The Blackpool Highflyer (Jim Stringer Mystery)
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Product Description
Daily Mail
'It all makes for a compelling thriller . . . A stunning achievement.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"'Genuinely gripping... A brilliant evocation of Edwardian working-class life - the sort of thing D.H. Lawrence might have written had he been less verbose or been blessed with a sense of humour.' Peter Parker, Evening Standard 'Evokes Edwardian Yorkshire and Lancashire, their great industrial prosperity and singular ways of living, quite brilliantly in a historical whodunnit which for its fresh and stealthy approach to past times deserves the adjective Bainbridgean.' Ian Jack, Guardian (Books of the Year) 'A steamy whodunnit... This may well be the best fiction about the railways since Dickens.' Michael Williams, Independent on Sunday 'Unique and important... There is no one else who is writing like Andrew Martin today.' Ian Marchant, Guardian"
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First Sentence
The vacuum was created, and we were ready for the road. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
The vacuum was created, and we were ready for the road. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm amazed that no-one else has given this 5 stars yet. For me, it is that rare thing, a book in which every single page was a pleasure to read.
Jim Stringer is a wonderful, likeable character - not a "dull old plod" as someone said. He's young, not old, for a start, and an intelligent, working-class railwayman with a vividly described life of his own. Through his eyes, we see his relationships: with his wife - a great, sassy character - with the engine driver, Clive, he of the natty suits and well-polished boots - with his plump and slightly mysterious lodger - with the sinister long-haired anarchist Paul etc.
We get a picture of Halifax in 1905, of holiday Blackpool, of the music hall, of the great weaving mills, of the local pubs, and of course, of the steam railway. I found it all fascinating and beautifully written. The images he uses are unusual and compelling. For instance, he describes the sound of a barrel-organ as like someone kicking bottles along a street and somehow managing to make a tune. That just does it for me - I can hear that barrel-organ play!
I found the description of the first trip on the Highflyer steam-engine utterly thrilling and compelling - the way he details the landmarks flashing by, the heat and sweat of stoking the firebox, even the way that particular engine rolls so that it is like dancing on the footplate to keep their balance - I felt I was there with Jim and the driver.
I'm not a railway buff or a steam fanatic but I enjoyed the railway element very much. OK, I might not have exactly understood every single reference to things like vacuum brakes or the spectacle glass - but the gist of the action is always quite clear. And, hey, this is the internet - I'm sure there are explanations of the technical aspects if anyone wants to look them up! Do we have to be spoon-fed?
If you want your fiction crammed full of violence, horror and nightmarish images, as so much modern writing is, then you probably won't like this book. Personally, I'm sick of nightmares. I want to enjoy my reading and with this book I did. I shall be seeking out Jim Stringer again.
Jim Stringer is a wonderful, likeable character - not a "dull old plod" as someone said. He's young, not old, for a start, and an intelligent, working-class railwayman with a vividly described life of his own. Through his eyes, we see his relationships: with his wife - a great, sassy character - with the engine driver, Clive, he of the natty suits and well-polished boots - with his plump and slightly mysterious lodger - with the sinister long-haired anarchist Paul etc.
We get a picture of Halifax in 1905, of holiday Blackpool, of the music hall, of the great weaving mills, of the local pubs, and of course, of the steam railway. I found it all fascinating and beautifully written. The images he uses are unusual and compelling. For instance, he describes the sound of a barrel-organ as like someone kicking bottles along a street and somehow managing to make a tune. That just does it for me - I can hear that barrel-organ play!
I found the description of the first trip on the Highflyer steam-engine utterly thrilling and compelling - the way he details the landmarks flashing by, the heat and sweat of stoking the firebox, even the way that particular engine rolls so that it is like dancing on the footplate to keep their balance - I felt I was there with Jim and the driver.
I'm not a railway buff or a steam fanatic but I enjoyed the railway element very much. OK, I might not have exactly understood every single reference to things like vacuum brakes or the spectacle glass - but the gist of the action is always quite clear. And, hey, this is the internet - I'm sure there are explanations of the technical aspects if anyone wants to look them up! Do we have to be spoon-fed?
If you want your fiction crammed full of violence, horror and nightmarish images, as so much modern writing is, then you probably won't like this book. Personally, I'm sick of nightmares. I want to enjoy my reading and with this book I did. I shall be seeking out Jim Stringer again.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the third Jim Stringer book I've read - and they've all been pretty good. As other reviewers have said Andrew Martin's principle achievment is his stunningly good and convincing recreation of an era. It's like going back in a time capsule and clambering out in 1905 industrial Halifax. OK - I wasn't around then but you really feel you've gone through the looking class to another long passed era. And by the way Andrew Martin is streets ahead of Edward Marston who writes enjoyable Edwardian railway pot boilers - Andrew Martin writes on a much higher level altogether. There is however a "but" to all this and it is rather a large "but" - the plot. Quite frankly the plot is curious and unconvincing and seems a flimsy thing to hang a whole novel on.The final denoument left me disbelieving and unsatisfied and indeed I wasn't at all clear what had actually happened.However the journey through the book was enjoyable and Andrew Martin's style is distinctive and clever.I've read his later book "Murder at Deviation Junction" where the writing and atmosphere is even better and (more to the point)the plot is intriging and ultimately convincing - it seems a classic case of practice making perfect!
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is sprinkled with little nuggets about life in the 1900s, such as when a character leaps onto a tram to post a letter, as there were letterboxes on the trams for passengers' use. The story, which chiefly concerns the attempts by a dogged if rather unimaginative railway man to identify the wreckers who have derailed the eponymous Highflyer, feels at times like it is never going to get going, and the resolution is kind of unsatisfying, I felt, but the principal pleasure of this book lies in its recreation of the era.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
good read
slightly strange historic type thriller based around the railway but having said that its very readable and nice plain clear style and dialect aimed at giving an overall impression... Read more
Published 5 days ago by yorkshireman
LABOURIOUS AND LABOURED YARN
I found this book rather boring. The premise-blockage on the line-had interesting undertones, but never seemed to develop,it just seemed to ramble on and on, and not very much... Read more
Published 2 months ago by bibliophile
I enjoyed it - but...
this author certainly divides opinion, not only for this book but all those in the series. I, being a it of a steam railway buff, do enjoy them - but have to admit that plotting a... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Geordie
Damn good
Great plot, well written. A real page turner and just plain fascinating. As good a read as Dick Francis but set in the world of steam not horses
Published 7 months ago by Mr. Ms. Keighley
BOOOOORING
The most boring detective book I've read. If you want a cobble by cobble tour of 1905 Halifax this is a must but as for the storyline - it's pathetic, and the main characters have... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Harry B
Getting better
Having read "The Necropolis Railway", the first book in the Jim Stringer series of novels, I decided to give "The Blackpool Highflyer" a try. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Andrew Norris
Another atmospheric joy ride
Andrew Martin has once again produced a tale brimming with atmosphere and has brought the mundane to life with, what appears to be, consummate ease. Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2010 by S. Mohammed
Slow plot, excellent context
I bought this and "Lost Luggage Porter" on a whim and really quite enjoyed it. The plot isn't the stongest and can wane a little, but the images of early 20th Century northern... Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2009 by A. Gascoigne
Steamy Stuff
I ought to declare my interests here - I'm Lancashire born and bred, the grandaughter of a Blackpool landlady and the last blacksmith on the Fylde Coast, who shod the horses that... Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2009 by Sensible Cat
Zzzzzzzzzzz
The main problem with this book is that the protagonist - so-called railway detective Jim Stringer - is such a boring old plod that this reader rapidly lost interest in anything... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2007 by AG Stephenson
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