"Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins - Review

Not everyone likes crime fiction. But that really doesn't mean you can't read them. For those who don't like classic detective stories „Girl on the train“ by Paula Hawkins is very good to go.

In „Girl on the train“ we observe a crime from three perspectives: Annas, a overly happy wife who just got her first child, Megans, the victim, and Rachels. Rachel is divorced, living with her room mate for far longer already than originally planned, she is an alcoholic and already lost her job because of her addiction. The one thing she has besides that are the daily train rides from the suburbs to London. On those rides the train always stops for a moment at the exact same pace and she can see a house through the window with an obviously very happy couple living there. She calls them Jess and Jason and builds an illusion around who those people are that she is only watching from afar and that mean so much to her. Until, one day, Rachel sees something strange that really doesn't fit into that illusion, and just a bit after that a missing person report with a photo of Jess is published – except her name is Megan. Rachel wants to help, and doesn't only get tangled up in a net of lies she actually doesn't even have anything to do with, but she also has to deal with Anna and her husband, Rachels ex-husband, who live just a few blocks away from Jess and Jason and are not very fond of the drinking, miserable Rachel not just leaving them alone.

With „Girl on the train“, Paula Hawkins managed a brilliant debut that readers can't let go of. She shows an absolutely human quirk of big city residents – observing and de-humanizing others – and puts it into a thrilling, complex, thought-through story with a main character that you will pity and admire at the same time. Rachel is a wonderful anti-hero you just can't help to love despite her muffed life, and „Girl on the train“ is a book very fit for non-crime fiction readers and fans by Gillian Flynns „Gone Girl“.