predictable. It was a bit repetitive in the beginning and
there were a lot of extraneous side notes that just muddled the story, in my
opinion. The narrative was hard to follow at times because of the British-isms—British
expressions are different than American ones so I had to use context clues to
figure out the meaning. That being said, it might not sound like it but I still
liked the book. I thought the main character, Rachel, was interesting and most
people enjoy a murder mystery. You are also constantly wondering if Megan’s
death will be Rachel’s salvation or unraveling.
Rating and Recommendation: I would give this book 3 out of 5
stars. I think it’s worth the read; since it’s getting a lot of (in my opinion,
somewhat undeserving) hype so you may want to be it to be in the loop. It was a
quick read.
What I’m Currently Reading: I’ll be starting Unhinged, the second book in the Splintered Series, by A.G. Howard soon.
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