Book
Review
Sheer evil perpetrated by
a born criminal is not an interesting subject in literature. But Paula Hawkins’ novel, The Girl on the Train, is not serious
literature; it is serious suspense thriller.
The suspense keeps the reader hooked to the end. The characters are eminently well portrayed
too.
The story is primarily
about two men and three women. Rachel,
the dominant character, is an alcoholic and divorced wife of Tom Watson who is
now living with Anna, his present wife.
Scott Hipwell and his wife Megan are the other two characters. Dr Kamal Abdic, a professional shrink, has a
fairly important role too.
Megan’s disappearance and
the eventual recovery of her dead body forms the crux of the suspense. Megan was a “bored, mad, curious” woman with
a past. The boy with whom she fell in
love at the age of 15 died in accident leaving a vacuum in her heart. The next man whom she learnt to love
abandoned her when their little child died due to Megan’s carelessness.
Scott is a loving and
caring husband though he has enough reasons to be suspicious of his wife. Megan, after all, has her sexual adventures
with other men though Scott is unable to discover any proof. She is a good seducer. Dr Abdic manages to save himself from her
seductiveness. But there are enough men
in the world who will be too happy to embrace a beautiful blond woman who
offers herself freely, wantonly. She
pays a heavy price for her nature.
Who is her killer? The suspicion falls initially on Dr Abdic
before it shifts to her husband Scott.
Real villains sometimes have the most suave personalities, however. Even Rajesh Gujral, an Indian artist who exhibited his paintings in the gallery where Megan worked for a while, can be suspected.
Rachel is the primary
narrator of the novel. She is an
alcoholic whose memory cannot be relied upon.
She retains her husband’s surname even after their divorce because she
genuinely loves him. She continues to
disturb Tom Watson’s new family life because of her inability to let bygone
love be bygone. Anna finds her a
nuisance as well as a potential threat to her married life. The novelist is eminently successful in
portraying feminine jealousies and possessiveness.
Megan had worked for a
brief period for the Watsons as a child-minder.
Did she arouse Anna’s jealousy enough to invite murder? Well, just anyone can be the murderer in this
novel. That’s what makes the novel an
intoxicating read.
If you are looking for
serious literature about evil, this book is not for you. But if it is a gripping suspense thriller
that you want, this is highly recommended.
I saw the movie... It was really good...
ReplyDeleteA movie based on this novel came out last year but it went off before I knew it. I loved this book too, you can almost picturise each character!
ReplyDeleteYes, the characterisation is wonderful.
Deletenice story telling
ReplyDeleteIndeed. The story is narrated by the three main female characters.
Delete