What do you think?
Rate this book
This Train
This Train races us through America's heartland, carrying secrets. There is treasure in the cargo car, along with an invisible puppeteer. There is a coder named Nora, Mugzy, the yippy dog, and Ross, the too-curious poet. On board, it's a countdown to murder…
On this train there is a silver madman, a targeted banker, and crises of conscience. This train harbors the "perfect" couple's conspiracies, the chaos of being a teenager, and parenthood alongside the wows of being nine. There is a widow and a wannabe, and the sleaziest billionaire.
On this train, there is the suicide ticket, the bomb, sex, love, and loneliness. The heist. Revenge. Redemption.
This Train is a ticking clock, roaring through forty-seven fictional hours of non-stop suspense and action, through the challenges of now: Racism. Sexism. Global warming. What it means to be alive.
This train carries all of us. All aboard!
On this train there is a silver madman, a targeted banker, and crises of conscience. This train harbors the "perfect" couple's conspiracies, the chaos of being a teenager, and parenthood alongside the wows of being nine. There is a widow and a wannabe, and the sleaziest billionaire.
On this train, there is the suicide ticket, the bomb, sex, love, and loneliness. The heist. Revenge. Redemption.
This Train is a ticking clock, roaring through forty-seven fictional hours of non-stop suspense and action, through the challenges of now: Racism. Sexism. Global warming. What it means to be alive.
This train carries all of us. All aboard!
Audio CD
First published May 3, 2022
123 people are currently reading
345 people want to read
About the author
James Grady
91 books198 followersJames Grady is a longtime author of thrillers, police procedural and espionage novels. He graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 1974. During college, he worked for United States Senator Lee Metcalf of Montana as an staff member.
From 1974 - 1978 he was an investigative journalist for the famous muckraker Jack Anderson. Best known as the author of Six Days of the Condor , which was adapted to film as Three Days of the Condor starring Robert Redford in 1975.
James Grady has gone on to write almost a dozen more novels in the thirty-eight years since Six Days of the Condor was published.
In the past James Grady has written under the pseudonyms of James Dalton and Brit Shelby.
From 1974 - 1978 he was an investigative journalist for the famous muckraker Jack Anderson. Best known as the author of Six Days of the Condor , which was adapted to film as Three Days of the Condor starring Robert Redford in 1975.
James Grady has gone on to write almost a dozen more novels in the thirty-eight years since Six Days of the Condor was published.
In the past James Grady has written under the pseudonyms of James Dalton and Brit Shelby.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
December 24, 2022
Hahaha this book is baffling!
Where to even begin. A week left in 2022 and this book, number 231, in a year with more bad books than normal, sneaks in as a top candidate for the worst. Honestly, it’s one of the worst books I’ve ever read. And I’m kind of obsessed with it.
What makes it so bad is that it’s deliberate. And that’s also why I’m more confused and amused than mad. Every single choice the author made was the wrong decision, but it’s by design. I have to imagine if this was written by a debut author it never would have been published.
The strangest choice is the writing style. The story is told in clipped staccato sentences, often more like free verse than prose. The perspective moves abruptly between characters, sometimes line-to-line. There is also an absurd amount of onomatopoeia. If there were drinking games for books, “clackety-clack” and “wobble wobble” would have readers blacked out before the 30% mark. Even if you aren’t playing along, you’ll think you’re drunk as these sounds start working their way into the narration and dialogue, becoming verbs and adjectives. Worse, they occasionally appear in rhymes giving the text the tone of a children’s book or bad slam poetry.
I only took quotes from one section, more on that shortly. So I’ll just jump to a random page for a sample:
On paper this is a thriller set on a train, featuring a large cast of characters all with their own schemes. The setup alone is mired in cliche, but these aren’t just any characters. They’re each an archetype (caricature, really) from contemporary American culture, or at least some black-and-white cable news/boomer version of it: racist right-wing banker, neurodivergent child, trigger-happy cops, PTSD-rattled soldier, black female educator, sulky teenage girl, murderous housewife, batty widow, small dog, even a billionaire.
