Mystery will keep readers on diaper pins and needles

The Stranger on the Train starts with a nightmare situation. Then it gets worse. Harried young single mom Emma is loading shopping bags, a stroller and her “solid, chubby” 13-month-old son, Ritchie, onto a London subway car when the door shuts — leaving Ritchie on the train and her screaming on the platform, while a blonde stands at the subway window mouthing what sounds like “ex op.”

“Next stop,” Emma hopes she is saying, and, panicked, she takes the next train and disembarks to see a welldressed woman holding her grubby son.

What happens next deserves to be discovered by readers. In a nutshell, though: Emma’s troubles are far from over. She and her son are separated again, and she finds herself under investigation by police.

The first novel by Abbie Taylor, an Irish doctor, keeps readers guessing throughout: Is Emma’s understanding of what has happened correct, or has something happened to Ritchie that’s so horrifying that she can’t process it? Is she a victim, or has she done something unforgiveable?

Taylor keeps the tension high, shrewdly structuring the plot so that one minute Emma seems credible — but maybe not the next.

Emma’s previous life, revealed in chapters alternating with the present crisis, could support either narrative.

Emma is alone in the world: Her parents are dead, she has no siblings, and Ritchie’s father doesn’t even know the baby exists. Friends from college and her working days don’t keep in touch, and Ritchie’s pediatrician is tired of hearing Emma’s problems.

The compelling story rests on a reality any parent will recognize: Caring for an infant or toddler, especially on one’s own, is hard, often boring work, and even fierce love for that child won’t prevent the parent from feeling angry and frustrated about being forced to care for him or from longing to be somewhere, anywhere, else.

“There was really nothing very difficult about it,” Emma thinks, early in her life alone caring for her baby. “Only that you had to keep on doing it. Over and over and over again.”

Taylor’s novel grounds the psychological suspense of the plot in the daily struggle, giving Emma’s plight a harrowing authenticity.