Published By: Constable
Pages: 352
Released On: 12/06/2025
Four strangers on a train. An unlikely introduction:
‘Actually, I’m a murderer.’
It is 1973 and the lives of four people are thrown into turmoil when sharing a carriage with an unremarkable little man with glasses, on the night train back to Newcastle.
By the end of the following day, one of them will be dead, one will turn blackmailer and another forced to commit a crime. And all of them will be under the astute observation of Aline, the local police officer with her own agenda to fulfil.
When the body count begins to rise, the question is: just how many murderers are out there… and who will be the next victim?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Constable for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I had such high hopes for this book, it sounded so good, but I wasn’t convinced.
It’s very rambly. It’s all a sort of, stream of consciousness which is fine in small doses, but when its the case of 300+ pages and all the characters, it becomes a bit of a struggle.
I introduced lots of characters with their own stream of consciousness which meant I got so confused as to who was who and what they were as they all just merged into one and I found it didn’t flow well.
I did like how different it was. I read a lot of thrillers and murder mysteries and whatnot, and as much as I love the majority of them, they do get quite samey. So I appreciate what Terry has done with the genre. Its not about the whodunnit, it’s instead about the person who is killed and why.
I wasn’t really into the Horrible History books as a kid and so the fact he’s the same writer didn’t really mean much to me.
I have been so excited about this book and I was saving it to when I needed a great read, and whilst there were elements I liked, on the whole I was disappointed. I loved the uniqueness and quirkiness and it was an interesting premise, but I found the characters unlovable. I’m fine with unlovable characters to a point. It’s not fun to have 100% happy, fun, good characters, you need a villain or two. But with these, I didn’t like any of them and I didn’t dislike any of them, they were just there on the page, which meant I didn’t really care for any of them.
It did get better as it went along but I’d say at least the first 1/4 was a big slog and I could have DNF at several points.
I believe this is his first foray into adult crime, but I’m unsure if it’s first adult novel full stop. Either way, I think there’s definitely promise but from this book only, I don’t think his talent lies in serious adult murder mysteries. It’s an acceptable read, but confusing and a bit flat.
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