"The Girl On The Train"

"The Girl On The Train" by Paula Hawkins is her first thriller after fifteen years as a journalist.  I believe she has found her calling and I hope she already has a new novel in the works!

This is the story of two couples who live on the same street and the connections between them and Rachel.  Rachel rides the commuter train every morning and every evening from the room she rents in the suburbs.  She loves to look out the window at the homes along the way but there is one particular street that interests her and she gives her own names to one particular couple that her observations from the train make her deduce that they are very much in love.

When the female half of that couple goes missing, Rachel decides she must go to the police with her observations because she believes she's seen things from the train that might have a bearing on the disappearance.

However, as an alcoholic, Rachel doesn't make a very reliable witness and she tends to have blackouts that cause lapses in her memory.  Her ex-husband and his new wife don't paint a very pretty picture of her behavior either so who is really going to believe her?

Hawkins writes a tale that uncovers the layers in her characters lives and bares their secrets.  What everyone thought they knew to be true may only be part of the truth.  Like the layers of an onion all must be peeled away to uncover the real truth in all their lives.  pazt