GIRL on a TRAIN-Fast Read on a plane, train or automobile

GIRL on a TRAIN is a fast paced murder mystery.  The central character, Rachel, is a woman struggling with sobriety and her sanity.  This easy read is beguiling despite its pathetic, love-sick heroine.  Rachel's ex left her for another woman & their child.  She's lost her marriage, job, home & her ability to function without the help of alcohol.  Rachel tells you what a loser she has become; living in a small bedroom in an old friend's home.  After being fired, Rachel continues to take the train into London M-F under the pretense of working for fear of being tossed from her rental.  While riding the train to & from London, Rachel peers out her window & observes both her where he ex lives with his new family and the young couple just a few doors down.  Rachel draws a fantasty of marital bliss around this young couple.  This comes to a screeching halt when she spots the woman in the arms of another man.  Shortly after, the woman is reported missing.  Deemed a stalker, a drunk, an unreliable witness and a scorned woman, Rachel inserts herself into the midst of the police investigation.  She wants to be of help & to live vicariously through the tumult of others lives.  The body of the missing woman is recovered but Rachel's memory of her whereabouts remain a disturbing mystery while in a  drunken stupor.  Author Paula Hawkins (b. Zimbabwe) working as a journalist in London, has written a gripping mystery with her 1st novel.  The GIRL on a TRAIN is a beach book and a guilty pleasure.  It is also an insightful look at an individual grappling with addiction.  Once you start this novel, hold on for a swift ride.