- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber; Later Printing edition (19 Aug 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571209610
- ISBN-13: 978-0571209613
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.4 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,007,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Necropolis Railway: A Historical Novel
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More About the Author
Product Description
Simon Winchester
'Guaranteed to make the flesh creep and the skin crawl, a masterful novel about a mad, clanking, fog-bound world.'
Review
A murder mystery, rich in atmosphere and period detail, set in 1903 and centred around Waterloo Station and the real-life peculiarity that was the Brookwood Necropolis Railway. This is Andrew Martin's best novel yet.
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First Sentence
With the letters from Rowland Smith in my pocket, I had a lively ride from York to London: just four and a half hours in all. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
With the letters from Rowland Smith in my pocket, I had a lively ride from York to London: just four and a half hours in all. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
71 of 73 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a book that I found impossible to put down. Set amongst the smokey engine sheds around Nine Elms, Waterloo and the eponymous necropolis railway at Brookwood at the turn of the last century, this story centres around the experiences of Jim Stringer who embarks upon his chosen career on the railways only to find that his predecessors have met a premature and sticky end. This fact is not made any more pleasant by the fact that his colleagues seem intent upon making him the next victim.
Cleverly, the author has chosen to write this atmospheric novel in the style of the "penny dreadful" novels of the time - pulp fiction that was snapped up by the public who, having had their appetite for gore increased by the sensationalist reporting of such cases as Jack the Ripper, sought out these thrillers for their amusement. Indeed, it was by selling such books at it's shops in the railway stations that W.H.Smith became established. These books were the 19th century equivalent to today's "airport literature."
If you can pick up your clues and have some knowledge of the social history of the time, you may solve the mystery before the end. However, just when you think the book has reached it's climax, events take a spectacular turn that prepare the reader for the sequel.
This book is great entertainment. Read it before it is inevitably made into a film.
Cleverly, the author has chosen to write this atmospheric novel in the style of the "penny dreadful" novels of the time - pulp fiction that was snapped up by the public who, having had their appetite for gore increased by the sensationalist reporting of such cases as Jack the Ripper, sought out these thrillers for their amusement. Indeed, it was by selling such books at it's shops in the railway stations that W.H.Smith became established. These books were the 19th century equivalent to today's "airport literature."
If you can pick up your clues and have some knowledge of the social history of the time, you may solve the mystery before the end. However, just when you think the book has reached it's climax, events take a spectacular turn that prepare the reader for the sequel.
This book is great entertainment. Read it before it is inevitably made into a film.
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book on impulse - it looked unusual and promised a read drenched in atmosphere. Initially I was a little disappointed, but I kept reading and finished it in a couple of days. It was only over the next week or so that I realised how deep impression that many of the characters, images and incidents in the book had made on me. I re-read it with relish!
This is not a work of literary genius - it wouldn't pretend to be. Rather, it is, as the blurb promises, 'a superior potboiler', and in that category I would unhesitatingly give it 5 stars. Well drawn characters, a fantastically brooding atmosphere, a great read!
This is not a work of literary genius - it wouldn't pretend to be. Rather, it is, as the blurb promises, 'a superior potboiler', and in that category I would unhesitatingly give it 5 stars. Well drawn characters, a fantastically brooding atmosphere, a great read!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Jim Stringer is desperate to be a 'railway man'. He reads railway magazines, spurns his fathers butcher shop for the glamorous life on the railways and wants, more than anything, to be driving the engines he worships. When he is working as a porter, a mysterious man offers him work in London which could lead to his goal of becoming an engine driver, and he heads off full of excitement. However, turn of the century London turns out to be dark, dangerous and threatening. It is obvious from the start that Jim is resented and disliked. The railway, linked to the mysterious Necropolis Railway, has had some recent mysterious deaths - and Jim soon witnesses another attack. He fears he will also find himself dead and is given the cold shoulder at every turn, making him miserable and lonely, but unwilling to admit defeat of all his dreams. The only positive point seems to be his pretty landlady, but when she informs him he is 'boring' you almost want to cheer her - as it has to be said that the beginning of this book is pretty slow and Jim doesn't seem to be heroic stuff. However, the novel does improve in the second half and the storyline becomes more exciting. I would say that this first book in the series sets the scene and the characters, but it is obviously intended to encourage further reading and I would certainly be interested to see where the author is leading in the second book. This is a very atmospheric read and, although I dislike television/film adaptations of books almost always, I did feel that this could be very good on screen. I found that Jim Stringer was, in the end, a very likeable and brave man and will certainly be downloading the next in the series.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Twaddle.
The worst book I've read for a long while-and by a considerable margin. A story line that is weirdly contrived and characterisation that is very weak; the "hero" is just impossible... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Wigan lad
Bought for mum
She loved it, ordered the next one and will buy the whole series one by one for her..She's very happy to receive as Im in Spain and she UK so ....
Published 1 month ago by Ms. Judith M. Gebhard
3.5 * review
I'm sort of on the fence on this one. I loved the idea of the story and the setting. I'm doing my family history and a bunch of my ancestors lived just around the corner from the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jill in East Kent
All aboard for the tedium express
Had real trouble getting into this book. Half way through before anything significant happens. Felt nothing for any of the characters, Jim Stringer himself sounded like a bit of a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lee
Not An Easy Read
I've never raed any previous books from this author but a dectective story on a railway theme in an Edwardian timeframe sounded interesting, and a bit of a change from DI Frost and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Bookworm
Sadly disappointing
I had high hopes for this book as something a bit different but pandering to an interest in both detective novels and steam railways. Read more
Published 5 months ago by PBT
Disappointing, Poor Style, Little Period Atmosphere
Like many other reviewers I approached this book with some excitement expecting to read a thrilling story set against an authentic, well researched, Edwardian backdrop. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Dr. R. Brandon
Just acceptable
As a lover of trains and of murder mysteries, I was interested in this book, since the so-called Necropolis line that ran to Brookwood Cemetery is largely ignored in historical... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Andrew Norris
Disappointing...for steam train lovers only!
This book was actually really disappointing. It was described as a mystery set in a Victorian railway, however I think it should have been a story about a Victorian railway, with a... Read more
Published 20 months ago by miss_spookiness
The soot, the grime, the atmospheric.....................
The soot, the grime, the atmospheric and well researched descriptive narrative sets the standard for this historical tale of intrigue. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Barrington Blythe
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