Book Review: Okay, I may be the last person to read The Girl on the Train, but I got it from the library and you know how that goes. First the elephant in the room: I see the connections with Gone Girl: unlikable characters, unreliable narrators, twists and turns. But for me, the biggest similarity is that I rated it quite high when I first read it, but after time the initial sense of quality started to fade a bit. That first compulsive read and my highly piqued curiosity gave me an adrenaline rush, but then I crashed. Still good, just not the same heady high as I had while reading. I very much enjoyed the speedy read and didn't worry too much about the little things -- I'm curious as a cat and wanted to know how it would turn out. Bucking the trend, I actually liked The Girl on the Train more than Gone Girl; it doesn't have the same on-a-knife's-edge feel about it, but I found the characters more interesting and believable. They're more like people I could know, and I couldn't help but care about Rachel the main character, poor mess. Even tho somewhat unlikable, the characters were given back stories that made me interested in, and even care about, them. I found the least likable character to be one of the police officers. Finally, most readers seem to have solved the mystery in The Girl on the Train long before I did, but even if I had figured it out earlier, I thought the ending had just enough of a twist that it worked. Paula Hawkins must be tired of the Gone Girl comparisons, but I'm sure she's also laughing all the way to the bank. [4 Stars]
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