The Girl on the Train — A Novel book cover by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train

Adult • Mystery • Thriller & Suspense • Suspense • Thriller
A Novel
Rachel rides a commuter train daily She becomes obsessed with a couple Witnesses a shocking event Entangled in a police investigation Struggles with her unreliable memory

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple having breakfast on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

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Edition information

Book details

Publisher
Riverhead Books
Publication date
2016
Print length
336 pages
Language
English
ISBN
978-1594634024

Mystery + Thriller & Suspense + Suspense

Reader guide

What to Know Before Reading The Girl on the Train

Rachel Watson takes the same train every day, watching a couple she believes has the perfect life. But when she witnesses something shocking, her world spirals out of control. As she becomes embroiled in a police investigation, Rachel must confront her own unreliable perceptions and the truth behind her past.

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G-NRIS™ story intelligence

Why readers connect with The Girl on the Train

A concise view of the book’s strongest literary signals and the reading interests shared by people connected to it on bks.social.

Reader connection

Readers connected to this book most often reflect General Literary Reader and Psychological Moral Explorer reader archetypes. Their strongest shared genre interests include Literary Fiction, Thriller, Horror, and Mystery. They are commonly drawn to themes such as Humor, Coming of Age, Personal Growth, and Science.

About the author

Paula Hawkins

Paula Hawkins

PAULA HAWKINS worked as a journalist for fifteen years before writing her first novel. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, Paula moved to London in 1989. Her first thriller, The Girl on the Train, has sold more than 23 million copies worldwide. Published in over fifty languages, it has been a Number 1 bestseller around the world and was a box office hit film starring Emily Blunt. Paula's thrillers, Into the Water and A Slow Fire Burning, were also instant Number 1 bestsellers.
A favorite quote

“I have lost control over everything, even the things I want to hold on to.”

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