Arrived today from an Amazon seller. New.

This sounded like something similar to what Laura Lippmann writes: a dark mystery. Right up my alley. That is pretty much what it turned out to be.

Rachel has suffered some setbacks. Her happy marriage turned sour when she found she was unable to conceive. She had clearly fantasized about a happy marriage for years and couldn't release that dream. Instead, she found herself riding the train to and from work every day and watching a couple in a house not far from the tracks, when the train came to a scheduled stop. The house was only a few doors away from where Rachel had lived with her ex-husband.

Now living in a rented room in a house with a bit of a busybody landlady, Rachel thinks about how far she has sunk. And she takes refuge in the life of the couple in the house. She gives them names: Jess and Jason. She cheers them on. She imagines their life together while she sips from a canned cocktail. Her life is shit and she feels somewhat justified in drinking to keep it at bay.

Then one day she reads in the paper that "Jess" has disappeared. She learns her real name. She knows the police will zero in on "Jason" and she feels this is not right. They were so good together. She felt she knew them, almost, as she watched them on the back patio, having drinks, touching each other. She feels compelled to help "Jason" - but she is carrying around a heavy secret. A secret that may implicate her in Jess's disappearance.

As Rachel makes one possibly bad decision after another, to see her ex-husband, to visit "Jason", to intrude on others' lives to an alarming degree, she finds it difficult to stay even, particularly while drinking. Her own life is out of control so why is she so determined to move in on others'?

Added to General Lit VBB.

Inside unit 4