The girl on the train, by Paula Hawkins

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.5)

This was an interesting read, so much so that I finished the book in a day.
It's told from the perspective of three different women, Rachel (the first character we are introduced to, and the girl on the train), Megan and Anna.
It's a mystery crime book, a whodunnit. 
I would have given it five stars if not for the fact that at times the story is a bit slow paced and the plot a bit messy, the characters aren't all that lovable (then again,  they're not supposed to be) and the plot can be a bit predictable, but overall it was a captivating read.

I recommend you go in blindly, it will be more enjoyable that way, for those of you who have read the book, the following are my thoughts on it:



!Spoiler alert!


Rachel: she was hot mess! The first character we are introduced to and already it's pretty obvious that she is unreliable (lying within the first few pages, and of course, the fact that she's a drunk and has constant blackouts), at times I felt sorry for her, other times she just annoyed me with her stupidity (why all the lies?, did she think she wouldn't get caught?).
She's also very needy and immediately attracted to every guy she interacts with in the book, and of course, it clouds her judgement.

Overall, however, you can tell she is/wants to be a good/better person, she never wants to hurt anyone and cares about others and their feelings. 
She was the most likable character in the book, I think that says it all.

She was Tom's wife before he cheated on her with Anna, they are already divorced, when the book begins Tom is married to Anna.

Anna: I hated her...
I hated her for many reasons, she's the mistress turned wife, she's arrogant, full of herself, uncaring, cold, manipulative and mean, her one good quality is that she's a good mom, she puts her kid above all else.

Megan: the deceased.
Megan was petty, had a bad temper and made stupid mistakes, she was to Anna, what Anna was to Rachel.
However, I actually don't dislike Megan, she was the only non annoying character that evolved in a realistic manner.
I felt for her when we found out her backstory and suddenly understood her temper, anxiousness and depression, I admired her for being scared but pulling through, it was all a slow process, making it more believable, it made me feel bad for her when she died.

Scott: Megan's husband.
Ugh... what to say about Scott...
He's caring at first, you can tell he loves Megan and is worried, he encourages her to go to the therapist.
All of my thoughts about Scott changed pretty quickly, I never thought he killed his wife, but now knew he had a bit of a temper with the way he interacted with Rachel, something which was set in stone when we find out about his last fight with his wife before she left the house.

The therapist (can't remember his name, honestly he's there more as a plot device than anything else):
unprofessional.
He should have warned Megan about what she was feeling, and how she was transferring her feelings onto him.

Tom: this bitch.
I freaking hate Tom, if you're reading this then you already know he's the killer.
He's the abusive ex husband of Rachel,
the abusive husband of Anna (emotionally, that crap with his parents and making her feel like she was becoming Rachel, which to her was awful, her reaction to being compared to Rachel made me hate her even more than I already did, which I didn't think was possible, but that's no excuse for his behavior towards her),
and the abusive boyfriend and killer of Megan.
He's not just physically abusive (if that wasn't bad enough), he's emotionally abusive to everyone!
You get the first hint of this when you hear about the Facebook thing, knowing that Rachel was depressed, knowing that the reason she turned to alcohol when they were married was because she couldn't get pregnant, he posted that for her to see, it was a direct message to her.
Just like he kept her around because it amused him, kept being nice to her after they divorced, made her feel like he still cared about her, made her think he was jealous, and then in the end made fun of her for falling for it, called her a dog and blamed her for Megan's death "if you hadn't come here I wouldn't have been agitated, I wouldn't have killed her" or something along those lines.
Ugh...

The ending:
the only thing in this book that I didn't predict was Anna's last action, I knew she would save Rachel, not for being a good person, but for the thought that Tom could and would eventually hurt her or their child to save his own skin, so she called the police.
What I didn't predict was that she would push the corkscrew in deeper to make sure he would die, did not see that one coming.

In conclusion:
This was a good, if at times aggravating, read that I think most mystery loving people will like.
This was also my first book review, so I hope I didn't butcher it.


Love, Mariana