I really liked the writing style. I think it was wonderfully written, which made the story easy to follow. However, I was not really shocked like I normally may be at the end of a thriller novel.

This one caught me hook, line and sinker and kept me dangling all the way to the end. I didn't foresee that twist! Brilliant plot perfectly executed. It would make a good TV drama

I’m so glad I got an ARC of this book. Laura and Amy become great friends. They spent a lot of time at the quarry. Laura had heard of this place because of Will. He ends up being there one day when they are and meets Amy. They hit it off and start dating which Laura doesn’t like. Things take a turn when they all go to a party together. Then Amy and Laura meet up at the quarry and Amy gets hurt. Laura runs to go get help or does she? Years later Laura is on a train when a woman leaves a note saying help me. Laura does everything she can to find this woman and when she does, it’s someone she knows which I didn’t see coming. I was shocked! I can’t even believe how many twists and turns there were in this book. Once I started, I didn’t want to put it down. I was actually so shocked by the ending. I was really rooting for Laura but by the end, I wasn’t really a fan of her. Thank you Claire, NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC! Looking forward to reading more books by Claire.

I really enjoyed this gripping thriller. It was immediately suspenseful from the start and I really liked that the timeline would change from current time to the past. I also thought this was a unique storyline that I haven’t seen done before.

The Couple On The Train by Claire Cooper is a book about Laura Fraser who is finally seeing good things happen after suffering a childhood trauma as a teen in a small town, that she was blamed for. It’s been 10 years and she’s since moved away. She has a full-time job in London but dreams of making her Pottery A career. So when an Instagrahmmer gets one of her vases and post on her channel it really boost Laura’s cachet and even gets her an interview with a museum director that wants to show her stuff in his gallery. However while on her way to the job she greatly dislikes she sees a woman who keeps trying to catch her eye and the man with her doesn’t seem to want to let her go. When they leave the train Laura finds a note in the seat where she was sitting in the note says “help me.“ Laura goes to the police but DC Hollis doesn’t seem to take her serious, I mean she doesn’t even know the girls name. Once Laura starts looking into it slowly but surely she’s learning things about the girl. Due to her childhood trauma and PTSD her mom and the police thinks she’s making a mountain out of a mole hill end it seems every clue she gets either vanishes or could be brushed off is nothing. The only one who seems to believe her is her coworker Sam who she slowly but surely starts to fall for but who can she really trust? The story goes from the beginning of what happened 10 years ago to current day as 2 POV‘s. Once again I am thwarted by not wanting to give too much away because in Laura’s search for marina who she believes to be a missing person and the other story with her new best friend Amy and her crush will
It seems everything I say will result in a spoiler. So what I will say is I absolutely love the way Claire Cooper rights and although some parts of the story were predictable the twists were so good that I’m definitely going to read another book by her and have already downloaded one called The Elevator, that I can’t wait to read. I’m only giving the book 3 stars and I’m still definitely recommending because the parts I liked were really good it was just some of it was predictable that is my only complaint but still a great story with an awesome ending.#Bookoucher , #NetGalley, #ClaireCooper, #TheCoupleOnTheTrain,

What a fantastic read

Totally gripped by the story and the characters from the beginning to the end

Thank you for the opportunity to review

The Couple On The Train is a fast-paced thriller that opens with a bang when Laura sees a woman on a train who looks as if she’s being coerced by her partner, and then proceeds to leave a handwritten message saying, ‘Help me’. The story alternates between Laura in her teens and the current day. The novel kept my attention throughout, although I did find Laura a frustrating narrator, particularly as an adult, and considerable suspension of belief is required, particularly towards the end. Why was Laura so obsessed with this stranger? Nevertheless, this was an enjoyable, quick and entertaining thriller and I look forward to reading more by the author.

Thank you to Claire Cooper, Bookouture and Netgalley for my advance copy.

