Audiobook Review: Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

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There’s just something about a train ride through the countryside—the rhythmic movement, the scenery moving past the window—that can pull you out of a rut and give you a fresh perspective.  But in the audio edition of Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson, a train ride through the countryside proves deadly.

The story finds non-fiction writer turned mystery author Ernest Cunningham enjoying the success of his first book, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (if you missed my review, be sure to go back and check it out) but struggling to convert his success into a career in fiction.  When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invites him to a crime-writing festival aboard a famous train traveling across the country, it seems like the perfect way to get away from the day-to-day pressures of writing, enjoy the scenery and the camaraderie with his fellow writers, and find some inspiration.  But he’s not expecting inspiration to come in the form of another dead body.

As he did in Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, the author (through his narrator) spends much of this novel talking about the rules of fair-play mystery novels—setting Ernest up not just as an expert in the field but also as a reliable storyteller.  Ernest holds nothing back—sharing his experiences, his observations, and even some clues as he tells the story in hindsight.  Once again, it makes for clever storytelling—the kind that’s an absolute delight for fans of mystery novels.  And instead of feeling like the mark—someone to be tricked along the way—readers will feel more like they’re almost a part of the story (or at least that they’re in on the joke).

The story itself, meanwhile, is an entertaining one, following these mystery writers as they attempt to put their experience to use to solve a real-life mystery.  There are some big personalities here—and some even bigger secrets that eventually make for some big surprises. For that reason, even if you’re paying close attention, you probably won’t be able to put all of the pieces together—but the revelations and the ah-ha moments in the end build up to a satisfying conclusion.

Like its predecessor, Everyone on This Train is a Suspect is a delightfully clever whodunit—a fun tribute to classic mystery writers and to the loyal mystery readers, too.  If you love following an amateur detective on the case, you’ll definitely want to follow this rule-abiding sleuth on his latest adventure.

Pros:
– Great for fans of classic mystery writers like Agatha Christie
– Playful storytelling with a great sense of humor
– Allows the reader to be in on the joke

Cons:
– Not a brainless listen—you’ll need to keep track of the characters and their histories

You can listen to this audiobook through Audible on Amazon.

Psssttt…Did you know that I review books on the radio each week? You can hear my audio review of this book on PRX.