This much-lauded psychological debut features a woman prone to blackouts and drunk dialling
There’s nothing new under the sun – or in the world of big-selling commercial fiction – but Paula Hawkins has come up with an ingenious slant on the currently fashionable amnesia thriller. The latest bestselling example is Emma Healey’s Costa-winning debut Elizabeth Is Missing, featuring an elderly woman with dementia. The protagonist of The Girl on the Train is much younger, yet she is unable to remember much about the night a young woman went missing near her old home – blood, an underpass, a blue dress and a man with red hair keep jumbling in her mind.
The narrative is skilfully split between three women whose lives interlink tragically: Rachel, Megan and Anna. We first encounter Rachel on the commute home from London, just another tired worker on her way back to the suburbs – except that she has four cans of pre-mixed gin and tonic in her bag, and that’s only for starters. “It’s Friday, so I don’t have to feel guilty about drinking on the train. TGIF. The fun starts here.”
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.
There’s nothing new under the sun – or in the world of big-selling commercial fiction – but Paula Hawkins has come up with an ingenious slant on the currently fashionable amnesia thriller. The latest bestselling example is Emma Healey’s Costa-winning debut Elizabeth Is Missing, featuring an elderly woman with dementia. The protagonist of The Girl on the Train is much younger, yet she is unable to remember much about the night a young woman went missing near her old home – blood, an underpass, a blue dress and a man with red hair keep jumbling in her mind.
The narrative is skilfully split between three women whose lives interlink tragically: Rachel, Megan and Anna. We first encounter Rachel on the commute home from London, just another tired worker on her way back to the suburbs – except that she has four cans of pre-mixed gin and tonic in her bag, and that’s only for starters. “It’s Friday, so I don’t have to feel guilty about drinking on the train. TGIF. The fun starts here.”
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.