"It's about every person who has been made to feel like nothing. Violated mentally and physically. Extinguished. How many on this train have gone through an experience where ... the next day they have curled up into a ball, and screamed silently into a pillow?"
"It's probably easier to say who hasn't." Roz's voice was very quiet. Very small. [loc. 2654]
It's the night before Christmas Eve, and the sleeper train to Fort William leaves Euston with a number of passengers on board, including a killer, a stowaway, and former Met detective Roz Parker. Roz is heading north to be with her daughter, who's gone into labour prematurely. Social media influencer Meg intends to propose to her partner Grant. There are four students competing for a place in a quiz team; a couple travelling with their teenage children; a lawyer who seems familiar to Roz; an elderly woman and her son; and of course the train crew. Somewhere after Edinburgh, in heavy snow, the train is derailed by a tree on the line -- and shortly afterwards, one of the passengers is found dead. They won't be the last ...
A homage to Murder on the Orient Express, laced with cryptic clues and Kate Bush references, and featuring a competent and interesting female lead (who remembers being a Goth as a teenager: she's 49: suddenly I feel ancient), this was an entertaining whodunnit with some clever plotting, a lot of misdirection, and a truly unpredictable ending. The isolation of the passengers, the fear setting in as the bodies mount up, the intersection of Roz's personal and professional lives, the mysterious 'killer' who is sometimes the narrator, but is not identified until very late in the story, the diversity of the characters, the secrets each of them hide -- all make for a well-plotted and well-paced novel.
However, the plot does depend on a lot of physical and emotional abuse of women. Nearly all the female characters have been victims of sexual assault. (None of this is 'on screen', but some of the descriptions are very vivid.) 'Trauma sticks to trauma', and memories become tangled together: Roz's recollection of giving birth is inextricably linked with her recollection of a previous assault. She's not the only passenger haunted by her past.
Despite this theme, Murder on the Christmas Express manages a happy ending (at least for some) and an unexpected but apt resolution. Still, I think I preferred Benedict's previous Christmas crime novel, The Christmas Murder Game.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 10th November 2022.
It's time we stopped saying what we 'should' or 'shouldn't' do. They should stop raping us. [loc. 2841]
No comments:
Post a Comment