THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

One of Paula Hawkins best novel is "The girl on the train." It is one of the psychological thriller novels. It is a story full of thrill and suspense. I really like this novel because thrilling novels are at their best caught your breath at every next scene that what is going to be happen next. You just keep on reading the novel in a single go. The girl on the train was one of 2016's best seller novels.

This novel is written as a first person narrative as the story is told by three women Rachel, Anna and Megan. The story begins with Rachel's narration. She was a 32 year old woman, reeling from the end of her marriage with Tom. Tom left Rachel for another woman, Anna Watson. 

Rachel has a habit of drinking which was the cause to lose her job. Because of her bad smoking habit she often faced severe blackouts too. She often harasses Tom as she has litter or no money once she sobers up.

 Rachel and Tom were friends and they were happily married but Rachel was unable to conceive and that inability of hers turns her into an alcoholic person. Tom too left her and married Anna. Tom and Anna were living happily with their daughter Evie.

The sight of Evie fuels Rachel's self-destructive tendencies as was unable to conceive because of her inability. Rachel has lost her job but she follows the same her same routine of taking the train to London every day. The train slowly passes from her old house where now Tom, Anna and Evie live happily.

The sight from the train was the best part. She watched from the train a beautiful and a very attractive couple living a few houses away from Tom's house. She idealizes their life and called them as Jason and Jess. She taught of them as a perfect couple and they were living a perfect life.

The second narrative of this story is Anna. Anna was a young and beautiful girl. She was a house wife. She loved to be at home with her daughter Evie. Anna firstly enjoyed the idea of showing off her beautiful life to Rachel that Tom chooses her over Rachel.

If we come back to Rachel's part while travelling on a train one day she saw Megan which she called as "Jess" with another man. It was not Scott (Jason), his husband. The next day Rachel found herself awakens as bloody and injured. She has no memories of last night that what happened to her.

At the same day she came to learn that Megan was missing and she was called by the police because Anna had reported her to the police. She told the police that she had seen Rachel drunk last night near their place when Megan went missing. She also told the police Rachel's harassment to her family.

Rachel told the police that she had seen Megan with a man and that she was having an affair. She got interested in that case as she had the feeling that that she had seen something the night she was drunk and Megan was missing. She also met Scott, Megan's husband as Megan's friend.

The third narrative of this novel is Megan. Megan had a troubled past. She found her life boring and she visited a therapist Dr Kamal Abdic and told him the darkest part of her life. Rachel thought that the man he saw that day with Megan was Kamal.

Rachel took a therapy session with Kamal. Her motive was to recall her memory of that day when she was blackout and to find the relationship of Kamal with Megan. A few days later Megan's body was found and she was reported pregnant. 

Rachel begin trusting her own memories more and she believed that many of the crazy things that Tom told her that she did while she was drunk really never happened. Rachel thought that it was Tom who killed Megan and she warns Anna as well.

Anna thought Rachel as a crazy person as she didn't wanted to believe what Rachel was telling her. She was scared at time that how Rachel harassed her in the past. Once Rachel came to her house and took Evie when Anna was not there. Rachel told Anna that she took Evie out of an act of love as she always wanted to be a mother but it was not possible for her.

I'm leaving the last part for you to read as a thriller or suspense. Do read this book to know who the real murderer is. What happens in Rachel's life in the end and also watch the movie. The movie was not as good as the novel for me but still I will recommend you to watch it after reading the novel.

Here is a glimpse from the movie "The girl on the train."