I don't normally read thrillers, but I'd heard good things and was excited to get reading this. It was one of those things where, after submitting a bunch of essays, I was decided that I WAS going to start a book for pleasure, even if it was a just a few pages a night! Finished it a few days ago.
Brief Summary: Rachel is a young women who turned to alcoholism when her marriage ended, but who still look longingly from her regular train out onto the street that was once home. She even invents stories for a couple living there. But then she hears that the women there has gone missing, and suddenly finds herself in the middle of a very chaotic mess of suspicion, blame, love, heartbreak, hurt and ... murder? Sorry.. I got a bit carried away on that summary and started writing my own blurb haha! The book is told through the perspective of the three central female characters: predominately Rachel, but with chapters scattered throughout from the perspective of the missing girl Megan, and the ex-husband's new wife Anna, who moved into the house on Megan's street that Rachel once lived in.
The style of writing from different perspectives is something I've encountered before and have been particularly attracted to, as both a reader and a writer. I thought it a very effective method for the most part, as Hawkins' maintained a central narrator, and used the other two women to relay information that Rachel would not know. However, there were a couple of very short chapters from the girls' perspectives which I kind of found unnecessary, as though they had been put in there just to break up Rachel's narration a bit!
From early on the story had me pretty gripped. The character of Rachel, while very different from me in many ways, definitely bore resemblances for me, and Hawkins' description was very 'relatable' in the sense that it perfectly summed up, for example, a commuter train trip, without sounding too forced, too descriptive.
It was certainly intriguing enough that I really had to force myself to put it down when I had other things to do and places to be. However I found the middle section to drag a little and lack action.
That said, the ending cannot be faulted in terms of action - it was totally thrilling .. and gave me nightmares that night! On that point, I'm not entirely sure I like how Hawkins chose to conclude the story... it was well written, but, without including spoilers, I felt as though both male characters were unnecessarily nasty - and that this could cause some people to read the book quite differently to me - I saw really negative qualities in all of the female characters throughout the novel, but the dramatic nature of the end kind of brushed over that and focused on male brutality.
Overall, a fantastically well written book with a great concept. Would like to see the film, although I'm a little apprehensive having been told its set in America rather than London! Also would love to read more Paula Hawkins as she has really encouraged me to broaden my reading list to different genres. Highly recommend.
Reading Challenge: 2/21
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