Two different domestic thrillers that are both England-set and both alternating between opposing female narrators, and that may be a lot of coincidences but these books are worth reading for entirely different reasons…
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins…By far the more well-known book of the two and it’s easy to see why as there are three different (wildly different) female narrators for a reader to identify with and the book moves fluidly between chapters by Rachel the messy drunk, Megan the inwardly messy beauty, and Anna the woman that married Rachel’s husband. Things get complicated when Rachel sees Megan kissing a man who is not her husband one day and Megan soon disappears. It’s a classic mystery, but the richness of Hawkins’ characterizations is what elevates it from simple Whodunit material. But even though this was a more satisfying read than “Her” while I was reading it, the too-tidy resolution didn’t really stay with me for long after I finished the last page, and it works better as a character piece than a real nail-biter. Grade: A-
Her by Harriet Lane…A disquieting must-read for people with children, this novel follows two very different moms (Nina and Emma) who strike up a chance encounter when Nina “retrieves” Emma’s missing wallet, but it’s clear early on that Nina knows Emma already from their teenage years…so why isn’t she mentioning it to Emma? What, exactly, is Nina’s agenda and why does it feel so sinister? This is a sleeper that uses its domestic setting to lull you into a false sense of security—not unlike Nina herself—but finally sky-rockets the tension with one of the most subtly frightening endings I’ve ever read. “The Girl on the Train” pulls you in more while you’re reading it but doesn’t stick around long afterwards, while “Her” still makes the hair on my neck stand days later. You really should read it…just make sure you don’t need to sleep that night. Grade: A-