I had been waiting to read this book ever since I heard about it .Just finished reading it today.
Rachel a lonely,depressed young woman has resorted to drinking heavily while trying to come to terms with her divorce.She is miserable and failing to put herself back together,so despite losing her job,she continues her commute to London by train everyday just to keep up pretenses and not arouse suspicion in her friend/roommate who gives her a place to live in.She watches a certain couple from the train as it halts at the same red signal everyday and imagines the perfect life they lead, becomes obsessed with them and even gives them names calling them Jess and Jason.She takes comfort in feeling that she knows them and keeps imagining their perfect happy life.Incidentally they live very close from her old house where her ex-husband Tom,still resides with his new wife and baby.One day,while commuting,she witnesses Jess on her terrace ,being intimate with another man.Rachel takes this personally and is outraged at finding that this does not fit with the image she had conjured up in her mind.Shortly after this episode,she learns that Jess who is actually named Megan,has disappeared.Rachel ,being an alcoholic ,is always intoxicated and being in an alcoholic stupor, cannot remember much about the same night that Megan goes missing.Images of blood,an underpass,a red haired man and a blue dress keep coming to her in flashes.She cannot rest until she finds out what has happened and involves herself in the investigation by meeting with the police and Megan's husband,named Scott.
My views:When I picked up this book,I had anticipated it to be fast paced.It is narrated by three characters Rachel,Megan and Tom's new wife Anna,each telling their perspective.I realised early that they are unreliable narrators but the story had a very promising start and I continued on.It is told in time frames taking the help of dates set in 2012 and 2013 ,jumping back and forth in time and it was a bit difficult to keep track of that.It is a well written thriller and was paced fast initially but it got a bit repetitive towards the end.I couldn't relate to any of the characters because they were all at the extreme end of the spectrum.They sounded whiny,clingy,self-pitying and unable to stand up for themselves.'Lets be honest:women are still only really valued for two things-their looks and their role as mothers',says Rachel.This statement irked me when it set the undertone for the book.
It was not too difficult to guess the conclusion.Apart from this the story was interesting even though I was unable to sympathize with anyone.Everything looks fine on the surface but when you dig deeper things are never what they seem.I was expecting a more startling climax and this one didnt manage to impress or convince me as much.The ending felt like I was watching just another pot-boiler.
However,it does have all the ingredients of a psychological thriller,dark elements and all.Maybe someone who is reading this kind of a book for the first time will enjoy it.I found it a bit predictable.
Its about time I read something happy.This did manage to mess up my head a bit.
I rate it a 3 out of 5.
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