Book Review - The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is a psychological thriller. Rachel cannot get over the fact that her ex-husband is with someone else. She pesters him and she drinks. In fact she drinks so much that she cannot remember what she has done. Having lost her job she still travels the route into London by the same train everyday, wiling away her the hours until it's time to return home. She watches the houses from the train, two in particular - the one she used to live in with Tom and a house a few doors down where she makes up a life for the couple she sees on the terrace.

One day everything changes. She sees the woman from the house watches kissing someone not her husband. Next thing she learns is that woman has gone missing on a night when she had got off at that stop in order to confront Tom again. She knows something happened. She is cut and bruised. She remembers a red hair man helping her up the station steps but everything is a blur. Gradually she becomes involved in the life of Scott, the husband of the missing woman. She begins to unravel the pieces but her version of events don't match up. If only she could stay off the booze and think clearly.

This is a claustrophobic story, of  who is misleading who, culminating in a final show down. The story is also told through not only Rachel's eyes but from those of Anna (Tom's new wife) and Megan, Scott's wife. The twists and turns will keep you guessing. This novel reminded me a little of The Pocket Wife which I read a little while ago where the main character drank, though she had other mental issues. Parts of her life were a blank and she wasn't sure who was lying to her. A good gripping read!

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