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Features

The best Penguin Podcast episodes for aspiring writers

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Why Paula Hawkins needs fear to write

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Books to read if you love Cruel Summer

Best books about books

The best books for book lovers

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The highly anticipated return of Paula Hawkins

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On the particular pleasures of re-reading

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From the Orient Express to Bullet Train: why crime loves a locomotive

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A Slow Fire Burning: new thriller from The Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins announced

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Extracts

Into the Water By Paula Hawkins

An interview with Paula Hawkins

Penguin Random House authors honoured at inaugural Specsavers Bestseller Awards 

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News

Penguin Random House authors honoured at inaugural Specsavers Bestseller Awards

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The Penguin Q&A: Paula Hawkins

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Workspace: Paula Hawkins

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Podcasts

The Penguin Podcast: Paula Hawkins

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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Blind Spot

Quick Reads 2022

'How can you say things like this? How can you be so blind?' 
 
Since they were kids, Edie, Jake and Ryan have been the closest of friends. It's been the three of them against the world. Edie thought the bonds between them were unbreakable. So when Jake is brutally murdered and Ryan accused of the crime, her world is shattered. 
 
Edie is alone for the first time in years, living in the remote house that she and Jake shared. She is grief-stricken and afraid - with good reason. Because someone is watching. Someone has been waiting for this moment. Now that Edie is alone, the past she tried so hard to leave behind is about to catch up with her... 
 
 
Praise for Paula Hawkins: 
 
'Twists and turns galore . . . Paula Hawkins is a genius.' Lisa Jewell 
 
'Gripping and intriguing.' S J Watson 
 
'Utterly compelling.' Daily Mail

PAULA HAWKINS worked as a journalist for fifteen years before writing her first novel. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, she moved to London in 1989. Her first thriller, The Girl on the Train, has sold more than 23 million copies worldwide. Published in over fifty languages, it has been a No.1 bestseller around the world and was a box-office-hit film starring Emily Blunt. 
 
 Paula’s thrillers Into the Water and A Slow Fire Burning were also instant No.1 bestsellers.

'How can you say things like this? How can you be so blind?' 
 
Since they were kids, Edie, Jake and Ryan have been the closest of friends. It's been the three of them against the world. Edie thought the bonds between them were unbreakable. So when Jake is brutally murdered and Ryan accused of the crime, her world is shattered. 
 
Edie is alone for the first time in years, living in the remote house that she and Jake shared. She is grief-stricken and afraid - with good reason. Because someone is watching. Someone has been waiting for this moment. Now that Edie is alone, the past she tried so hard to leave behind is about to catch up with her...

Penguin Readers Level 6: The Girl on the Train (ELT Graded Reader)

The Girl on the Train, a Level 6 Reader, is B1+ in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future continuous, reported questions, third conditional, was going to and ellipsis. A small number of illustrations support the text.

PAULA HAWKINS worked as a journalist for fifteen years before turning her hand to fiction. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, Paula moved to London in 1989 and has lived there ever since. Her first thriller, The Girl on the Train, has been a global phenomenon, selling 23 million copies worldwide. Published in over forty languages, it has been a No.1 bestseller around the world and was a No.1 box office hit film starring Emily Blunt. 
 
Into the Water, her second stand-alone thriller, has also been a global No.1 bestseller, spending twenty weeks in the Sunday Times hardback fiction Top 10 bestseller list, and six weeks at No.1.

With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction. 
 
Rachel Watson catches the same train into London every morning. Every day, Rachel looks at the same row of houses and back gardens where she once used to live. But, one day, she sees something shocking happening in one of the gardens. What will Rachel do about it? 
 
Visit the Penguin Readers website 
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

The Sunday Times Bestseller

Into the Water

The addictive Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller

The addictive No. 1 psychological thriller from the author of The Girl on the Train, the runaway Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller and global phenomenon.

Paula Hawkins does it again! Into the Water is a moody and chilling thriller that will have you madly turning the pages. A gripping, compulsive read!

Wondering if Into the Water could be as good as The Girl on the Train? It's better. A triumph.

Fans of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train rejoice: her second novel Into the Water is even better. A brilliantly plotted and fast-paced juggernaut of a read that hurtles to a heart-stopping conclusion.

It’s like PD James wrote an episode of The Wire… A twisting whodunit that leaves you both gratified and surprised (also the best kind)… Not just a brilliant thriller but also a furious feminist howl…

The prose is powerful and richly descriptive. As the threads of the plot mesh together and the tension builds it develops into a brooding and complex read that deserves to make a splash in its own right.

A radical and addictive thriller.

Into the Water is very different [to The Girl on the Train] – expect beautiful descriptions and deeper layers – but you’ll still want to race to the end to find out what happens.

