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!!!

Laura notices the couple sitting across from her on the train. He is tightly holding onto the woman who looks terrified. When they disembark, Laura notices a piece of paper on the seat, and it says "Help Me".

Well, when I got to that part of the book, I immediately thought that I would not enjoy it as much as I did.
No name, no address, a description of the woman, the man in a hoodie and sunglasses....... I am not surprised the police say there is no case.

The story is told in two timelines, past and present - by Laura and an unknown person.

Laura has a reputation of causing problems or trouble whereever she goes. She suspects every person she comes across while doing her 'treasure hunt' investigation to find the woman who she insists needs help. Clues are slowly uncovered, and Laura follows the clues, with no regard to her job or future aspirations as an artist.

The story is engaging, quite unbelievable, but very entertaining.
Unfortunately, the ending was terrible.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book.

“The Couple on the Train” is a thriller by Claire Cooper. I have to admit, it was the title that I found interesting -was this book like “Girl on the Train” or inspired by it? This book is divided into two timelines - but two different POVs - one is Laura past and current; the other is an unknown person who is driving Laura to distraction. I found the main character, Laura, to be a bit puzzling - she wants to be a savior to a strange woman [making things right?] but she also seemed so paranoid that it seemed, well, odd. She begins to suspect everyone - which is understandable given her past (doled out to the reader) but something about it just seemed off-putting to me. I had suspected the “who” early in the book, but it seemed the most logical person to assume. There were some plot holes - and I did not like the ending. I found this book engaging and read most of it in one night - but I don’t think I’ll remember much about this book - other than don’t go diving in quarries.

I really enjoyed this read, I was entrapped from the description and then as soon as I read the first chapter I knew I wouldn't be going to bed that night. After an all nighters and a lot of coffee I finished this in less than 6 hours. I really enjoyed it

fast paced thriller as well as unpredictable., that had me hooked from the very start , and I loved how it's told in the past and present as well as 2 different perspectives and the plus side of this crazy ride is that you don't know who's actually doing the telling of the story which give it a spooky feeling because all you can do is set back and watch the story play out .

A great compulsive, fast paced thriller of a read, I felt like I was in a spin dryer all the way from the beginning until the end. The characters were interesting and the dual timelines were well written.

I was on the edge of my seat throughout and the ending was brilliant, I can certainly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

A very slow start and i moved onto something else several times before i gave it a last go.
Eventually it became a more interesting story with some decent twists that i did not see coming.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

This is absolutely brilliant from Claire cooper. The suspense element had be gripped from the start. Very well thought out book.

Laura is on the brink of fame after an influencer shared her art work on social media. She needs to find the time to prepare for a meeting of a lifetime with a prestigious art gallery while still working at a job she loathes. On her way to work, she sees a distraught woman on the train, and finds a note she left asking for help. It’s all too familiar to Laura, and brings back memories she’s rather forget. Laura makes it her mission to find the woman, even if the police don’t believe her. She puts her life on hold, but is she putting herself in danger too?

A slower paced read but the surprise twist made it worth it! The story takes place in the past and present, told from two viewpoints, though it is not said who the second viewpoint is (until you get further along). I questioned the main characters actions quite often, thought that made it an unpredictable story. The authors writing style had me imagining I was right alongside Laura on her adventure.

I really enjoyed the tension build up, the chaoticness of the main character. I love when the story makes me question everything, look for enemies around every corner. It really increases the thrill, the anxiety. Laura’s story was a downwards spiral of paranoia and self-neglect — her sole focus being the mystery woman’s disappearance.
I also really liked the way the author split the timelines, slowly feeding us the character’s backstory while also progressing the plot. Every time switch just helped bump up the chills and the tension.
The problem for me was the climax, the twists, the ending. It all felt a little too unbelievable and unrealistic. The way the police handled Laura, how what happened in her past was handled. There were some unfinished bits, some plot holes in the overall story, that has me still here trying to figure out what actually happened. I also kind of hated that ending, which really killed whatever enjoyment I was getting from this.
The writing was excellent, but the story needed a bit of polishing. Or maybe just a different ending.