Why would a billionaire be riding the Empire Builder, one of the slowest and most boring train stretches in the US? Metaphor! Instead of giving time to the characters—not that the style would allow it—or enriching the action, much of the book is given over to heavy-handed symbols and banal political observations that are dressed up as transcendent profundities. In one scene, as they gaze out the windows at the emptiness of “real America,” a character holds one end of a headphone cable to the other to explain that the far right-wing (“fascists”) and the far left-wing (“communists” *eyeroll*) are really part of the same continuum. Thrilling.
Moving on to my favorite quote, from a truly awful sex scene:
Incredible. From the same scene:
While all the characters are written as narrow cliches, the women are notably close to stereotypes or otherwise unrealistic. The opening pages have a character flashing a teenager so he’ll delete an innocuous photo of her. As people do.
The thriller subplot is so boring and marginal that it’s not worth mentioning. There were innumerable ways to write this story. Had the author made any of those choices differently, the book would have been better.
It’s way past my bedtime and I’m rambling. I’m not sure I properly expressed the way I feel about this book. It’s terrible, but I don’t hate it. I’m fascinated by it. Why did he do this? This is the real mystery, the real thrill. Why?!
Where to even begin. A week left in 2022 and this book, number 231, in a year with more bad books than normal, sneaks in as a top candidate for the worst. Honestly, it’s one of the worst books I’ve ever read. And I’m kind of obsessed with it.
What makes it so bad is that it’s deliberate. And that’s also why I’m more confused and amused than mad. Every single choice the author made was the wrong decision, but it’s by design. I have to imagine if this was written by a debut author it never would have been published.
The strangest choice is the writing style. The story is told in clipped staccato sentences, often more like free verse than prose. The perspective moves abruptly between characters, sometimes line-to-line. There is also an absurd amount of onomatopoeia. If there were drinking games for books, “clackety-clack” and “wobble wobble” would have readers blacked out before the 30% mark. Even if you aren’t playing along, you’ll think you’re drunk as these sounds start working their way into the narration and dialogue, becoming verbs and adjectives. Worse, they occasionally appear in rhymes giving the text the tone of a children’s book or bad slam poetry.
I only took quotes from one section, more on that shortly. So I’ll just jump to a random page for a sample:
Terri circled in a wobble-wobble walk through the clackety-clack and failed to blot out what she'd done the night before.
SWAT Sgt. Michael Carlisle watched his team in the Crew Car pack up and square away. Knew trooper Alice Noah kept her eyes on the screen showing that black cube in the Baggage Car.
He'd after-breakfast walked through there, and something—one of those sixth sense somethings good sergeants get—something made him wonder.
He stood as still as the wobble-wobble allowed. Let his eyes patrol the Baggage Car's clackety-clacking, oil-dust smelling, secured confinement.
On paper this is a thriller set on a train, featuring a large cast of characters all with their own schemes. The setup alone is mired in cliche, but these aren’t just any characters. They’re each an archetype (caricature, really) from contemporary American culture, or at least some black-and-white cable news/boomer version of it: racist right-wing banker, neurodivergent child, trigger-happy cops, PTSD-rattled soldier, black female educator, sulky teenage girl, murderous housewife, batty widow, small dog, even a billionaire.
Why would a billionaire be riding the Empire Builder, one of the slowest and most boring train stretches in the US? Metaphor! Instead of giving time to the characters—not that the style would allow it—or enriching the action, much of the book is given over to heavy-handed symbols and banal political observations that are dressed up as transcendent profundities. In one scene, as they gaze out the windows at the emptiness of “real America,” a character holds one end of a headphone cable to the other to explain that the far right-wing (“fascists”) and the far left-wing (“communists” *eyeroll*) are really part of the same continuum. Thrilling.
