During interviews, Paula Hawkins named some writers who shaped her storytelling techniques. She also recommended outstanding authors, including the American screenwriter Megan Abbott. Hawkins revealed that Abbott created brilliant, complicated thrillers about young women that fascinated readers.
Literature experts and observers have compared Hawkins’ style with other authors. Some of these authors are listed below.
Gillian Flynn
Gillian Schieber Flynn is an American author, producer, and screenwriter. She is famous for the darkly-entertaining mystery and thriller novels ‘Sharp Objects’ (2006), ‘Dark Places’ (2009), and ‘Gone Girl’ (2012). Her books got published in 40 languages, and ‘Gone Girl’ sold over 10 million copies in 2016.
After graduating from the Medill School of Journalism, she pursued a career in crime reporting. Daunted by the invasive and incompatible nature of the job, however, she settled for a brief freelancing for U.S. News & World Report. In 1998, she received employment as a feature writer at Entertainment Weekly. She got promoted to television critic and continued to analyze movies until her dismissal ten years later.
During an interview, Flynn admitted her writing career would have been nonexistent if she Hadn’t been a journalist. Her father constantly took her to watch horror movies as a child, birthing her love for literature.
Around the time Gillian Flynn was fired from Entertainment Weekly, she published her second novel ‘Dark Places.’ When asked for a follow-up, she went full-time into writing. The product was the 2012 New York Times Best Seller ‘Gone Girl.’ Flynn stated that her best writing time was midnight because she felt the world was hers then.
Fans of Paula Hawkins have been able to relate to Flynn’s literary works because her narratives involve progressive plots, complicated characters, and clever twists.
Ruth Ware
Ruth Ware is a British author who specializes in the psychological thriller genre. She studied English at Manchester University, and her love for Old and Middle English texts was born. She worked as a waitress, teacher, bookseller, and publicist before committing fully to writing.
Her famous books include ‘In a Dark, Dark Wood’ (2015) ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ (2016), ‘The Lying Game’ (2017), and ‘The Death of Mrs. Westaway’ (2018). Three of these novels got translated into Turkish.
Her pen name Ruth Ware differentiates her crime novels from the ‘softer’ novels she earlier published under her name, Ruth Warburton. Before venturing into crime, Ruth wrote five young adult fantasy books: ‘A Witch Alone’ (2013), ‘Witch in Winter’ (2013), ‘Witch in Love’ (2013) ‘Witch Finder’ (2014), ‘Witch Hunt’ (2014).
Her recent writing style gets compared to that of Agatha Christie. She acknowledged Agatha as an influence. She also stated that she started writing as a little girl but did not expect to become a published author.
She rose to fame after the publication of ‘In a Dark, Dark Wood’ and three of her books got optioned for films. In an interview, she expressed satisfaction with the existence of more female writers. Authors like Paula Hawkins, Gillian Flynn, Clare Mackintosh, and Erin Kelly were called incredible writers of thrillers.
Lovers of Hawkins’ works are attracted to Ware’s splendidly written subliminal works that merge artful plot twists and exciting prose.
Alex Michaelides
Alex Michaelides is a British Cypriot screenwriter and author. His novel ‘The Silent Patient’ was a 2019 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller. The book sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. Also, it won the Goodreads Choice Award in the Mystery and Thriller category.
Asides from English Literature, he studied psychotherapy for three years. He also bagged an M.A. In Screenwriting from the American Film Institute. He worked for two years at a secure unit for young adults. Inspiration for the debut novel ‘The Silent Patient’ came from his time there.
Admitting that he grew up in a house full of books, Evelyn Waugh, Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, and Dickens influenced him. He also named Agatha Christie an exciting author he discovered at eleven or twelve. His love for her writing inspired the creation of ‘The Silent Patient.’
Like Hawkins, Alex interlaces delusions and obsessions in his literary works, pushing narratives with exhilarating turns.
Alexis Schaitkin
Alexis Schaitkin is the author of ‘Saint X’ which was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2020. The Washington Post, People Magazine, and others critically examined the book. It also got translated into seven languages.
While growing up, Schaitkin was interested in art and created some works. After she graduated from college, she went to Thailand to teach literature to university students. Schaitkin attended the University of Virginia, bagged her MFA, and taught creative nonfiction.
Schaitkin stated that she was first attracted to aesthetic books with a sense of mystery or magic, and Ruth Chew’s novels rocked her world. Traces of her initial reading attractions are in ‘Saint X.’ She also named Philip Roth, Shirley Jackson, William Trevor, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Toni Morrison as her top authors. Alexis confessed that while working on a book, she reads works of fiction that are not different from the genre she is writing.
Paula Hawkins’ fans enjoy Schaitkin’s atmospheric narration, excellently organized story, as well as her distinctive characters.
M.T. Edvardsson
Mattias Edvardsson is a teacher and a writer from Sweden. He has written many popular books for young readers and five novels. His popular psychological suspense novel ‘A Nearly Normal Family’ was published in 2019 and became a runaway bestseller. His 2021 novel ‘A Family Tragedy‘ quickly rose to the top of the bestseller lists post-publication.
In ‘A Nearly Normal Family,’ Edvardsson’s intricately proficient storytelling and refined scrutiny of domestic secrets properly relate to the thrills found in ‘The Girl on the Train.’
FAQs
What literary genres inspire Paula Hawkins?
When asked about her literary influence, Hawkins said, “Recently, I’ve been more influenced by non-fiction than fiction; by the precise, taut, restrained tone of books like ‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote or ‘The Red Parts’ by Maggie Nelson.”
What book gets compared with Hawkins’ famous ‘The Girl on the Train’ novel?
Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’ is a 2012 crime thriller novel that gets compared to ‘The Girl on the Train.’
Since both books have the word “girl” in the title, comparisons come. ‘Girl on the Train’ and ‘Gone Girl’ share more than just their
eponymic protagonists. Hawkins and Flynn use a missing woman and a suspected husband to unfold the plot.
What was Ruth Ware’s first name?
After she wrote five young adult fantasy novels titled ‘A Witch Alone’ (2013), ‘Witch in Winter’ (2013), ‘Witch in Love’ (2013) ‘Witch Finder’ (2014), ‘Witch Hunt’ (2014), under her real name Ruth Warburton, she changed genre and name in 2015.
How did Alexis Schaitkin categorize her book ‘Saint X?’
Alexis agreed with an interviewer that ‘Saint X’ was a cross between a true crime novel, a coming-of-age novel, and a primer on how to be a stalker in New York City. She also described it as a domestic drama propelled by a mystery. “It’s a novel with a mysterious murder at its center that’s not a murder mystery,” she said.
