The Girl On The Train

Megan is the second point-of-view character who is introduced, and her narrative generally covers a different time than Rachel and Anna’s. Her sections cover sporadic days from May 2012 to July 13, 2013, the day of her murder. She looks similar to Anna, as the police note, both are “blond, slim, petite, pale-skinned” (83). However, she behaves differently than Anna and Rachel. She is “quite wild” (86), both willing and able to reinvent herself throughout her life. She thinks of her past roles—“child, rebellious teenager, runaway, whore, lover, bad mother, bad wife” (287). While this characteristic changeability remains constant, Megan does evolve in other ways.

Over the course of the novel, Megan retrieves traumatic memories she has repressed. While she is forthcoming to Scott about the death of her brother when she was a teenager, she hides the death of her first child from Scott and attempts to hide it from herself as well. The only person she talks to about her baby’s death is her therapist, Kamal. Megan’s failure as a teen parent haunts her, initially making her dislike children, especially Anna’s child. While Rachel went out of her way to hold Anna’s baby, Anna says it seemed like Megan “didn’t like the feel of a child in her arms” (199). Unlike touch-starved Rachel, Megan conducted, and attempted to conduct, several affairs. However, discussing her past trauma caused Megan to want to try to raise another child. Shortly before her murder, she thinks about wanting to take on a new role: “good mother” (287).

Anna is not introduced as a point-of-view narrator until Chapter 10, and her narrative covers only some of the same days as Rachel’s. Her perspective of these days is presented as more reliable than Rachel’s, as Anna does not have an alcohol use disorder. In this way, Anna and Rachel act as foils to one another. Tom’s lies create conflict between his wives, and in the first few pages of Chapter 10, Anna thinks, “Sometimes I want to kill that woman” (110). In the last chapter from her perspective, Chapter 37, Anna thinks, “This is what I dreamed about happening” (312), as Tom nearly kills Rachel. It is only in Rachel’s final point-of-view chapter where Anna is seen supporting Rachel when interrogated by the police and aiding in killing Tom.

Anna only shows genuine concern for one other female—her daughter, Evie—and admits to liking one woman, Detective Riley. Anna believes Riley “seemed nice, sympathetic” (221), while Rachel hates Riley. Tom uses Anna’s concern for their baby to control her as he confesses to sleeping with and killing Megan. Anna’s past as Tom’s mistress, and her physical appearance, can be compared to Megan. However, Anna believes Megan was “Self-involved” and is “glad she’s gone. Good riddance” (197). When Rachel tries to offer sympathy to Anna about the death of Megan and Tom’s unborn child, she puts her arm around Anna’s shoulders. Anna thinks, “The feeling of her skin against mine makes my flesh crawl” (281).

While Anna does end up on Rachel’s side against Tom in the end, she remains emotionally detached from Rachel. Rachel doesn’t hear what Anna says to Tom as she twists the corkscrew further into him, ensuring he is dead in a way that Rachel cannot stomach. This leaves some of her reasoning unknown to the reader. However, in her last point-of-view chapter, she thinks siding with Tom means she and her daughter “would never be safe. I would never be safe. And who’s to say another Megan won’t come along? Or—worse—another Anna, another me?” (312). The biggest threat Anna can imagine is someone like her, someone who would steal Tom from her the way that she stole him from Rachel, rather than the threat of Tom’s violence against any woman.

Tom is the lover of Rachel, Anna, and Megan, and only seen through their perspectives. In the beginning of the novel, he is Rachel’s ex-husband, Anna’s husband, and Megan’s killer. Tom is a pathological liar, so most of the information the reader learns about him through the women he lied to is false. For instance, he claims to have been in the army, but in the end Rachel learns, “he was never in the army [...] he lied all the time, about everything. Even when he didn’t need to, even when there was no point” (319).

While Tom does not change over the course of the novel, being a static antagonist, his true character is revealed. In all of Megan’s chapters, until her last point-of-view chapter, Tom is referred to as “he,” obscuring his identity as both lover and killer. Once Rachel regains her memory, she learns Tom abused her and emotionally manipulated her. He calls himself a “Knight in shining armour,” to which Rachel replies, “You’re no one’s knight” (305). Anna’s discovery of Tom’s affair with Megan causes her to feel unsafe with him. In the end, it is Anna who ensures Tom dies after Rachel wounds him in self-defense.