Moving on to my favorite quote, from a truly awful sex scene:
Proud nipples like top hats. Like eyes staring into his soul.
Incredible. From the same scene:
Slap slap slap of flesh on flesh, clackety-clack of wheels on steel.
Fire grabbed-released them Yes!
They slumped into their embrace.
Clackety-clack. Clackety-clack.
Then, oh then, they stretched and curled and cuddled. Him on his back. Her cheek pressed over his heaving chest as they filled his narrow bed.
Ross had to ask: "Did you hear something?"
”Besides my heart exploding?" She raised her face to look at him, bent it to kiss his calming chest. "What more was there to hear?"
Her hand shot up to block his response.
"My heart," she explained, "was just, you know, passion."
”Just sex."
"Yes. That's what it was. Just sex."
"And you're OK now? Your heart?"
"Ba-boomp. Ba-boomp."
"That's good, because it sucks when there's a dead girl in your cabin."
While all the characters are written as narrow cliches, the women are notably close to stereotypes or otherwise unrealistic. The opening pages have a character flashing a teenager so he’ll delete an innocuous photo of her. As people do.
The thriller subplot is so boring and marginal that it’s not worth mentioning. There were innumerable ways to write this story. Had the author made any of those choices differently, the book would have been better.
It’s way past my bedtime and I’m rambling. I’m not sure I properly expressed the way I feel about this book. It’s terrible, but I don’t hate it. I’m fascinated by it. Why did he do this? This is the real mystery, the real thrill. Why?!
July 6, 2022
So many good glimpses of brilliance buried within an unfortunate word salad.
May 23, 2022
I've never been so glad I read a book at the same time as being equally glad I'm finished with it. I think this book will go over the heads of a lot of people. A lot of people just aren't going to really get it. I loved it, but it was exhausting.
March 3, 2023
This book sucked . I forced myself to finish it because I wanted to see what would happen in the end ? But there was never a cohesive ending that made me feel satisfied
So jumbled , too many storylines. I’m not a great writer but how in the world did this get past an editor ??? There were many good themes and potential avenues but it was just hot garbage in the end
So jumbled , too many storylines. I’m not a great writer but how in the world did this get past an editor ??? There were many good themes and potential avenues but it was just hot garbage in the end
December 27, 2022
The blurb on the cover describes This Train as "a cinematic thriller racing through the heartland of our American now." I understood this to mean that This Train was a thriller novel. The cover also notes that James Grady, the author, wrote Six Days of the Condor. I haven't read that book, but I did see the film adaptation years ago- and it was a fast paced thriller.
The problem is that This Train is not really a thriller. It's literature that's intended to make a grand statement about modern America. The novel does have a traditional thriller setup: shadowy thieves plot to rob a train with valuable cargo while it's in motion. A cast of ancillary characters interact with the heist plot in a series of surprise twists. But this setup is superficial. Each character is set up as an archetype/ stereotype of some aspect of American culture. The dialogue and action are delivered in a stream of consciousness style that vaguely resembles Faulkner. But not good Faulkner- rather, a college MFA graduate attempting to write like Faulkner.
Grady's novels have won awards. The man holds a Pulitzer prize. It's clear that he can write well. I don't see it in this novel.
This Train is not meant to be an entertaining thriller. I think it's meant to be literature. I don't think the author achieves that goal, though.
The problem is that This Train is not really a thriller. It's literature that's intended to make a grand statement about modern America. The novel does have a traditional thriller setup: shadowy thieves plot to rob a train with valuable cargo while it's in motion. A cast of ancillary characters interact with the heist plot in a series of surprise twists. But this setup is superficial. Each character is set up as an archetype/ stereotype of some aspect of American culture. The dialogue and action are delivered in a stream of consciousness style that vaguely resembles Faulkner. But not good Faulkner- rather, a college MFA graduate attempting to write like Faulkner.
Grady's novels have won awards. The man holds a Pulitzer prize. It's clear that he can write well. I don't see it in this novel.
