NIGHT TRAIN

RELEASED 25 AUGUST 292 pages | Paperback/ebook/ audiobook

Author David Quantick

Publisher Titan Books

It seems safe to assume that Veep/The Thick Of It writer David Quantick watched and enjoyed Bong Joon-ho’s film of Snowpiercer. The narrative drive of this SF/ horror hybrid is essentially the same: set in a post-apocalyptic future, it sees a trio of characters progressing towards the engine of a vast, mysterious train (over 30 carriages long) in search of answers. As in the film, much of the story’s appeal comes from the outlandish design of the carriages – which include a pool full of turtles.

The oddball details of this world, whose anything-goes weirdness prompts speculation that it’s all a VR simulation, are enough to keep you intrigued for a good while (though when answers are finally supplied, a good number remain baffling). Sadly, our heroes, who include an amnesiac and a young woman who has been rebuilt as a bionic weapon, prove to be pretty tiresome company They’re thinly characterised (Polly, when not punching holes in things, swears and burps; Banks is humourless and obsessed with canned food), and their constant snarky bickering gets wearyingly repetitious – as, eventually, does the journey itself.

“I’m sick of walking through carriages and meeting weird things”, one of them declares in the latter stages, “I just want something to happen.” You may find yourself snorting in agreement. Calvin Baxter