The Necropolis Railway by
Andrew Martin
pbk out August 02
(Faber)
at £10.99
Jim Stringer is a Yorkshire lad with an obsessive interest in railways who, in 1903,
travels down to Waterloo to take up a new job as an engine cleaner – 'the first stage
on the road that leads to firing an engine'. Before long he is given the task of working
on the Necropolis line, which runs to a massive cemetery, and when he discovers that
his predecessor met a grim fate, he starts to wonder what, exactly, prompted Mr
Rowland Smith to invite him to take up his new post. Jim's landlady – for whom he
eventually conceives an affection – is one of the most appealing characters in this
unusual novel. Driven to distraction by Jim's nerdish nattering about railways, she
says at one point: 'Mr Stringer, you are very boring'. It is hard to disagree, and yet by
and large the book exerts a strange appeal. The dark brooding atmosphere of the rail
line is beautifully conveyed and, as Jim plays the detective (albeit, for the most part,
rather incompetently), he grows in stature. A curious book, but enjoyable all the same.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries)