This Train is not meant to be an entertaining thriller. I think it's meant to be literature. I don't think the author achieves that goal, though.
November 28, 2022
All aboard the Empire Builder for a 47 hour train journey from Seattle to Chicago.
On board you will meet an eclectic cast of characters, some with personal struggles and some with dastardly plans. Murder. Robbery. There is a SWAT team on board, guarding something in the baggage car.
We get to know people from different walks of life. To name a few we have Nora the hacker. Albert the man with the bag. Graham the ‘silver haired werewolf’, Ulysses and his military family, including a teenage daughter with teenage issues and her 9 year old brother with an active imagination. Ulysses is trying to keep himself together and convince himself he does not have PTSD, with the support of his strong minded wife. They were my favourite passengers.
We see snippets of the countryside as the train powers along the tracks.
Clackety-clack.
If you want to read a thriller with a difference, this is for you. It is written in short sharp sentences from a number of narrators. To the point, with not much unnecessary padding. I found it difficult at the beginning, then I got into the flow and began to understand the unusual prose. Very cleverly written.
On board you will meet an eclectic cast of characters, some with personal struggles and some with dastardly plans. Murder. Robbery. There is a SWAT team on board, guarding something in the baggage car.
We get to know people from different walks of life. To name a few we have Nora the hacker. Albert the man with the bag. Graham the ‘silver haired werewolf’, Ulysses and his military family, including a teenage daughter with teenage issues and her 9 year old brother with an active imagination. Ulysses is trying to keep himself together and convince himself he does not have PTSD, with the support of his strong minded wife. They were my favourite passengers.
We see snippets of the countryside as the train powers along the tracks.
Clackety-clack.
If you want to read a thriller with a difference, this is for you. It is written in short sharp sentences from a number of narrators. To the point, with not much unnecessary padding. I found it difficult at the beginning, then I got into the flow and began to understand the unusual prose. Very cleverly written.
December 10, 2022
The train is about to depart.
I confess that when I first started reading This Train I felt slightly shell shocked. James Grady opens with a sparse style reminiscent of watching a flickering film noir, with a hint of menace that took me a few pages to attune myself to. It’s almost as if, alongside the characters, he places the reader inside a slightly manic mind where they hear another person’s whirling thoughts. I thought this was a hugely effective and unsettling atmosphere. The sense of menace is also created by the variety of sentence structure and unusual compound adjectives that paint dramatic images in the reader’s head. The writing frequently mirrors the sound and rhythm of a train on rail tracks so that it becomes more intense as a result.
The characters are numerous and seem to represent every facet of American society in microcosm. Whilst they are vivid and clear, my personal taste would have preferred fewer, although I think James Grady had to include so many to create the frenetic, almost febrile sensation and atmosphere that permeates This Train. Indeed, the plot races along and the brevity of the chapters adds to the fast pace. There’s a frantic pace that is so exciting, balanced by more prosaic aspects that works really well.
Although This Train is relatively brief, it embodies layer upon layer of themes from identity to conspiracy, family to state, memory to fear and so much more in a whirling maelstrom. It reminded me a bit of a kind of modern Boccaccio’s The Decameron. I feel that I would need to reread This Train many times truly to get below the surface of everything that is going on. I think it would make a brilliant film or television series.
This Train won’t suit all readers. I found its style, its innovative approach and its pace breath-taking. I can’t decide if I enjoyed it, but I certainly admired it! I really recommend you read it for yourself to decide what you think.
I confess that when I first started reading This Train I felt slightly shell shocked. James Grady opens with a sparse style reminiscent of watching a flickering film noir, with a hint of menace that took me a few pages to attune myself to. It’s almost as if, alongside the characters, he places the reader inside a slightly manic mind where they hear another person’s whirling thoughts. I thought this was a hugely effective and unsettling atmosphere. The sense of menace is also created by the variety of sentence structure and unusual compound adjectives that paint dramatic images in the reader’s head. The writing frequently mirrors the sound and rhythm of a train on rail tracks so that it becomes more intense as a result.
