July: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

With two exceptions we had all read Paula Hawkins’ psychological thriller 'The Girl on the Train' before – but quite a few years ago. None of us could remember the plot well enough to pinpoint the murderer until very late in the book.

With one exception, we all very much enjoyed it. We were gripped by the plot with its drip-feed of revelations and twists and turns. And we found we had much more sympathy this time around for the flawed central character – instead of finding her shallow and weak we recognised her underlying strength and determination. Perhaps because we are so much more aware nowadays of 'gaslighting' and the damage it causes.

Our dissenting voice didn’t like any of the characters, didn’t care what happened to them, was exasperated by the constant changes of time period and viewpoint and thought the female characters were cyphers. While many of us agreed that we didn’t much like any of the characters, we thought they were strongly drawn and that the author handled points of view, timing and gradual reveals with great skill.
Former commuters amongst us had been vividly reminded of crowded trains and looking out of windows at the same houses and scenery every day, so could easily imagine creating a story around regular sightings of people or objects. However, none of us had ever combined our journeys with four tins of gin and tonic!

Two of us had seen the 2016 film starring Emily Blunt, but had not enjoyed it – mainly because of how the British book had been re-interpreted for an American setting.

Overall, we gave 'The Girl on the Train' 9 thumbs up and 1 down.

If you fancy joining our very friendly group, on 20 August we will be discussing 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' (1961) by Scottish writer Muriel Spark.