The Girl on the Train

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins, published by Riverside Books a division on Penguin Books in 2015. This is a psychological thriller set in London and surrounding areas. The book is broken down into three viewpoints, Rachel who is our alcoholic who has been divorced and takes the train past her house, that still belongs to her husband and his new wife and baby, on the way to London. But more importantly, the train stops at the house that is four doors down from her house, she has made a fantasy life for the couple she does not know and has even given them fake names. This commute happens every weekday, while she drinks and watches, catching a glimpse one day of Jess with another man. She is obssessed with her husband as well, calling all the time to speak to him.

Then we have the thoughts of Megan the woman that Rachel calls Jess, and her inability to commit. We learn she has had a troubled past but this is not revealed until close to the end. She unfortunately, disappears the day after Rachel sees her with another man.  But the thoughts we hear are those from earlier in time. Rachel's start Friday, July 5th, 2013 and Megan's start Wednesday, May 16, 2012.

Then late into the book we start getting the thoughts of Anna, the wife to Rachel's ex-husband Tom. She has a baby and is paranoid, especially when it comes to Rachel, who has repeatedly harrassed them when Rachel is drunk, which seems all the time. She would like it if Rachel would just disappear and she constantly asks her husband to take care of it,  She finally decides to let the police know, right after Megan disappears.

Rachel just happens to be in Whitney, near her old home when Megan disappears. She is knock down drunk and gets attacked but she is prone to black-outs so she cannot remember anything. All she remembers is a red haired man. She is interviewed by the police and makes up stories. Then they receive word about her drunkeness and decide to ignore her remarks. So she becomes the unreliable witness.

There are lots of twists and turns and though I am pretty good at solving mysteries, this one had me thinking until the end. I mentioned this before, do not read at bedtime. I kept trying to solve it in my sleep, which led to some pretty graphic dreams. Great book.