The characters are numerous and seem to represent every facet of American society in microcosm. Whilst they are vivid and clear, my personal taste would have preferred fewer, although I think James Grady had to include so many to create the frenetic, almost febrile sensation and atmosphere that permeates This Train. Indeed, the plot races along and the brevity of the chapters adds to the fast pace. There’s a frantic pace that is so exciting, balanced by more prosaic aspects that works really well.
Although This Train is relatively brief, it embodies layer upon layer of themes from identity to conspiracy, family to state, memory to fear and so much more in a whirling maelstrom. It reminded me a bit of a kind of modern Boccaccio’s The Decameron. I feel that I would need to reread This Train many times truly to get below the surface of everything that is going on. I think it would make a brilliant film or television series.
This Train won’t suit all readers. I found its style, its innovative approach and its pace breath-taking. I can’t decide if I enjoyed it, but I certainly admired it! I really recommend you read it for yourself to decide what you think.
December 4, 2022
I was really looking forward to reading this book after reading the description. However, I found it hard to follow at times and I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped I would.
There were quite a lot of characters and it was hard to keep track of who was who. This was written in an unusual writing style, with short and sharp sentences. Once I got used to this it was more easier to follow.
I you are wanting to read a thriller that is very different this could well be for you.
Thank you to @vervebooks and @noexitpress for having me on the blog tour and for my gifted copy of the book.
There were quite a lot of characters and it was hard to keep track of who was who. This was written in an unusual writing style, with short and sharp sentences. Once I got used to this it was more easier to follow.
I you are wanting to read a thriller that is very different this could well be for you.
Thank you to @vervebooks and @noexitpress for having me on the blog tour and for my gifted copy of the book.
August 27, 2024
This is a DNF. I tried to like this book for 8 chapters, but the references to descriptions as names such as the " girl with the cherry-black hair" for Nora and "Hollywood" for someone from Hollywood or the man with the camera (I can't even remember which one she called Hollywood) just doesn't do it for me. Just refer to them by their one word names and don't waste my time and space in the book for this. Also, there were a lot of incomplete sentences. I know it is the style the author uses to depict how millennials and younger talk. I'm too old to learn this language.
June 14, 2022
Boring! Could not get halfway through. No plot. This was a train to nowhere.
June 24, 2022
Miserable book!!! Only thrill was to finish it!
July 15, 2022
Clackity clack x 100. Too many characters too many clackity clacks.
September 10, 2022
I got through 10 chapters, and didn't make sense of any of it. Too bad -- I was so looking forward to it. Thought it might encourage me to take a train trip. NO. DNF - sorry.
January 26, 2023
I have tried this book three different times, just don’t like the writing style, cadence and long drawn out descriptive sentences. No I did not finish this book
Kevin
Kevin
May 27, 2022
2.5 stars.
November 7, 2023
I nearly stopped reading this book a few times...
I would say that it took over 100 pages for me to get interested enough to decide that, yes, I'm going to finish this book. I thought it was disjointed and lacked continuity. I felt that some characters, who were featured, were in the book to pad it - they certainly didn't contribute much to the plot. Even after finishing the book, Iwas left with a sense of dissatisfaction. I'm still not sure who all the playersare...
I would say that it took over 100 pages for me to get interested enough to decide that, yes, I'm going to finish this book. I thought it was disjointed and lacked continuity. I felt that some characters, who were featured, were in the book to pad it - they certainly didn't contribute much to the plot. Even after finishing the book, Iwas left with a sense of dissatisfaction. I'm still not sure who all the playersare...
