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Paula Hawkins melancholy tell of what happens to the survivor’s of murder victims as they go on living in the aftermath of loss, with their own pathologies and pathos, shines as a hypnotic and nimble new comer in a genre burdened down with rigid rehashing of the procedural tropes in many mystery thrillers. The story starts with Rachel piecing her life back together after being fired from her job. She is living with her flat mate Cathy, pretending to still be employed by riding the train into town each day, and generally snooping in the lives of her neighbors, imagining their specifics and superimposing her wishes on couples in her local park. She’s a lonely, self-loathing alcoholic, approaching the hill’s bend who may or may not have murdered a familiar woman in a blackout fit of rage. She keeps reaching into the missing spaces in her memories for those lost hours in hopes of discovering just what happened to the pretty blonde reported by the local press as missing. Along the way Rachel makes more than her fair share of missteps like attracting police attention toward her as a potential suspect when she really meant to aid the investigation, to identifying the wrong man as the murderer, causing his life undue pain, and even becoming friends with the victim’s husband, which blows up in her face when he confronts her about her lies. The characterizations are spot on. Thirty-somethings, self-involved and reflecting on their experiences to find meaning in their identities and daily lives. Enter Rachel the character with the story’s biggest narrative perspective, filled with angst and despairing after being fired for an alcohol fueled emotional breakdown at work. She looks for meaning in the lives of others and hopes to find someone to love her chubby body and crows feet ridden face. Meagan, the hot blond that everyman wants and every woman wants to be, is in similar shape. Her beauty is better, but her loneliness and longing are equally as strong as Rachel’s. The bea...
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