I will pay more careful attention the next time I'm on a train!

I don't know which is more exhilarating for me....to guess the "who done it" before the ending of a book or NOT to guess correctly!!!!  I thought I had it right.  I really and truly thought I knew SHE "did it," but wonderfully, surprisingly, I was VERY wrong!!!  Ahaha!!!  Way to go, Paula Hawkins!  Over the past several months, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN has continually shown up in my Nook "to read" folder and in my Amazon Kindle "to read" folder as well.  It seemed that I just could not ignore or get away from this book.  Curiosity won.  And I'm glad it did.  This is a wonderful book about first impressions as well as about LIFE and how quickly life can--and quite often does--get out of control for ANYONE and EVERYONE.  I see as I look at websites for TRAIN that GONE GIRL is quite often compared to it.  I get that.  If you have read GONE GIRL, I can assure you that THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins is even more worth reading.  I love the twists and turns and reveals that happen slowly, subtlety, and always at just the right moment to keep me reading and wanting to know more about each of the various characters in the story.  This amazing story that Paula Hawkins has written takes a hard, very honest look at the difficulty each of us faces on a day-to-day basis and how we cope with those difficulties--with fore-thought and without.

I can't say enough good things about THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins.  I certainly will be looking into other books by her!!!  It is an adult novel, though, so just keep that in mind, parents, if your teens are reading it.  I would be sure to read it with them or at least stay connected with them as they read it....I'm just sayin'.

Just Too Dark for Me

Blach.  I did not like DARK PLACES by Gillian Flynn.  Just like with GONE GIRL, the language is atrocious.  As someone who will (and has) read just about anything, I understand that there are times when foul language helps make a story and, yes, based on the characters in this particular story, it is clear that language is certainly part of their vocabulary.  But it's just too much.  I certainly hated the characters I was

supposed to hate because of the foul language coming out of their mouths, so I guess that means that the language was appropriate in that context.  That doesn't mean I have to like it.

I will say that Flynn calls a character "Polly," so I can't help liking that part.  Yet at the same time, she is a TERRIBLE person, so it's not so good.

The title is appropriate, of course, because the story is very dark as are the characters.  It certainly has an intriguing story line that makes someone interested enough to pick up the book and begin reading.  The story is suspenseful; we learn bits and pieces of the details of the murder throughout the book, making it worth turning each page.  Yet, even with these things that seem to make the book have a lot going for it, I just plain and simply did not enjoy it.

You might, so on this one, I wouldn't take my word for it.  Sometimes we as readers just don't care for something that others may like and see as a great read.

Gone, but won't be quickly or easily forgotten

I have one major complaint about Gillian Flynn's GONE GIRL:  the language.  I can't stand books with foul language.  It makes it sound like the person doesn't know how to speak in polite society.  Granted, it adds to my dislike of BOTH of the major characters of the story, but still--I'd just rather not have to read such language.

But this is one murder-mystery-gone-wrong book that honestly shocked me.  I was FLOORED when I

turned a page and IT was revealed.  Wow.  THAT was a twist I had not even considered and believe me, I'd been running every possible scenario (or so I'd thought) through my head, but THAT one wasn't one of them.  It was a GREAT twist that made me keep reading even though I should have been doing other things!!!!

Flynn artfully weaves into the story the stories we've all seen and/or read about on tv--quite often on the ID channel--where the spouse is ALWAYS the one "who done it."  By the time the reader gets to the first real major twist of the story, the read (ok, me at least, anyway) has been pulled in and believes everything--on both sides of the story!!!!

It's really fantastic the way certain details are revealed slowly and perfectly, right at the exact moment necessary to the story.  Some parts of the story are not at all surprises (Andie, for one), but overall, I was quite surprised by the turn GONE GIRL took and I anxiously await the movie premier.  I really hope the movie does this story justice!

I have to say that it's so very difficult writing about this story at all because everything I really want to say (write about) would give away a major plot point that might ruin the book for you and that's the last thing I want to do!  You really just need to read Gillian Flynn's GONE GIRL for yourself!!!!