December 7, 2022
“This Train” by James Grady
Blurb -
- [ ] “This Train races us through America's heartland, carrying secrets. There is treasure in the cargo car along with an invisible puppeteer. There is a coder named Nora, Mugzy, the yippy dog and Ross, the too-curious poet. On board, it's a countdown to murder…. On this train there is a silver madman, a targeted banker and crises of conscience. This train harbors the "perfect" couple's conspiracies, the chaos of being a teenager and parenthood alongside the wows of being nine. There is a widow and a wannabe and the sleaziest billionaire. On this train, there is the suicide ticket, the bomb, sex, love, and loneliness. The heist. Revenge. Redemption. This Train is a ticking clock, roaring through forty-seven fictional hours of non-stop suspense and action, through the challenges of now: Racism. Sexism. Global warming. What it means to be alive. This train carries all of us. All aboard!”
To say that this book goes like the clappers, keeping the reader on their toes is a vast understatement. From the first page as you enter the train station, you are embroiled in the lives of so many unique, diverse, enigmatic and dangerous people, each with their own story. You are introduced to a lot of characters immediately, so you do need to pay attention and continue reading till you’re a good few chapters in, to keep the continuity in your mind. However, due to how addictive the story is, you’ll probably find like me, you read this in only one sitting!
“This Train” speeds along like a Japanese bullet train, through a fictional forty seven hours which literally flies by.
James Grady is the author of ‘Six Days of the Condor’ along with many other successful novels and he is a top notch literary writer who uses poetic words like they are jewels. If you’re a reader who appreciates this style of writing then “This Train”, is a rollercoaster of a ride, you’ll not want to miss!
Thank you to Sarah at ‘No Exit Press’ for inviting me on this tour and for my copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
Blurb -
- [ ] “This Train races us through America's heartland, carrying secrets. There is treasure in the cargo car along with an invisible puppeteer. There is a coder named Nora, Mugzy, the yippy dog and Ross, the too-curious poet. On board, it's a countdown to murder…. On this train there is a silver madman, a targeted banker and crises of conscience. This train harbors the "perfect" couple's conspiracies, the chaos of being a teenager and parenthood alongside the wows of being nine. There is a widow and a wannabe and the sleaziest billionaire. On this train, there is the suicide ticket, the bomb, sex, love, and loneliness. The heist. Revenge. Redemption. This Train is a ticking clock, roaring through forty-seven fictional hours of non-stop suspense and action, through the challenges of now: Racism. Sexism. Global warming. What it means to be alive. This train carries all of us. All aboard!”
To say that this book goes like the clappers, keeping the reader on their toes is a vast understatement. From the first page as you enter the train station, you are embroiled in the lives of so many unique, diverse, enigmatic and dangerous people, each with their own story. You are introduced to a lot of characters immediately, so you do need to pay attention and continue reading till you’re a good few chapters in, to keep the continuity in your mind. However, due to how addictive the story is, you’ll probably find like me, you read this in only one sitting!
“This Train” speeds along like a Japanese bullet train, through a fictional forty seven hours which literally flies by.
James Grady is the author of ‘Six Days of the Condor’ along with many other successful novels and he is a top notch literary writer who uses poetic words like they are jewels. If you’re a reader who appreciates this style of writing then “This Train”, is a rollercoaster of a ride, you’ll not want to miss!
Thank you to Sarah at ‘No Exit Press’ for inviting me on this tour and for my copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
July 2, 2022
I'm sure this would be a great movie but a good read, it ain't.
I couldn't wait to start it and couldn't wait to finish it.
There were so many places where the action was hard to understand and follow.
Might would a good train read.
I couldn't wait to start it and couldn't wait to finish it.
There were so many places where the action was hard to understand and follow.
Might would a good train read.
February 12, 2024
DNF
Plot was dull and I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters, but above all, the jarring writing style and awful word choices were what made it unreadable.
Plot was dull and I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters, but above all, the jarring writing style and awful word choices were what made it unreadable.
July 4, 2024
I’m done being lectured by a sappy weepy bunch of sad sack character.
20 chapters is enough.
Not waiting for the murder.
20 chapters is enough.
