One Sentence Summary
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is a suspenseful mystery novel featuring complex characters and situations, and a thrilling journey of self-discovery and justice.
Book Genre
The Girl on the Train is a psychological thriller and a mystery novel.
Main Topic of the Book
The main topic of The Girl on the Train is Rachel Watson’s journey, which leads her to uncover secrets about her past and the people around her, while also beginning to believe in herself and discovering justice.
Key Ideas
- Observation and Perception: Rachel’s ability to observe the people around her teaches her about the power of perception and understanding of situations.
- Memory: Memories are an important part of the novel, with Rachel often struggling to piece together her past and remember specific events.
- Doubt and Mistrust: Rachel is constantly doubting herself and her perceptions throughout the novel, while also becoming increasingly aware of the lies and mistrust among the characters.
Main Parts of the Book and a Short Summary
- Part One: Rachel Watson is a divorced, unemployed alcoholic aboard the London commuter train. She takes the same route everyday and stops at the same sliver of a house, which she has named Jess and Jason’s house. Unbeknownst to Rachel, the couple that live in that house has a complicated and dark past. Rachel soon discovers that something happened to the woman that lived in that house, Megan Hipwell, that she wasn’t expecting, and she finds herself on a mission to uncover what happened.
- Part Two: Rachel discovers more secrets about Megan’s life and the people around her, including a mysterious man named Scott, as well as her ex-husband Tom and his new wife Anna. Rachel also begins to realise that her own disoriented past has played a part in Megan’s disappearance. As she struggles to piece together her own memories, Rachel is faced with the possibility that she may have witnessed something she’s unable to remember.
- Part Three: As Rachel’s investigation continues, she finds herself in more dangerous situations. She comes face to face with the complexity of emotions and relationships between the characters and soon finds purpose and hope in the search for justice for Megan. Rachel eventually learns the truth behind Megan’s disappearance, and the truth about herself as well.
Key Takeaways
The Girl on the Train is an exploration of life, lost memories and the complications of perception and relationships featuring the thrilling journey of Rachel Watson. Through the course of the novel, readers can take away the following key learnings:
- Memories are an important part of life, and can be put together to form a bigger picture.
- Observation and perception have power and can be used to uncover secrets.
- One should never doubt themselves or their perception of situations.
- No matter what the situation, justice is always worth pursuing.
Author’s Background and Qualifications
Paula Hawkins is a British author and journalist. Before launching her writing career, she worked as a journalist for 15 years and has written extensively on a wide range of topics including finance, business, lifestyle and travel. While The Girl On The Train is her literary debut, she has reached the number one spot on the New York Times bestseller list with the novel, and has since published two more books.
Target Audience
The target audience for The Girl on The Train is adult readers, aged 25–45, who like psychological thrillers, mysteries, crime and suspense novels.
Publisher and First Publication Date
The Girl on The Train was published by Random House in 2015. The first edition was published on January 13, 2015.