Laura's life in London is all about keeping a low profile: commuting quietly on the train, dealing with her sneering manager, and returning to her small flat to repeat it all the next day. But everything changes one morning when she notices a well-dressed couple on the train. At first glance, they seem perfect, but why is the man holding the woman so tightly? And why does she look so terrified? As they leave, Laura finds a note from the woman: "Help me!"

Determined to find the woman and ignored by the police, Laura's past and present collide. She once failed to help someone in danger and won’t let it happen again.

I really enjoyed this book by Catherine Cooper. The unreliable narrator angle and the shifts between childhood trauma and Laura's current life are intriguing and gripping.

Thank you to NetGalley, Catherine Cooper, and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

The couple on the train was such an intriguing thriller which had me gripped throughout I loved how it jumped from past to present it definitely helped build up the suspense. The character Laura is so excellently written I was drawn right into her life. There was so much tension throughout I could not put it down really needed to find out how it was going to end and wow what a surprise ending it was. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone fantastic thriller can’t wait to read more from this author.

Wow I can’t wait for this one to be turned into an ITV drama., it’s one of those edge of your seat thrillers that keeps you guessing right up to the end and questioning everyone in this poor girls life. Although she knows that someone is in trouble because of her past no one will believe her and as she tries to find the woman on her own are her own long buried secrets at risk of being disclosed and is she also in danger. This is a great story with a brilliant twist that you won’t see coming!

Fast moving, dual narration and a woman that has a pretty dull life until this book starts.

It’s a quick read, I had to suspend disbelief and hang on and all in all it was a good read. There are twists and turns that would suit any reader.

A great suspenseful start but a little fizzle for me after.
Laura Trader works at a so-so job while making lottery on the side, which is her passion.
Her life is equally so-so.until one day on the train, commuting, when she sees what she believes is a woman being held against her will. She finds a note left behind on the seat.that says "Help Me" and convinced the woman is in immediate danger, goes to the police.
And so begins the story of Laura's chase with a back and forth from the past to present, at times, in a very messy kind of way. And throw in a second person telling of parts of the story, and the thrust just seems to get lost along the way.
Laura is cringe worthy at times and I did not find any of the characters to be particularly strong, interesting or overly likeable.
So sorry.

The book is presented to us in two timelines and POV’s, Laura and an unidentified person. The present which sets up the story of the couple on the train and the past when hen Laura was young and had a friendship with a girl called Amy and a boy that she was quite keen on named Will.

Laura is travelling to work on the train when she notices a couple, the woman looks extremely uncomfortable, and the man is holding onto her tightly. Laura straight away feels there is something wrong with this situation. After the couple disembark at a station Laura finds a note that says, “Help Me”.

Laura goes to work but cannot stop thinking about this woman and has an extraordinarily strong gut feeling that something is terribly wrong. On further examination of the note Laura realizes it is a receipt which leads her to a book shop that the woman had visited. She begs the shop attendant to allow her to look at their CTV and is then confident this is the same woman.

Laura then tells her work mate Sam about what has happened, she can just not let this go. But Laura has been in trouble in her past and when she approaches the police to express her concerns, they look at her history and do not take her concerns seriously. Still Laura continues to investigate, taking time off work calling in sick as she continues to obsess about this.

I found Laura’s character a little annoying and really could not warm to her at all. The book is quite entertaining but in saying that we do have to remember this is fiction, and of course many of her actions one would not do in real life. As the book moves forward, we are drip fed more clues and the two timelines slowly come together as we reach the end, which unfortunately I found a little disappointing.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

The Couple on the Train by Claire Cooper is a fast-paced thriller that had me fully invested from the very start.

Laura is commuting to work on the train when she sees a woman who appears to be in some distress. Locking eyes with Laura, the woman directs her gaze to the seat she has just vacated, willing Laura to see a note. Picking up on the silent plea, Laura is shocked to discover that the note has only two words. Help me.

Alternating between Laura's past and present life, the dots gradually begin to connect. Will Laura figure it all out in time to save the woman on the train?

This is my second read from this author, and I was once again hooked by an intriguing premise that lured me in and did not let go. You will want to add this one to your summer reading list. 4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC.

