Book Summary: The Girl on the Train

"The Girl on the Train" is a fiction novel by "Paula Hawkins". Interestingly there is already a motion picture on this novel which was released in October 2016. I decided to read the novel instead of watching the movie. The novel is set in London where Rachel, who has suffered a painful separation from her husband, takes the daily morning train from her home in the suburb to the London city. As divorcee who is unable to adjust to the prejudice of betrayal from her ex-husband, Rachel ends up losing her job and turns into an alcoholic. Early morning train rides to the city is her only solace as she thinks about her life and the about the lives of people in the train and people that she can see far off from the train. Amidst all the chaos happening is her life, Rachel finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation of a woman (Megan) whose life she deems ideal when she saw her from her train journeys  every morning. The murder mystery becomes all the more hairy and interesting when Rachel remembers from her dis-figured memories that her ex-husband (Tom) and his new wife (Anna) were involved with the murdered women in some capacity. The police's murder investigation hold Megan's husband (Scott) and her therapist (Dr Kamal Abdic) as prime suspects for Megan's disappearance and murder.

The novel throughout is written is in first person from Rachel's, Megan's and Anna's prospective. The author has also provided their first hand perspectives in a chronological order like entries in their respective personal diaries. This was a very interesting way of narrating the story from the perspective of three people whose lives are related to each other's in some way. The author also beautifully makes you realize that lives of people that we see and interact with is mostly an eyewash and superficial and we could be blissfully be unaware of the painful realities being experienced by people. The author also depicts the emotions experienced by all three women in greater detail. One of the things that I didn't like about the book was the portrayal of violence and voyeurism of the male members (Tom and Scott) in the book. It seemed like author wanted to show that always the males caused the suffrage to the women. There were other instances where Rachel's roommate Cathy's subservience towards her boyfriend was looked down upon by Rachel. Was it because of Rachel's untimely divorce and her subsequent deterioration into alcoholism or was it because of author genuine dislike for male counterparts we will never know. Nevertheless, the book is an action packed thriller and there is no point in the book when author fails to create the magic of mystery and uncertainty. So if you are forward to reading a fiction book look no further than "The Girl on the Train".