Girl on the Train (Roman)
Girl on the train. You don't know her, but she knows you. (Original title: The Girl on the Train ) is a novel by the British author Paula Hawkins from 2015. The thriller was published in the United States by Penguin Books and quickly hit the New York Times bestseller list .
The German translation by Christoph Göhler was published on June 15, 2015 by Random House . The film adaptation was released in October 2016.
content
Rachel, an alcoholic, unemployed woman in her early 30s, lives in Ashbury, a suburb of London. So that her landlady and roommate Cynthia doesn't notice that she lost her job months ago because of her alcoholic illness, she takes the regional train to London every morning at 8:04 a.m. She also passes her former neighborhood. While Rachel tries not to look at her previous house, where her ex-husband Tom lives with his new wife Anna and their daughter, she fantasizes about the perfect life of a couple a few doors away. Rachel gave them a job, qualities, and even names: Jess and Jason.
One day she sees Jess kissing another man. Shortly thereafter, Rachel learns through the media of the disappearance of a woman named Megan, whom she called Jess. Rachel is contacted by the police because she was in the immediate vicinity on the night of the disappearance. This was because Rachel tries to contact Tom when she is very drunk. Despite being separated for a few years, she still loves him, and even broke into Tom's house and left with his daughter once. Rachel wanted to have children herself, but when this failed, she sought solace in alcohol, which had consequences for her marriage. Tom began an affair with Anna and eventually split up with Rachel.
On the night Megan's disappearance, Anna and Tom saw Rachel in the neighborhood and told the police about it, but Rachel can't help the police, as she has only vague memories of what she's been doing except for bruises and two head injuries. However, she reports on the kiss that puts Kamal Abdic, Megan's psychologist, into the focus of the investigation.
While intoxicated, Rachel also contacts Scott, Megan's husband, and the two of them have a brief affair. In the meantime, it turns out that Megan had an affair with Kamal, and her body is found in nearby Corly. She was murdered. At the autopsy it is found that Megan was pregnant, but neither by Scott nor Kamal.
Anna and Rachel independently find out that Tom was the child's father. Rachel, because she remembers seeing Tom and Megan together on the night of the murder, and Anna, because she found Megan's phone in Tom's gym bag.
When Rachel tries to convince Anna to leave Tom, Tom surprises the two of them at home. He confesses to the murder and now tries to murder Rachel too. While Anna initially lets him go, she finally calls the police. Rachel manages to escape from the house. Since Tom follows her, she defends herself with a corkscrew, which she rams into his throat. Anna helps to make sure Tom dies from the injury. The two women cover each other during interrogation by the police.
A month later, on her way to vacation, Rachel sees from the train that both houses are for sale. Eventually she visits Megan's grave. She hasn't touched alcohol in a few weeks.
filming
In October 2016, the film adaptation of the same name with Emily Blunt in the lead role was released. The director took Tate Taylor .
literature
- Paula Hawkins: The Girl on the Train , Doubleday, London 2015, ISBN 978-0-8575-2232-0 (English).
- Paula Hawkins: Girl on the Train - You don't know her, but she knows you (original title: The Girl on the Train , translated by Christoph Göhler), Blanvalet, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-7645-0522-6 .
- As an audio book : Abridged reading, read by Britta Steffenhagen , Rike Schmid , Christiane Marx, 2 MP3 CDs, 640 minutes, Random-House Audia, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-8371-3142-0 .
Web links
- Author's Website (English)