It seems there's no stopping the momentum of The Girl on the Train. Not on board yet? Take a look back at our review from February, check out our post about GOTT read-alikes, or keep reading for another review from a CPL librarian. Looking for still more similar titles? Look up The Girl on the Train in the catalog and scroll down to the "Tags, Other Editions, Similar Titles" heading to get recommendations from LibraryThing.
Being usually skeptical of popular picks, it took the suggestion of other State Librarians to get me to read The Girl On The Train. With suggestions like "This is the best suspense novel you will ever read", I took a leap of faith and began a journey I will never forget. From the opening pages I sensed the tremendous character development, gifted setting descriptions, creativity, and neverending suspense that made Paula Hawkins' novel an international success. With the personal narrative of three characters relating tragic events leading up to infidelity and murder, I knew that Paula Hawkins was attempting a more artful approach to suspense. To connect the stories of three people witnessing the same events is not always successful. The author might get overly involved in bulding their characters, lose the story line, or become redundant. Not only does The Girl On The Train make these hurdles seem simplistic but it has an almost Japanese method of using settings to promote suspense. So take the challenge as I did and witness suspense at its very best! - Henry (Downtown)