The Girl On The Train

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins was another quick and easy summer read that I waited f o r e v e r to download from CLAMS! I'm not sure what all the fuss is about because it was an OK mystery with some interesting characters and an unpredictable narration. Touted "the next Gone Girl" by The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and People magazine, it certainly is a page turner with several twists and turns and a gory, twisted ending.

“Hawkins’s taut story roars along at the pace of, well, a high-speed train. …Hawkins delivers a smart, searing thriller that offers readers a 360-degree view of lust, love, marriage and divorce.”—Good Housekeeping

What made this book interesting to me was the suburban London setting and the British nuances. All in all this is not my favorite genre, but I do appreciate an expertly paced, clever, well-crafted story with deeply flawed yet realistic characters.

Gone Girl

I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn in less than five days — a record for me, the snail-paced reader — and my eyes are bleary. Now I would like to blur my eyes some more and watch the movie…if I can find it anywhere.

I loved the first half of the book—the mystery and suspense—and then things got weird and a little too melodramatic for me. I would have preferred a more toned-down, civilized version of the ending, and while reading the last five chapters, I kept thinking, "It should end here!"

Still, the book held my attention and distracted me from the impending back-to-school frenzy, for less than five days!

Defending Jacob

Defending Jacob by William Landay was recommended by a friend and appealed to me because of the author's Boston connections. He graduated from Roxbury Latin School and Boston College Law School and worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Massachusetts for seven years before beginning his writing career. It was a quick summer read combining courtroom drama and family dysfunction with a quirky, noirish ending.