Weekend Buff
This week: An unexpected murder mystery, from a non-crime author
We’re all familiar with the various forms of whodunits — British parlor mysteries, film noir Americana, police procedurals, etc. This week: a book by a famous author not known for crime fiction, and one that stretches those genres: Night Train, by Martin Amis.
This is the perfect murder mystery for the internet age (even though it came out in 1997): it’s short, reads briskly, and has the drumbeat of a tv cop show (think a highly literate Law and Order). British writer Amis, well-known on both sides of the Atlantic for more high-minded writings, delivers here a wicked little tale told from the perspective of a hard-bitten, seen-it-all cop — in this case, female detective Mike Hoolihan.
All I can say is, Amis must’ve spent plenty of time with real detectives. He gets the feel right: the intrigue, the brute hilarity, and the creeping despair of a job where, by definition, you deal daily with people only when things have gone sideways. The book manages to be both funny and bleak — life policework, like life.
To give you a taste of the feel, here’s a passage in which Hoolihan sums up a big-city PD:
Some say you can’t top the adrenaline (and the dirty cash) of Narcotics, and all agree that Kidnapping is a million laughs (if murder in America is largely black on black, then kidnapping is largely gang on gang), and Sex Offenses has its followers, and Vice has its votaries, and Intelligence means what it says (Intelligence runs deep, and brings in the deep-sea malefactors), but everyone is quietly aware that Homicide is the daddy. Homicide is the Show.
The book is told in the first-person by Hoolihan, who has a weary, knowing eye for what she’s up against as she deals with bosses, colleagues, a less-than-perfect personal life — and the biggest case of her (waning) career. The tone is enormously authentic; I was consistently reminded of people I’d worked with (one woman, specifically).
In the end, however, this is a murder mystery, and it’s actually less of a whodunit than a why-dunit — and one that doesn’t wrap up in a neat bow. Once done — and if you’re a reader, I bet you read this book in two sittings — the title will make sense to you. As the cops say, this isn’t one big happy-happy.
It’s also a book that stays with you; deceptively deep, there are stirrings beneath the cop narrative that will linger long afterwards. Amis really got a lot out of this material, which is why it transcends the police procedural.
(Martin Amis and his patented scowl)
He wasn’t a crime writer per se, but much like Capote’s In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance (a great title, courtesy of mobster Frank Costello, btw), Night Train is that rarity: literature that walks like a page-turner. And strangely, it’s never cited when people recall Amis (who only died last year — a great loss). I put that down to snobbery. This is a terrific novel.
If you do catch up with it, do let us know. Books remain, in my opinion, our deepest vicarious experience — and Night Train only proves it.
Here’s the link to it on Amazon — you can get it used for five or six bucks. Highly worth it.
(By the way, there was a 2018 movie made from the book, called Out Of Blue, starring James Caan. Apparently, it really sucked. Go with the book).
In the meantime: stay cool and enjoy the weekend!
