A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives.
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?
A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by readers across markets and categories.
This book is EVERYWHERE at the moment and I have heard so many good things about it that I had to grab a copy and see for myself what it was about. After reading it I understand why everybody loves it and I just couldn't put it down!
Paula's writing grabbed me from the very beginning, it is infectious but so easy to follow, whilst keeping you on edge from beginning to end. I know this book is going to be made into a film but to me it felt like a film whilst reading it, the images of the characters, situations and surroundings were so vivid in my mind that it made it so much more than a book. The plot is so strong and the way Paula is able to deliver us three different points of view with such ease is brilliant.
Rachel—the girl on the train— is our main protagonist, she has lost her job, her husband, her dream house and spends her days going back and forward on the train in a drunken stupor. To escape her unwanted reality, she revels in a fantasy where two people live an idyllic life. Two strangers, whom she has named Jason and Jess, that she sees every day as she glimpses out of her window on the train. But one day, everything changes and she finds herself caught up in a chilling mystery where her past, present and fantasy worlds collide.
Paula's writing grabbed me from the very beginning, it is infectious but so easy to follow, whilst keeping you on edge from beginning to end. I know this book is going to be made into a film but to me it felt like a film whilst reading it, the images of the characters, situations and surroundings were so vivid in my mind that it made it so much more than a book. The plot is so strong and the way Paula is able to deliver us three different points of view with such ease is brilliant.
Rachel—the girl on the train— is our main protagonist, she has lost her job, her husband, her dream house and spends her days going back and forward on the train in a drunken stupor. To escape her unwanted reality, she revels in a fantasy where two people live an idyllic life. Two strangers, whom she has named Jason and Jess, that she sees every day as she glimpses out of her window on the train. But one day, everything changes and she finds herself caught up in a chilling mystery where her past, present and fantasy worlds collide.
I did like Rachel from very early on in the book, I think at first what you feel towards her is sympathy but as you read on you actually start to get behind her and want her to get herself together. She makes some horrible and stupid decisions but it is interesting to see how she deals with their consequences and how this changes her. I don't think she is somebody you would particularly like if she was a second character in a normal story, but I think the fact the we hear her side of everything makes us able to understand her reasons for drinking, and letting her life become the way it has.
Megan and Anna are our other protagonists, Megan, the real name for 'Jess' of 'Jason and Jess', the couple Rachel sees from the train. Megan is happily married to Scott, or that is how it would seem from Rachel's perspective. But in reality, Megan’s life is not what it seems, and chapter by chapter, we learn just how much her facade hides. Megan is the one we hear from the least with her narration but she is spoken about a lot from other peoples perspective's and whilst you are not supposed to like her and she does a lot of things to make you not, she does have some redeeming qualities and you feel for her and wish you could help, she is broken and is just looking for somebody to fix her.
Anna lives down the street from Megan, Anna just so happens to be the wife of Rachel’s ex husband Tom, who is living in the house he and Rachel bought.
I didn't like Anna at all, she was self centered, arrogant and all she seemed to think of was herself and how she thought all men wanted her. It wasn't until the very end that I started to feel for her, she seemed to start to show a different side to herself and you could see that there was a kind person underneath, but I still could not warm to her and always expected her to be plotting something.
As we get further through the novel we see that they are more than neighbours and strangers, their lives are connected in ways they could never imagine. I thought I had the mystery figured out half way through the book but then Paula adds a twist at the end that I did not see coming!
This is one of those books that will keep you up late at night, that you will reach for again and again and that won't leave your head for a long time. I would recommend this book to lovers of thriller and those that may want to see what all the fuss is about, this book deserves the fuss! You would never believe this was a debut novel due to the brilliance of the writing. I can't wait to see what comes next from Paula.
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