- How did you like the narrative structure of the book? Do you feel like the structure helped build suspense?
- How would you have reacted if you’d seen what Rachel did from her train window—a pile of clothes—just before the rumored disappearance of Megan Hipwell?
- In both Rachel Watson’s and Megan Hipwell’s marriages, deep secrets are kept from the husbands. Are these marriages unusual or even extreme in this way? Consider how many relationships rely on half-truths? Is it ever necessary or justifiable to lie to someone you love?
- What about the lies the characters tell to themselves? In what ways is Rachel lying to herself? Do all people tell themselves lies to some degree in order to move on with their lives?
- A crucial question in The Girl on the Train is how much Rachel Watson can trust her own memory. How reliable are her observations? Yet since the relationship between truth and memory is often a slippery one, how objective or “true” can a memory, by definition, really be? Can memory lie? Consider examples from the book.
- Think about trust in The Girl on the Train. Who trusts whom? Is Rachel Watson a very trustworthy person? Why or why not? Who appears trustworthy and is actually not?
- Other characters in the novel make different assumptions about Rachel Watson depending on how or even where they see her. To a certain extent, she understands this and often tries to manipulate their assumptions—by appearing to be a commuter, for instance, going to work every day. Is she successful? How did your assumptions about her affect your reading of the central mystery in the book? Did your assumptions about her change over its course?
- Why do you think the book captivated so many people and drew the reader in?
- Did you see the end coming?
- What did you like most about the book? Least?
Bonus Question: Who do you think should play these characters in the upcoming film adaptation?
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