theguywhoreads

NOTE: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

There are times when I read a book, I must not be bias based on my personal ideals and self opinions about a subject. There are times... I had to because it does get to my nerves. Whether it is a story, characters or the flow of the story. The Girl on the Train is one of those that really hits hard on me to a point I had to dumb myself down to try to appreciate the story.

This is a story about a divorcee named Rachel, who commutes a train every single day to London and always passes by a house of one couple. Every day, Rachel will have her little fantasy of this couple, naming them and envy their lives... until the day Megan Hipwell disappeared and some thing happened to Rachel on the day Megan disappeared. Rachel can't remember what happened that night because she was drunk. She would try any thing to remember if only she doesn't blackout each time she drinks.

The set of the premise wasn't an interesting one. I read lots of reviews about how good The Girl on a Train is but as it turns out, it was quite a mess. Firstly - the characters. I would let you know there are no protagonist here. No heroes or heroines. All the main characters are either victims of their own mistakes or a mess in their own past. Mostly - they are flawed. Very flawed in such a way that they are pathetic. Rachel is an alcoholic, Megan is a cheater, Anna (Rachel's ex-husband's wife) is in denial and the rest is as messy as it is. Put them all together in a mystery suspense story and what you read is a soap-drama of a murder you had seen before in any TV series. Predictable, irritable and annoyingly horrible. And then there is paranoia involve of the guessing game but based on dialogue exchange between characters, its so easy to figure out who the real murderer before the end of the book.

I had to dumb myself to finish the book. I have to make myself understand about the characters and the setting of the story to try to appreciate the story. Towards the end, when my bias view is higher than giving a review with pros and cons... I find that the truth in my own opinion that gives this book a rating of 3 out of 5 star. The best rating I can give. But seriously - it only deserves only two stars if not for how Paul Hawkins did a nice job in developing and throwing pathetic characters into one story and how it really stays in character for being pathetic. Predictable, not exactly suspenseful thriller, I do find this mediocre and only readable when there is nothing to read.