This is a fast paced, intruiging thriller that I really enojyed. I connected with Laura and her desire to help this stranger, and wanted to know more about her past. It worked well on the whole and i did enjoy it. Thanks for the chance to review this.

Laura is seated opposite a couple on a train, the woman looks uncomfortable and as she leaves, a note is left behind on her seat, "help me".

Laura makes it her mission to help this stranger, despite having nothing to go on, no idea who this woman even is, and seemingly no reason to even believe anything was wrong. The Police don't believe her, and why would they - she has a troubled past and it all seems very far fetched.

We alternate between Laura's teenage self, the future, and an unknown stalker. Laura clutching at straws to even find the tiniest next clue, but next clue she does find and we are on a wild chase to help this stranger. Laura at times seems very paranoid, and suspicious of literally every single person she meets. She is dropping the ball at work and throwing away a fantastic opportunity with an Art Gallery. I really struggled with why she would be so dedicated to helping a complete stranger, and I think the back story was meant to help with this, but it didn't really give me much to support Laura's motives.

Overall, it was a good read. The ending was a surprise to me, but did seem like a lot of effort and therefore a bit far fetched. It was enjoyable and fast paced, I do wish we had learnt more about the supporting characters along the way - Laura was so suspicious of them, that it meant they couldn't flourish in their own right. Some suspenseful moments, and I did really enjoy the flashbacks to Laura's teenage years. 3.5 stars - rounded up to 4.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. This didn't really do it for me. It was an interesting storyline, but I found it slow going in places and found it difficult to connect to the characters, although Cooper created some real tension.

This book was quite the page-turner and I read it in one setting. I recommend this book for those who love this genre. It has a lot of mystery and intrigue without the gore. Great read!

Our heroine, Laura Fraser, works at a job she doesn’t really like while trying to make it as an artist. One day on the train, she sees a couple that gives her weird vibes—the man is holding the woman a little too tightly. When she finds a note with “help me” written on it, she decides to call the police. But when they don’t believe her, she decides to investigate on her own.

Laura has a troubled past. As a kid, she was always trying to "save" someone, even when they didn’t need saving. We also get flashbacks from a time she was friends with a girl named Amy and a boy named Will. Throughout the book, we see moments from that time and learn just how troubled Laura is. I liked Laura for most of the book despite her flaws. She seems like someone with deep mental issues and trauma who is just trying to do the right thing. She feels incredibly guilty for what happened with Amy back then and is trying to atone. So I really liked her… until the end. The last scene made me realize just how much she’s been lying to us while telling her story. She’s not a good person, and kudos to the author for making us believe she was.

Since we’re seeing things from Laura’s point of view, we don’t really get to know much about the other characters. This sometimes takes away the weight of some revelations. For instance, I wish we had known more about Kate. The same goes for Sam, who is mostly used as a red flag character.

The Couple on the Train follows Laura after she sees a couple on a train. The woman is clearly in distress and leaves a note for Laura to find with the words "help me". Laura does the right thing and reports this to the police, but no-one believes her. The only exception is her co-worker Sam, who seems a bit too keen to help her and is always in the right place at the right time. Laura decides to take matters into her own hands and start her own investigation, but the more involved she gets, the more she realises her secret from the past is about to be exposed...

This is a super fast-paced novel, I devoured it in a few hours. The story is told from two different POVs -that of Laura and a mysterious character who appears to be stalking her, but why? The present story of "now" is sometimes interrupted with excerpts from "then" which lead to the reveal of Laura's secret and help connect the dots.

The story moves forward seamlessly and the characters are interesting and well-written. I really enjoyed the tension build up and it was generally a fun read. I feel like the ending is one of those that people will either love or hate. I personally loved it!! I feel it's the same about the main character. For me, personally, she was insufferable and every single of her actions justified the dislike some people had for her. Without giving any major plot points away, I could sympathise more with the antagonists in her life than her.... go figure!!

All in all, a superb novel!!!