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The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
16,0311070303 (3.62)522
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. "Jess and Jason," she calls them. Their life -- as she sees it -- is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?… (more)
  1. 191
    Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson (fannyprice)
    fannyprice: Similarly unreliable, damaged women trying to reconstruct their lives.
  2. 172
    Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Anonymous user)
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    The Woman in the Window by Daniel Mallory (TAir)
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    Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes (melissarochelle)
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    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (James_Mourgos)
    James_Mourgos: Great murder mystery suspense from this famous Swedish author.
  6. 20
    The Widow by Fiona Barton (vancouverdeb)
    vancouverdeb: psychological suspense,various points of view, both feature a woman as the main character.
  7. 10
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    The Earthquake Bird by Susanna Jones (SonjaA)
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    In Fidelity by M. J. Rose (BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: In these fast-paced, compelling psychological suspense novels, love, obsession, infidelity, and violence are all closely linked. Both centering around one woman, In Fidelity has a larger cast of characters (a family), while The Girl on the Train suffers alone.… (more)
  11. 00
    The Missing World by Margot Livesey (vwinsloe)
  12. 00
    Losing You by Nicci French (BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: A beloved teenage daughter goes missing in Losing You, a stranger (of sorts) in The Girl on the Train. Despite this difference, these compelling psychological suspense novels, each set in England, offer a gripping, twisty story.
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» See also 522 mentions

English (1,019)  Dutch (14)  Spanish (11)  Italian (9)  French (4)  Catalan (4)  German (2)  Swedish (2)  Finnish (1)  Danish (1)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Indonesian (1)  All languages (1,069)
Showing 1-5 of 1019 (next | show all)
We follow the story of three women with very different lives.
Rachel is an alcoholic. She used to be a wife and she used to want children. Now she obsesses over the lives of the people she sees on her daily commute by train.
Anna is a mother. She has everything that Rachel has always wanted.
Megan is young, beautiful and energetic, but the only thing that she truly wants is to run away.

This is a very good thriller! I enjoyed that we only get to follow the story from the bits and pieces that Rachel can remember from her blackouts. She is such an awful character omg! I mean it's like that on purpose, you know, she's an addict, but at times you'd really like to close the book and stop reading about her whining all the time! Poor Rachel!
Anyway, great book and the ending is really really great! It's worth it! ( )
  Valebaby | May 10, 2023 |
Bit of a strange but very compelling book to read. ( )
  BrianJackson | Apr 29, 2023 |
I might be biased, since we watched that terrible Kristen Bell thing on Netflix, you know, the girl across the street from the girl in the window on the train with the blah blah blah. But anyway, yeah, since that was obviously partially if not totally influenced by this book, my lack of affection for that show definitely influenced this book since it kept making me recall it. Another issue that I had was that all the characters were terrible people, just horrible, and not one with a redeeming quality. I hated them all. I also felt it pretty predictable based on their terrible personality traits. I was waiting for a twist at the end to throw me off…but it never really happened. It was just what it was, and what it was, was bad… ( )
  MrMet | Apr 28, 2023 |
I had heard quite a few people talking about this novel, and while murder mysteries aren't usually my thing, when I saw it sitting in the employee recommendation section of my local bookstore I picked it up and I'm rather glad I did.

This is not one of those mass market mysteries, let me tell you. Between our unreliable narrators and a cast of equally damaged characters, you will find yourself tearing through the chapters trying to figure out who the bad guy is and your sympathies will flip flop from character to character. The only people I didn't really feel any sympathy towards was Anna and Rachel's ex husband because they show no remorse or empathy for their actions throughout the novel.

I blew through this one in less then 24 hours, so it wasn't a complicated or difficult read in terms of writing. Definitely a more commercial book, but still one that kept me on the edge of my seat. ( )
  muffinbutt1027 | Apr 26, 2023 |
I didn't like any of the flawed characters, but I couldn't resist finding out what trouble Rachel would bring upon herself. ( )
  RomyMc | Apr 16, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 1019 (next | show all)
"...a building, inescapable tension that Hawkins handles superbly, nibbling away at Rachel’s memories until we, like our sardonic, bitterly honest narrator, aren’t really sure we want to know what happened at all."
added by fannyprice | editThe Guardian, Alison Flood (Jan 19, 2015)
 
“The Girl on the Train” has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since “Gone Girl,” the book still entrenched on best-seller lists two and a half years after publication because nothing better has come along. “The Girl on the Train” has “Gone Girl”-type fun with unreliable spouses, too. Its author, Paula Hawkins, isn’t as clever or swift as Gillian Flynn, the author of “Gone Girl,” but she’s no slouch when it comes to trickery or malice. So “The Girl on the Train” is liable to draw a large, bedazzled readership too
added by rybie2 | editNew York Times, Janet Maslin (Jan 4, 2015)
 
Readers sometimes conflate the “likability” of characters with a compulsion to care about their fate, but with a protagonist so determined to behave illogically, self-destructively and frankly narcissistically (someone even refers to her as “Nancy Drew”), it’s tough to root for Rachel. She’s like the clueless heroine of a slasher film who opts to enter the decrepit, boarded-up house where all her friends have been murdered because she hears a mysterious sound through an upstairs window
 

» Add other authors (25 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Hawkins, Paulaprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Brealey, LouiseNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Corbett, ClareNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Crescentini, CarolinaLettoresecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fisher, IndiaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Göhler, ChristophÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lawrence, Vera Brodskysecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Manhood, SilasPhotographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Porteri, BarbaraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ward, ClaireCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
Dedication
For Kate
First words
She's buried beneath a silver birch tree down towards the old train tracks.
Quotations
The holes in your life are permanent. You have to grow around them, like tree roots around concrete; you mould yourself through the gaps.
All those plans I had—photography courses and cookery classes—when it comes down to it, they feel a bit pointless, as if I'm playing at real life instead of actually living it. I can't do this, I can't just be a wife. I don't understand how anyone does it—there is literally nothing to do but wait. Wait for a man to come home and love you. Either that or look around for something to distract you.
...let's be honest: women are still only valued for two things—their looks, and their role as mothers.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. "Jess and Jason," she calls them. Their life -- as she sees it -- is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

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Book description
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
Haiku summary
Fall-down drunk rides trains.
Witnesses murder? Maybe.
Needs to sober up.
(pickupsticks)

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