Not waiting for the murder.
October 5, 2024
Made it to the end.
March 23, 2023
An odd one, this. I can’t decide whether it’s an old man trying to write a hip contemporary novel in the idiom of a much younger writer and making a complete hash of it; or an old man setting out viciously to satirise the shallow meta noodlings of of the current crop of genre writers and succeeding to the point where you can’t actually tell it’s a satire. Or maybe it’s a state of the nation novel brimming with so much hatred that Grady had to abandon the prose style of his earlier works, such as ‘Six Days of the Condor’, and adopt an entirely different argot in order to communicate said hatred. Because the Grady of early novels had a talent for sharp, unpretentious prose, while the prose style on display here is more akin to the painfully self-conscious stylisations of, say, Edgar Cantero or Eric LaRocca. ‘This Train’ boasts a decent idea, an eclectic (if occasionally stereotypical) group of characters, some decent (albeit late in the game) set-pieces, and a nicely absurdist denouement. But as a reading experience, it’s repetitive (Grady uses the babyish onomatopoeia “clackety-clack” to remind you the train is motion in *virtually every single one* of the novel’s 81 chapters) and frustrating.
August 3, 2022
What works in this somewhat cinematic-like thriller is the Frame of the Amtrak train departing from Seattle and destined for Chicago. Grady does an excellent job of re-creating train travel from boarding to dining with all the setting details making it very real for the reader with the thumping of wheels over tracks to the ennui of the Amtrak personnel. However, alas, that was the best part of the book. The Plot was predictable with a few twists that did upend some of my expectations but by the time they occur I did not care because the CHs never appealed to me. Many of them become prototypes for political and/or social issues instead of very real people to me. Grady’s Style in this book just annoyed me. Staccato half-sentences that did not work for me. Lots of white space encourages page turning but in this case did not make me want to read more just faster so the story would be over—and I did a lot of speed reading. There was some humor that sometimes fell flat, and the anticipatory Tone felt manufactured, not at all organic. Disappointing execution of a brilliant concept.
December 27, 2022
I was sent a copy of this book from the publisher for my participation in a blog tour.
This is perhaps the most marmite book I've read this year...or maybe ever.
On one hand, I'm a massive fan of mysteries. I love a whodunnit and I love a plot and a conspiracy. When this book was marketed as a Murder on the Orient Express type of book, I was immediately interested as I really enjoyed that. Yet, this book tried to do too much so the execution wasn't successful. Instead of following the likes of Lucy Foley in conducting a group cast point of view, this book didn't just pick three or four view points, instead attempted to tell 15 different stories. Not all the voices of the characters were unique enough to garner this focus in my opinion.
There was also an overwhelming amount of side plots going on.
The premise was excellent. The execution fell flat. The author also uses repetitive language, mentioning specific character traits time and time again completely unnecessarily. This book perhaps would be better in a visual medium instead of the written word.
This is perhaps the most marmite book I've read this year...or maybe ever.
On one hand, I'm a massive fan of mysteries. I love a whodunnit and I love a plot and a conspiracy. When this book was marketed as a Murder on the Orient Express type of book, I was immediately interested as I really enjoyed that. Yet, this book tried to do too much so the execution wasn't successful. Instead of following the likes of Lucy Foley in conducting a group cast point of view, this book didn't just pick three or four view points, instead attempted to tell 15 different stories. Not all the voices of the characters were unique enough to garner this focus in my opinion.
There was also an overwhelming amount of side plots going on.
The premise was excellent. The execution fell flat. The author also uses repetitive language, mentioning specific character traits time and time again completely unnecessarily. This book perhaps would be better in a visual medium instead of the written word.
February 7, 2024
It’s a long train ride from Seattle to Chicago…with a lot of messed up people aboard…
This Train by James Grady is a weird ensemble novel set aboard a train.
The Empire Builder is an Amtrak train headed on the two day trip from Seattle, Washington to Chicago, Illinois, with stops in Montana and Minnesota.
