The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is a fast-paced murder mystery with lots of twists and turns throughout. It is July 2013 and Rachel, a middle-aged single woman, commutes by train to London every day. She has memorized everything about the trip, from the stops to the landscape, and has become particularly fascinated by a happy couple she sees almost everyday. But then one day she sees something new and she cannot let it go. And then the rug is pulled out from underneath her when her dreamy couple becomes one of London's most intriguing headlines.
The similarities between this novel to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl are uncanny. This story is told from multiple perspectives; people's "truths" are never really as they seem; and there is even a male-female police duo. This story is also told in alternating viewpoints and flashes backward and forward in time. Readers will follow Rachel and two other female characters as the search for answers in all of their lives unfolds.
This book was easy to read and intriguing but the ending left me with a little longing for something more. I enjoyed the development of the lead character, Rachel, but honestly felt this was too similar to Gone Girl. Readers who enjoy murder mysteries, thrillers, and dysfunctional female characters will enjoy this book.