I am such a fan of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and this book, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins is very reminiscent of that book. The girl on the train is Rachel, an alcoholic ex-wife, who indulges herself with daydreams/made-up stories of people she sees from the train. She was particularly fascinated by a couple she often see from the train until one day, she saw in the news that the woman went missing. She later learned the name of the woman is Megan. As Rachel gets deeply obsessed with the mystery  of Megan disappearance, she continues drinking herself sick and disturbing the peaceful life of her ex-husband, Tom & new wife. The story revolved around these three women: Rachel, Megan and Anna.

As I delved deeper into the story, I got so caught up with the mystery of Megan’s disappearance, I kept turning the page as my excitement builds. Was Megan killed? Did she ran away? Was she kidnapped? At the middle part of the book, I got a bit annoyed with Rachel. Her insecurities. Her alcoholic amnesia. Her self-destructive behavior. Among the three women, it is very hard to like or cheer on any of these women. They are way all too flawed to be sympathise or liked. In some of the characters in the book, the author failed to make us understand why they turned out the way they do.

The ending was a let-down for me. I wasn’t too happy how it all ends. There are so many whys unanswered. And you can go, “Really? Is that it?”

It is not a Gone Girl for me but it was interesting enough (especially in the beginning) to piqué my interest. If you are natural people-watcher & have a nagging interest in the lives of other people and would love little psychological thriller for the weekend while reading red wine, read this. This one is for you.

If you are interested in reading this book, let me know. I can send you over the book. (any place in the world, really.)

If you have any other book suggestion for next month, do let me know.