The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin is first book in a series starring railway man Jim Stringer. It is billed on its cover as "an ingenious and atmospheric thriller" (Daily Express, London) and "a masterful novel about a mad, clanking fog-bound world (Simon Winchester, author of The Professor & the Madman), but quite honestly ingenious, thriller and masterful aren't the words that come to mind. Atmosphere....now I will admit that it's got plenty of that. There are bits where the atmosphere is perfect--the reader is plopped down in Edwardian England and it feels right. But then there's that dream-like, misty-edged, through-the-looking-glass atmosphere that makes the reader stop and flip back through several pages, look up, and say to oneself, "What the heck just happened there?" It doesn't help that all sorts of unfamiliar terms (mostly railway, but not all) are thrown about like everyone knows an encyclopedia's worth of railway jargon.The story is, on the surface, an interesting and inventive one. It's 1903 and Jim Stringer, a butcher's son from Yorkshire, dreams of being an express driver--he do love him some speed. His dad would prefer that he follow in his footsteps, but sees the trains in his son's eyes and agrees to railway work...as a porter. But Stringer meets Rowland Smith, a man with connections to the London and South Western company, and it looks like he's on his way to fulfilling his dream.He heads to London where he meets nothing but trouble. He isn't assigned to the section of the railway he expects. Instead, he's going to be serving on engines that transports coffins along the "graveyard line." And his railway mates aren't--matey, that is. He's not sure if they just don't like him because he seems to have an "in" with the bosses or if they think he's there to spy on them or because he's come from the country and doesn't fit in with their ways. And then he discovers that his predecessor just disappeared....and there seem to be an unusual amount of railway deaths related to the Necropolis Railway. The more he hears about his predecessor, the more he wants to find out what happened to him....and his questions and investigations soon put his life in danger. Will he find out the truth before he receives his own one-way ticket on the graveyard train?When I saw this book at the Friends of the Library Bookstore and I read the synopsis, I was instantly intrigued. I wish I could say that the book lived up to its promise--but it didn't. The best parts were the atmosphere (the good, historical atmosphere) and the last-minute twist at the end. And the few good quotes I was able to glean. The negatives: 1) Jim Stringer really isn't a character that I ever got terribly interested in. I kept reading because I wanted to finish the book, not because I just had to know what happened. 2) I hate ambiguous endings. Yes, we find out who did it. But will justice be served? Who knows. What's in store for Stringer? Beats me. 3) Railway jargon out the wazoo. Unfamiliar terms are okay as long as they're explained--either overtly or through context--and the reader's not inundated with them. Overall: Decent mystery buried in the weird, dream-like atmosphere and excessive railway terms. Okay, but not terrific for two and a half stars.This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Review from BadelyngeThe Necropolis Railway introduces the character of Jim Stringer onto the Edwardian mystery stage. Stringer starts out as a fairly wet behind the ears young bloke fresh out of Baytown (that's Robin Hood's Bay to us tourists). He's dead set on making a life and a career for himself on his beloved railways. His head is full of the romance of the railways, the rose coloured ideal straight out of the Boy's Own Paper or his revered Railway Magazine. His first job as a porter at the sleepy little station at Grosmont is a severe disappointment, being both the completely wrong career line with no prospect of crossing over to engine driver, and seemingly no more exciting duties than primping the flowers or cleaning out the khazies. One day he meets a mysterious stranger who promises to get him onto the right track among the bustle and prospect of London, cleaning the engines that ply the funeral run from Waterloo to Brookwood Cemetery . Before long he's summoned down south to begin his new life but all is not quite as it seems. He steps into the shoes of a predecessor who was very likely murdered. Suspects abound and his life is made doubly difficult by being labelled a company spy by his workmates. With most of his dreams shattered Jim tries to unravel the mystery before he ends up as dead the last bloke, while trying to woo the girl of his dreams (his landlady).Andrew Martin's writing is crammed packed with period detail and the day to day minutiae of the railways, colourful characters, a complicated mystery that doesn't seem to want to lie down with the other corpses and a coming of age character piece. The obvious glamour of steam engines clashes with the harsher realities of Edwardian London. It's probably not going to be everybody's cup of tea and some of the vernacular is probably going to annoy some folks but if you love anything to do with steam locomotives, Edwardian England and mystery stories you just might enjoy it as much as I did.
What do You think about The Necropolis Railway (2007)?
Well I gave this book a try, but I found it deadly dull. Maybe it's because I don't care much about trains and this book did not instill in me a thirst to learn more. I found the narrator a pompous little hypocrite and I hated the narration. Found it difficult to follow, disjointed, and unclear. The "mystery" was hard to get into, and someone who personally loves more characters!, I had the hardest time keeping everyone straight. And by the end I figured it out it wasn't even worth keeping them all distinct anyways. The action, what was there of it, was also a little on the ludicrous side. Will not read the others in this series.
—Colleen
Not going to finish this - a shame, because trains! Meticulously detailed trains and train labour in the late Victorian period, which is delightful. Unfortunately, that's it. It's just totally incoherent otherwise. I haven't the foggiest clue what is going on, how our totally boring hero suddenly decided he needs to find a killer, who's been killed, what the factions are, who he's working for, etc, etc. I mean, seriously, I just don't know what is happening, even as I am reading it, and not in a good way. So, life's too short. I will find other books about trains.
—Tamara
Firstly I feel that it is only fair that I admit to working on the railway and that was the main reason why I picked the book up in the first place. That said I'm not a train enthusiast as such and am more interested in the social history of that rather than the actual engines etc themselves.I feel in something of a quandary as just how I feel about the book. I really enjoyed the historical part of the book, it is obvious that the author has done his research into London and in particular the area around Waterloo at the turn of the 20th century I could almost imagine myself on those streets,in the lodgings with its damp patch and in particular in those bustling pubs. The characterisation of Jim Stringer is OK up to a point as a naive Northern lad enthusiastic about all things railway but the whole things fails to really gel with me. In particular his affair with his landlady just didn't seem to work and the visit to the whore house seemed totally superfluous. The fact that Stringer is called a 'railway detective' also seems a bit of a stretch because with the exception of his vist to the offices of the Necropolis Company felt that he was lead by events rather than being pro-active. Nor was the character of Rowland Smith as a criminal mastermind really convincing as he was not developed enough. The action part of the story was a bit of a let down for me as I never felt that Jim was ever in any real danger.That said as the first book in a series there is obviously plenty of time to further develop the characters and it certainly showed plenty of potential. I already have the next book in the series so will try to get to it sooner rather than later.
—Peter