Paula Hawkins effortlessly follows the success of The Girl on the Train with this immersive novel . . . Told from multiple points of view this is clever and twisty fiction with a ghostly edge.

Once you start, you won't be able to put this one down . . . With the same delicious mystery that lingers throughout The Girl on the Train (not to mention the jaw-dropping ending), Look read it every spare second.

The breathtaking follow-up to The Girl on the Train with author Paula Hawkins at her best . . . confident, ambitious and intriguing.

I loved it actually more than The Girl on the Train. It has depth, is authentic, beautiful and real.

Hawkins should be congratulated, both for daring to try something new, and for doing it well.

No, it's not The Girl on the Train and neither should it be. The author has crafted something totally different and it's an atmospheric, creepy read.

PAULA HAWKINS worked as a journalist for fifteen years before turning her hand to fiction. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, Paula moved to London in 1989 and has lived there ever since. Her first thriller, The Girl on the Train, has been a global phenomenon, selling almost 20 million copies worldwide. Published in over forty languages, it has been a No.1 bestseller around the world and was a No.1 box office hit film starring Emily Blunt. 
Into the Water is her second stand-alone thriller.

‘Wondering if Into the Water could be as good as The Girl on the Train? It's better. A triumph.’ Clare Mackintosh, bestselling author of I Let You Go 
 
The addictive No. 1 psychological thriller from the author of The Girl on the Train, the runaway Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller and global phenomenon. 
 
 
***** 
 
Just days before her sister plunged to her death, Jules ignored her call. 
 
Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules must return to her sister's house to care for her daughter, and to face the mystery of Nel's death. 
 
But Jules is afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of this small town that is drowning in secrecy . . . 
 
And of knowing that Nel would never have jumped. 
 
***** 
 
‘Paula Hawkins does it again! Into the Water is a moody and chilling thriller that will have you madly turning the pages. A gripping, compulsive read!’ Shari Lapena, bestselling author of The Couple Next Door 
 
‘Fans of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train rejoice: her second novel Into the Water is even better. A brilliantly plotted and fast-paced juggernaut of a read that hurtles to a heart-stopping conclusion.’ Good Housekeeping (Book of the Month) 
 
‘A twisting whodunnit that leaves you both gratified and surprised (also the best kind) . . . Not just a brilliant thriller but also a furious feminist howl . . .’ Stylist 
 
‘Dark, gothic and twisty as a snake in the grass. I read it in one sitting.’ Erin Kelly, author of He Said, She Said 
 
‘Into the Water is superb. Sinister layers, complex characters and a plot that'll keep you guessing.’ Ali Land, author of Good Me, Bad Me

Film tie-in CD

The Girl on the Train

The multi-million-copy global phenomenon

Film tie-in

THE RUNAWAY SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER AND THRILLER OF THE YEAR 
 
YOU DON'T KNOW HER. BUT SHE KNOWS YOU.

Really great suspense novel. Kept me up most of the night. The alcoholic narrator is dead perfect.

My vote for unreliable narrator of the year

The thriller scene will have to up its game if it's to match Hawkins this year

Hawkins's taut story roars along at the pace of, well, a high-speed train . . . a smart, searing thriller'

The Girl On The Train was so thrilling and tense and wildly unpredictable, it sucked up my entire afternoon. I simply could not put it down. Not to be missed!

Gripping, enthralling - a top-notch thriller and a compulsive read

What a group of characters, what a situation, what a book! It's Alfred Hitchcock for a new generation and a new era

Terry Hayes, bestselling author of I Am Pilgrim

Clever and compelling! Hawkins keeps the tension ratcheted high in this thoroughly engrossing tale of intersecting strangers and intimate betrayals. Kept me guessing until the very end!

A thriller that grabs you from the first page and takes you on a high speed ride full of twists and turns. Gazing out of the train window will never be the same again!

Colette McBeth, author of Precious Thing and The Life I Left Behind

A tight thriller with refreshingly realistic, nasty characterisation and an intricate weaving of narrative voices . . . A cleverly crafted piece of modern suburban noir

This is unputdownable . . . A fast, clever thriller with a flawed, entertaining heroine

Like its train, the story blasts through the stagnation of these lives in suburban London and the reader cannot help but turn the pages . . The welcome echoes of Rear Window throughout the story and its propulsive narrative make The Girl on the Train an absorbing read

There's nothing like a really excellent thriller to kick-start a new year, and this one's a beauty

a novel that grabbed me from the start and didn't let go

this year's most highly anticipated psychological thriller

If you like your books twisty and your narrators unreliable and flawed, this is for you

Wow, now I know why it has caused such a stir. Taut, tight, utterly compulsive. Once you embark you won't want to get off until the very last stop

Artfully crafted and utterly riveting. The Girl on the Train's clever structure and expert pacing will keep you perched on the edge of your seat, but it's Hawkins' deft, empathetic characterization that will leave you pondering this harrowing, thought-provoking story about the power of memory and the danger of envy.

