Things Aren't Always What They Seem

Jessie Young

The Girl on the Train

By Paula Hawkins

Where could she have gone? What happened to her? That’s what everyone is trying to find out. The police, her husband—Scott— and even Rachel, who started out as just a people watcher. But she’s much more important to the story now. Maybe even more than she thinks.

Rachel Watson is just a woman who takes the train to London every day, always watching the people of the house at the signal. Her ex-husband, Tom, lives on the same street as the house. In fact, he lives in the same house he lived in when he was married to Rachel. This is why she knows the area so well. This comes into play a little before Megan’s disappearance. Megan--the woman everyone’s been looking for-- has been a little mysterious lately; to Scott at least. She goes to the therapist a lot, which is the cause of many lies to Scott, making her one and only friend take the blame for her. But when she goes missing, Rachel gets worried that she played a role in it. Scott feels this way too, but about himself. This case is causing everyone to question everything they knew, not only about Megan but about themselves. “She’s...I don’t know. I don’t trust her.” (123). About halfway through the book, you can see how the two main characters and their lives come together. Rachel finds herself more and more in the town Megan lives in, on Megan's street. Their lives seem to collide almost, without them knowing it. eventually, Rachel finds herself searching for Megan when they really don't even know who each other are.

I very much recommend this book. It would definitely appeal to people who enjoy mystery books. I’m not a big fan of the mystery genre myself, but I still found myself intrigued and always wanting to know more when I was reading. I think that this is a novel that won’t waste your time, and you’d be glad that you read it. It covers themes such as: how your actions affect others and the importance of communication. Some characters spoke to me, like Megan, for example, who feels like she has nowhere to go with any of her feelings and sometimes feels like she just might explode, as is shown in an example on page 55 “sometimes, I don’t want to go anywhere, I think I’ll be happy if I never have to set foot outside the house again.” her feelings and actions seem to stand out to everyone else’s in the book. This is in ways such as the fact that when she wants things, she gets it, and there isn’t much given up for her. It’s relatable in a way that if you were mad or upset, Megan would be a good example of people’s irrational thoughts and actions at those times.

This book definitely had a strong first impression with me, for it starts out with a foreshadowing of everything it’s about. “There is a pile of clothing on the side of the train tracks” (1). The author also goes through the story in a way that we find out past events in the character’s lives as we move forward in time. I thought this approach was very interesting and made the book stronger and rich.