The Girl On The Train

Also using the first person, Megan describes a few days in 2012, a year before the previous chapter. On May 16, she watches the trains go by from number 15, fantasizing about being other places. She remembers Holkham, where she used to live, and flinches slightly when her husband, Scott, approaches.

That evening, she hears screaming at number 23 and, from her terrace, sees Rachel give Anna her baby back. Anna goes inside, and Rachel runs after her, falls, and walks around the garden. Megan misses her old art gallery job and considers looking for a new job.

On August 14, Megan gets ready for work as Anna’s nanny. She became interested in Anna after the drama with Rachel and was encouraged by Scott to pursue the job. However, on this day, she regrets the decision because the baby and Anna are not actually interesting. As Megan arrives at number 23, Tom leaves.

On August 16, Megan quits her job as Anna’s nanny, claiming to have found another position. She thinks about her ability to reinvent herself and about finding a new path.

On September 20, Megan thinks about her brother, Ben, and how his death prevented them from traveling. She begins therapy, which is also something Scott encourages her to do. She almost leaves when the doctor, Kamal Abdic, is delayed but finds his accented voice soothing. Megan also finds him attractive. She tells him about her panic attacks, insomnia, and the loss of her art gallery. Scott questions her about the appointment when she gets home.

On September 25, Megan goes for a walk. She thinks about how she rarely goes out—only taking Pilates classes, shopping, and going to therapy. This is partly due to avoiding Anna because of her lie. Megan feels nervous when she goes past the underpass. When Scott has to work late that evening, she goes on another walk and considers going to number 23. This time, she walks through the underpass as a train crosses above and feels even more nervous. She sees a man (presumably Tom) in his car.

This chapter picks up where Rachel’s previous chapter left off, covering the days of July 12, 13, and 14. Each day is broken up into morning and evening sections. During her morning train ride, Rachel sees the woman she calls Jess (who is actually Megan) kiss a man who is not her husband in the garden. This upsets Rachel and causes her to reminisce about finding out that Tom cheated on her. While Rachel was checking Tom’s calendar to schedule a surprise anniversary trip, she found an email exchange between him and Anna.

The comparison between the couple in number 15 and her relationship with Tom causes Rachel to wander into a coffee shop where her former coworkers are regulars. She lies to the colleagues she runs into, saying she is going to an interview. Instead, Rachel goes to Regent’s Park. Anna calls Rachel on Tom’s phone and leaves a message asking Rachel to leave them alone. At this point, Rachel starts drinking heavily and thinks about Anna living in the house she picked and decorated.

The next day, a Saturday, Rachel wakes up to the sound of Cathy cleaning. She hides in her room for a while, then drinks at a pub. Then, intoxicated, Rachel decides to try to see the man she calls Jason (Scott). At first, she plans to look from the train, but she gets off at the exit closest to her old house (Witney) rather than the one closest to number 15 (Euston). Before she gets off, she notices a man watching her on the train.

In the morning, Rachel wakes up bloody, bruised, and naked in bed, but cannot remember what happened the night before. Cathy stayed over at her boyfriend’s place and isn’t around, so Rachel wanders around the apartment looking for her handbag. She finds it and her urine-stained clothes near the front door. After grabbing her bag, she hurries to the bathroom to vomit but doesn’t make it and vomits on the stairs. Back in bed, she listens to an angry voicemail from Tom and considers how she’d like to harm Anna before passing out.

That evening, Cathy comes home to find Rachel’s mess and demands that she move out in the next four weeks. After Rachel cleans up, she finds another, nicer message from Tom on her phone, but she still can’t remember what happened.

This chapter returns to 2012, for two days in October. On October 2, Megan describes having a panic attack and cutting her hand while climbing over her fence close to the train tracks. While Scott sleeps, she calls her therapist repeatedly and considers taking some photographs of Corly Wood the next day. During therapy, Megan does not reveal how Scott reads her emails. She has been unfaithful in the past, but there is nothing incriminating in her emails now.

However, by October 13, Megan asks another woman from her Pilates class (Tara) to cover for her. She meets a man who is not named in this chapter (but is later revealed as Tom) at a hotel in Corly. After they sleep together, she lies about her past and lies about this being the last time. That night, she lies to Scott about a future meeting with her Pilates classmate; she has sex with Scott while thinking about Tom.

In this chapter, Rachel picks up her narrative on July 15, 2013. Cathy gives her formal notice of her eviction, and Rachel cries on the train. She reflects on how she became involved with Tom after her dad died, and how she couldn’t have children. She thinks she sees the man she calls Jason (Scott) looking at her as she passes on the train.

Rachel goes to the library, emails her mother, and notices a news story: Megan is missing. Rachel learns Megan and Scott’s real names and recalls Scott looking at her as she passed on the train. The news upsets Rachel, and she—addiction-free this time—runs out into the street without looking and gets hit by a taxi. She goes to the emergency room, and Cathy picks her up there.

On January 10, 2013, Megan doesn’t want to go out, partly due to the rainy weather. She reminisces about vacationing in Santa Margherita with her brother when she was a teenager. Ben prevented them from going sailing with an older stranger, saying they would have time to sail later. However, he died before they could. Megan thinks about therapy—the details that she is withholding from her therapist and Scott. At therapy that night, she mentions having a relationship with Mac but does not reveal information about their child (which the reader also learns about later). She Googles Mac but can’t find him.

On the morning of February 8, 2013, Megan walks in the woods, thinking about an argument with Scott about her searching for Mac online. He left the previous morning on a work trip. In therapy the previous night, she told Kamal about Scott going through her search history, and Kamal says Scott could be emotionally abusing her. Megan doesn’t agree and invites Kamal out for a drink after therapy. He refuses; she follows him home, knocks on his door, and kisses him when he answers. He asks her to stop. During her walk on February 8, she sees Anna out walking with the baby but refuses to return her smile. That afternoon, she naps and thinks about her lover leaving in the middle of the night (who is later revealed as Tom). Her guilt makes her wish Scott would come home.