Kimberly McCreight, New York Times-bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia

Damn you #girlonthetrain . . . you unputdownable, you. So twisty, compassionate and gritty. Loved it. Deserves to be massive

Going to be THE book of 2015. Sexy, smart &amp; v intricately plotted

Brilliant, fast-moving, very clever. Add to your January wish-list now!

Be ready to be spell-bound . . . It's the kind of book you'll want to press into the hands of everyone you know, after you've turned the last page, just so they can share your obsession and you can relive it

Compulsively readable…. It actually hurt to put it down

JOY FIELDING, New York Times bestselling author of Now You See Her

I'm calling it now: The Girl on the Train is the next Gone Girl. Paula Hawkins' highly anticipated debut novel is a dark, gripping thriller with the shock ending you crave in a noir-ish mystery

A gripping, down-the-rabbit-hole thriller

Gone Girl fans will devour this psychological thriller . . . Hawkins' debut ends with a twist that no one - least of all its victims - have seen coming

[Paula Hawkins] pulls off a thriller's toughest trick: carefully assembling everything we think we know, until it reveals the one thing we didn't see coming

distinctive, intelligent and unpredictable

perfectly paced, from its arresting beginning to its twist ending; it's not an easy book to put down . . . what really makes The Girl on the Train such a gripping novel is Hawkins' remarkable understanding of the limits of human knowledge, and the degree to whcih memory and imagination can become confused

A complex and increasingly chilling tale courtesy of a number of first-person narratives that will wrong-foot even the most experienced of crime fiction readers

The Girl on the Train marries movie noir with novelistic trickery . . . hang on tight. You'll be surprised by what horrors lurk around the bend

achieves a sinister poetry . . . Hawkins keeps the nastiest twist for last

[L]ike Gone Girl, Hawkins' book is a highly addictive novel about a lonely divorcee who gets caught up in the disappearance of a woman whom she had been surreptitiously watching. And beyond the Gone Girl comaparisons, this book has legs of its own

Hawkins' masterful deployment of unwittingly unreliable narration to evoke the aftershocks of abuse and trauma is a powerful way of exploring women's marginalization

Springs new surprises on us . . .Pulses will be quickened

The Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl

Halfway through and I can't stop reading it. My kinda thriller!

it's BLIDDY FABLISS, isn't it! A long long time since a book gripped me like this

The Girl on the Train is one of those delicious thrillers that can be devoured in four sittings, that's two return journeys on a typical train trip! There's a whiff of Agatha Christie and a dollop of Gone Girl with plenty of blind alleys that we happily wander up and get lost in. Pick it up, solve the crime and pass it on . . .

Agatha Christie meets Rear Window...a taut psychological thriller that's chockful of chilling twists.

Clever, exciting and full of twists, this is undoubtedly the cream of this year's crop

Unputdownable . . . the new literary sensation . . . nothing short of sensational

Hawkins juggles perspectives and timescales with great skill, and considerable suspense builds up along with empathy for an unusual central character.

THE RUNAWAY SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER AND THRILLER OF THE YEAR, NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING EMILY BLUNT 
 
'Really great suspense novel. Kept me up most of the night. The alcoholic narrator is dead perfect' STEPHEN KING 
 
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. 
 
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. 
 
Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar. 
 
Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

The Blue Hour

‘Paula Hawkins is a genius’ LISA JEWELL 
 
 When a small bone at the centre of a famous sculpture is revealed to be human, three people become intimately connected by the secrets and lies that put it there. 
 
 Set on a Scottish tidal island connected to the mainland for just a few hours each day, and home to only one inhabitant, The Blue Hour asks questions of ambition, power, art and perception. 
 
 'A new Paula Hawkins novel is always a cause for celebration. Her books have all the pleasing twists of the noir genre while at the same time having something to say that feels real and complex and true' LOUISE DOUGHTY

Paula Hawkins

The addictive bestselling Richard & Judy pick from the multi-million copy bestselling author of The Girl on the Train

The new SCORCHING bestseller from #1 author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN and INTO THE WATER 
 
'An addictive whodunnit' 
Evening Standard 
 
'Here are characters who are real and likeable, even when they are complicated and flawed. Paula Hawkins is a genius' 
Lisa Jewell 
 
Three women, connected by one brutal crime. 
Three women, determined to right the wrongs done to them. 
Three women, with everything to hide. 
 
When it comes to revenge, even good people are capable of terrible things. 
 
But only one person killed Daniel Sutherland. 
 
How long can their secrets smoulder, before they explode into flame?

Paula Hawkins

A Slow Fire Burning

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