Night Train (review)

Night Train by Martin Amis Harmony Books, 1998, 175 pp., $20 Amis' ninth novel is a dark tale of American excess, sex and violence, executed with his trademark wit and stylistic virtuosity. Amis is no stranger to the mystery story and has dazzled readers with several metaphysical thrillers, eachdemonstrating his technical prowess and pushing the limits of the genre. Night Train, set completely in the United States, is a brilliant variation on the classic American whodunit. Mike Hoolihan is a gritty female detective, and as her name suggests, she's thick-skinned and tough-talking . With a deep smoker's voice, a bum liver and a physique suited for playing "the male villain in a postnuclear road movie," she's a bulldozer of law and order. During her fifteen years on the force, she's seen it all. ThenJennifer Rockwell, a stunning beauty and daughter of a respected top-brass cop, commits suicide. Hoolihan , a close friend of the Rockwells, is called upon to deliver the notification of death. In disbelief, Jennifer's father, Colonel Tom, asks Hoolihan to investigate the suicide. So begins the worst case of Hoolihan 's career. Jennifer's suicide at first seems inexplicable. Why would a brilliant young woman astrophysicist, in a seemingly happy relationship with a handsome philosopher, shoot herself? Slowly, as Hoolihan digs through the remains of Jennifer's life, the clues begin to collect and she uncovers all manner of mysterious loose ends: a curious trace of Lithium found in the body; a secret rendezvous with another man in a hotel lounge; a confessional suicide note mailed to her boyfriend. Hoolihan is surprised to find such a collection of warning signs and suspects that the trail has been constructed byJennifer herself to "justify " her suicide to her loved ones. Amis masterfully weaves this suicide mystery into a musing on black holes, the expanses of the universe, the emptiness of people and their lives. The "night train" of the title is the one-way express ticket to oblivion —the destination to which we all are eventually headed. In this novel, Amis asks us to think about life and the universe, about the emptiness of a tragic death, and of a tragic life. (CH) The Missouri Review · 207 ...