I wanted a nice modern train story, but instead i got a mashup of various poorly developed characters and wild jumping from plot to plot without any sense of pace.
And then halfway through it switched to a bizarre heist story more suitable to a bad action film or an old episode of the Adam west Batman show.
Disappointed, though there were a few bright spots of an otherwise messy story…
This Train by James Grady is a weird ensemble novel set aboard a train.
The Empire Builder is an Amtrak train headed on the two day trip from Seattle, Washington to Chicago, Illinois, with stops in Montana and Minnesota.
I wanted a nice modern train story, but instead i got a mashup of various poorly developed characters and wild jumping from plot to plot without any sense of pace.
And then halfway through it switched to a bizarre heist story more suitable to a bad action film or an old episode of the Adam west Batman show.
Disappointed, though there were a few bright spots of an otherwise messy story…
July 15, 2022
Started 7-12-22. Finished 7-15-22. Fast-paced thriller, but it took a while to understand the author's writing style. Basically the book is like Murder on the Orient Express on Steroids. A group of people are on a train from the West Coast to Chicago. Crimes will be committed among these supposedly unconnected passengers. Each short chapter is from a different viewpoint and much of it is like a stream of consciousness--what each person is seeing or saying or feeling, and often in sentence fragments, but after a few pages you figure it out, and it becomes a very enjoyable story. Some pages I had to read over again to get the point, but it was a minor inconvenience. Perhaps I should have been reading slower to begin with.
August 20, 2022
All aboard Amtrak Empire Builder, Seattle to Chicago. I haven’t done a train ride in the US but this 46 hr ride might be in sight for next year. The Amtrak system goes near many of America’s great National Parks. This route goes by Glacier NP so maybe break up the ride into sections. As an Amtrak Vacations travel advisor I am going to have to experience the product to help sell.
I don’t want to be onboard with this cast of characters with all the shenanigans that happen. I’m glad one military family stands out as a rock in a stream of craziness.
I don’t want to be onboard with this cast of characters with all the shenanigans that happen. I’m glad one military family stands out as a rock in a stream of craziness.
November 23, 2022
A very interesting story with a very choppy delivery. Follows multiple characters on a Seattle to Chicago train trip, and we ultimately learn various evil motives of some of the passengers, but it often becomes to tough to track. There are a plethora of characters, sometimes identified by name, other times by hair color or attire. The dialogue is full of abbreviated thoughts and expressions, and sometimes it's hard to identify who's talking.
I did find the premise and the plot very captivating; just wish it could have been conveyed in a different manner.
I did find the premise and the plot very captivating; just wish it could have been conveyed in a different manner.
November 25, 2022
Crikey this is a hard book to review. Not quite sure what I've read or really where to begin.
This book is full of action, its full of characters, and it's quite a lot to get your head around. When (or frankly if) you do, it's a cracker of a read that you can't put down, but you have to properly concentrate, and give it your full attention, otherwise you'll have to keep going back and checking
I can't say I didn't enjoy it, as by the time I got the hang of it, I was fully engrossed. I hope people give it a chance, it deserves it.
This book is full of action, its full of characters, and it's quite a lot to get your head around. When (or frankly if) you do, it's a cracker of a read that you can't put down, but you have to properly concentrate, and give it your full attention, otherwise you'll have to keep going back and checking
I can't say I didn't enjoy it, as by the time I got the hang of it, I was fully engrossed. I hope people give it a chance, it deserves it.
July 13, 2023
A bunch of characters board a train - they're a mix of people from different strata of soceity, they're a small cross-section of America, they're planning murder, suicide and heists, and it's all told in a strange syncopated style of blank-verse prose, like one long jazz improv. If it was Cormac Mcarthy or James Ellroy it'd be eaten up, but Grady remains bordelrine cult obscure despite creating one of the most iconic espionage characerts of the seventies. Who may or may not also be on this train.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews