Blackpool Highflyer by Andrew Martin (Faber and Faber Ltd.) Reviewed By Cathy Walker

A novel about a Yorkshireman who is nuts about the railways and his adventures as an engine driver... Admittedly this sounds like something that might appeal just to trainspotters, but in the Blackpool Highflyer:, Andrew Martin: has skilfully crafted a crime thriller that makes you think that trains can be exciting. In 1905 the British transport system was opening up new travel opportunities to working class people; as the Blackpool Highflyer: tells us, you could even go to the continent from Goole! For most, however, travel was on a more limited scale.

Today, for most a day trip by train to the seaside would be at most tolerable, but in 1905 it was an exciting, even exotic experience. Wakes weeks and factory excursions to destinations such as Blackpool and Scarborough were a new and exciting experience for Yorkshire workers. The Blackpool Highflyer: centres on these excursions and like its predecessor, the darkly atmospheric Necropolis Railway, features railway buff and employee Jim Stringer.

The Blackpool Highflyer:, reintroduces us to Jim Stringer following his relocation to West Yorkshire for a promotion from cleaning to firing the engines. Jim is ambitious and passionate about the railways despite the dirt, hard work and danger they pose. Jim's exuberance is understandable when he is assigned the relatively pleasurable job of driving special summer excursion trains packed with exuberant Yorkshire factory girls. Things soon take a darker turn as disaster strikes one such special excursion. When a millstone placed on the track derails his train, Jim is determined to discover the culprit.

As Jim enters a murky world of dodgy lodgers, fraudsters and ventriloquists, shifty revolutionaries and textile magnates in order to discover the wrecker, Andrew Martin: reveals something of the darker side of 1905.

Jim is neither the most intelligent nor lucky of sleuths, but his difficulties in piecing together the truth work to keep the reader guessing. The Blackpool Highflyer: is an accomplished thriller with Jim Stringer emerging as a rounded and likeable character. Andrew Martin: skilfully captures the character and mood of 1905 highlighting the excitement and dangers posed by the railway. This is balanced by the author's dark wit as the ever cheerful and optimistic Jim doggedly tries to uncover the truth. Not just a book for trainspotters!

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