I go back and forth on the first person narratives that are all the rage at the moment: Gone Girl, Where'd You Go Bernadette and now The Girl on the Train. I suppose, as said in a recent New York Times review but author Jean Hanff Korelitz, it helps if the narrator is likable or at least smart.
The Girl on the Train eponymous character is Rachel, who is at least unreliable and certainly at a very messy point in her life. She studies her old neighborhood and old life every day on her commute on the train. When a woman goes missing, Rachel seemingly finds purpose in the coincidence that she was drunk and stumbling around the neighborhood on the night of the woman's disappearance.
While I found Rachel pathetic and maddening, I did like the way the story unfolded. The other narrators are the wife of Rachel's ex-husband and the missing woman herself. Certainly the notion that no one knows another person entirely is on display in this thriller.
The book has already been optioned and certainly will be on a big or small screen very soon.
About the Author: Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before turning her hand to fiction. She lives in London. The Girl on the Train is her first thriller. It is being published all over the world and has been optioned by Dreamworks.
Same Shelf:
You Should Have Known
Jean Hanff Korelitz
