Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Overview... alcoholic divorcee investigating the murder of Megan Hipwell. Since losing her job and the dissolution of her marriage, Rachel has spent her days getting drunk and riding the train to and from New York City. Every day on her ride she saw a beautiful couple she admired, but one day the woman (Megan) was kissing another man. Rachel confronted her about it and soon after, Megan went missing, making Rachel a suspect.
Personality... troubled, obsessive, and angry. With alcohol on her breath and an unhinged look in her eye, she’s a prime suspect and an unreliable witness. She becomes driven to find the killer to clear her name, but also to discover how and why a seemingly perfect marriage might fail. She so desperately wanted to live the life they led and has to understand why it ended in tragedy.
Get to Know her in...
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Rachel Watson, an alcoholic who divorced her husband Tom after she caught him cheating on her, takes the train to work daily. She fantasizes about the relationship of her neighbours, Scott and Megan Hipwell, during her commute. That all changes when she witnesses something from the train window and Megan is missing, presumed dead.
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Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
