Between the Pages

This book has been compared several times to Gillian Glynn’s psychological thriller Gone Girl, and I can certainly see why – and if you liked Gone Girl, then I’d recommend this to you as well. The story is told from the point of view of three narrators, of varying reliability. The first – and main – narrator is Rachel, a young woman who is still grieving over the breakdown of her marriage and finds her only solace in alcohol. Every day she rides a train into Witney and stares into the gardens of the houses along the track. She is particularly interested in the couple who inhabit one of the houses – a couple she names Jason and Jess, and for whom she invents her own back story.

The second narrator is ‘Jess’ – or rather, Megan, as she is actually called. She is married to Scott, but is restless and uncertain about what she wants out of her life and her marriage.

Anna, the current wife of Rachel’s ex-husband Tom, is the third narrator. She and Tom live with the baby daughter in the same road as Megan and Scott, and are increasingly frustrated over Rachel’s constant harassment of them.

However, when Rachel sees something shocking from the train, and one of the characters disappears, the lives of all three women and their families converge – and suddenly Rachel is no longer just an observer, but is right at the centre of the mystery.

Did I enjoy this book? I guess I did, considering that I read it in two sittings and genuinely did not want to put it down. However, that is not the same as saying that I think it was a masterpiece, or a perfect book. I did guess what had happened fairly early on, but there were still plenty of red herrings and surprises to keep it interesting. The author certainly has a talent for writing very ‘readable’ characters (despite the fact that not one of them was particularly likeable, except for a couple of minor characters) and situations, and it did race along at a fair rate of knots. However, I would say that while it is a great book while you’re actually reading it, it is not one that will stick in the mind for long once it’s finished. However, for fans of the genre, it’s definitely worth taking a look.

(Author’s website can be found here.)