She Treads Softly: The Railroad

Saturday, November 4, 2023

The Railroad

The Railroad by Matt Brolly
11/8/23; 360 pages
Oblong Books
Lynch and Rose #2

The Railroad by Matt Brolly is a very highly recommended investigative thriller and the second book in the Lynch and Rose series. The pages will fly by when you read this excellent, fast-paced, tension-filled, complicated thriller.

A model train locomotive is found at the gruesome murder scene of a family of four and is clearly recognize as a tie to the psychopathic serial killer, The Controller. Special Agent Sandra Rose and Special Agent McBride are called in to assist the investigate. At the same time former agent Samuel Lynch receives a package addressed to his alias which also contains a model train locomotive. Lynch makes sure his ex-wife and son flee their current location and then contacts Rose. Because of his experience with the Controller and obvious connection to the current investigation, Rose asks him assist in the current investigation. And then the body count rises and the threat increases.

The characters are fully realized, determined, and intelligent. Readers will appreciate these characters, even when they are struggling or feel broken. It is sheer pleasure to follow along as they investigate and piece clues together. The crime scenes can be gruesome, but the idea that the criminal empire of the Controller may be returning is even more frightening.

The Railroad is an un-put-downable thriller that will hold your attention throughout. The tension is palpable and the short chapters keep the pages flying by as more information is uncovered and the action intensifies. It does require some suspension of disbelief, but this is done without a second thought because the plot and suspense is so compelling. Although The Railroad is the second in a series, you can read this as a stand-alone novel as enough background information is provided, however, I predict you will want to read the first book, The Controller.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Oblong Books via NetGalley.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.