The Girl on the Train

There's been a lot of hype about this first novel by author Paula Hawkins, comparing it in genre to Gone Girl. I did not like Gone Girl, and was hoping for more in this 'marriage thriller, ' which has the same kind of creepy characters and twists in the story. The main character is Rachel, whose life is pretty much falling apart--her husband has divorced her, she has lost her job, and she's definitely drinking too much.  To keep up appearances, she still rides the train into London every morning, and on her daily commute she observes the back gardens of several homes and the people who live there.  One couple in particular fascinates her and she imagines their perfect lives as she passes by--until one day when she observes something that's not quite right. When the woman she sees from the train goes missing the next day, Rachel is obsessed with what happened and becomes involved in the story. 

I wanted to like this book, it seemed like such a great premise, the idea of watching people from a train every day and imagining their lives. By the end, however, like with Gone Girl, I was tired of the characters and pretty much wanted to ring Rachel's neck. Still readable, though!