The girl on the train – Paula Hawkins

Summary
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?

Comments
A book that really polarised our group, many finding it hard to empathise with the characters, however I found it simultaneously dark, depressing comedic. The central character seems hopeless, weak and an untrustworthy narrator. But once the other
characters start to reveal more of themselves it appears we can all be untrustworthy and flawed.

Read by – Reading Rocks Book Club