The novel by debut writer Hawkins centers on Rachel, a divorced woman who often drinks and who glimpses a couple in their apartment every day as she travels on a train. When the wife disappears, Rachel herself is questioned by police because Rachel's ex-husband's new wife says Rachel was near the couple's apartment when the wife went missing. But Rachel can't remember what happened because of her drinking problem. "It's very twisty," Nelson says. "You don't know what's going on at certain points, but that's kind of the fun of it."
