Thriller · Similar reads
Books like The Girl on the Train
The best books like The Girl on the Train are Gone Girl, Into the Water, and Dark Places. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is about unreliable memory and alcoholism, obsession and voyeurism, domestic violence. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Gone Girl
01
Gillian Flynn · Thriller
On the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Dunne disappears from her home in Missouri.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Into the Water
02
Paula Hawkins · Thriller
In a small English town, women have been dying in a river pool called the Drowning Pool for centuries.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Dark Places
03
Gillian Flynn · Thriller
Libby Day survived the Kansas farmhouse massacre that killed her mother and two sisters when she was seven.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - In the Woods
04
Tana French · Mystery
Dublin detective Rob Ryan is called to investigate a child's murder at an archaeological dig in Knocknaree — the same woods where, twenty years earlier, two of his childhood friends vanished without a trace and Rob was found clinging to a tree, bloodied and with no memory of what happened.
Both dig into identity and self-deception.
Read the summary → - The Maltese Falcon
05
Dashiell Hammett · Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade is hired by a woman calling herself Miss Wonderly to find her missing sister — a lie within thirty seconds of the novel opening.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Dead Souls
06
Nikolai Gogol · Literary fiction
Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov arrives in a provincial Russian town with a plan of remarkable ingenuity: he will travel from estate to estate buying up "dead souls" — serfs who have died since the last census but still appear on the tax rolls, and whose owners are still liable for taxes on them.
Both dig into identity and self-deception.
Read the summary → - Great Expectations
07
Charles Dickens · Classics
Great Expectations follows Pip, an orphan boy on the Kent marshes who is yanked from modest obscurity into the orbit of wealth and social aspiration when an anonymous benefactor funds his move to London.
Both dig into identity and self-deception.
Read the summary → - The Castle
- The Great Alone
09
Kristin Hannah · Contemporary fiction
In 1974, Ernt Allbright brings his wife Cora and teenage daughter Leni to the Alaskan wilderness.
Both dig into domestic violence.
Read the summary → - A Time to Kill
10
John Grisham · Thriller
In Clanton, Mississippi, two white men rape and nearly kill ten-year-old Tonya Hailey.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Along Came a Spider
11
James Patterson · Thriller
Along Came a Spider introduces Alex Cross, a Black homicide detective and forensic psychologist working in Washington D.C., in the case that made James Patterson a bestseller.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Angels & Demons
12
Dan Brown · Thriller
Physicist Leonardo Vetra is found dead at CERN with a symbol burned into his chest: the Illuminati ambigram.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Girl on the Train: quick answers
What are the best books like The Girl on the Train?
The best books like The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins are Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Into the Water by Paula Hawkins, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, In the Woods by Tana French, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Girl on the Train, such as unreliable memory and alcoholism, obsession and voyeurism, domestic violence.
What should I read after The Girl on the Train?
A natural next read after The Girl on the Train is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. A kindred thriller read. Other strong choices are Into the Water by Paula Hawkins, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, In the Woods by Tana French.
What books are similar to The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins?
The Girl on the Train centers on unreliable memory and alcoholism, obsession and voyeurism, domestic violence. Books with a similar feel include Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Into the Water by Paula Hawkins, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, In the Woods by Tana French, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
