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Night Train
Under the subways' roar, out of the deep, wet caves, comes the fury from Hell...
In the bedrock beneath New York, a beautiful news reporter and a hard-bitten cop enter an eerie maze of abandoned tunnels, searching for a train that vanished with all aboard---over half a century ago.
But under the city of skyscrapers and tourists, under the peep shows and the penthouses, within the clammy darkness, around the next turn...an unholy evil waits to disgorge itself in violence and blood. Now the final nightmare must explode. Now the killing frenzy must begin...
In the bedrock beneath New York, a beautiful news reporter and a hard-bitten cop enter an eerie maze of abandoned tunnels, searching for a train that vanished with all aboard---over half a century ago.
But under the city of skyscrapers and tourists, under the peep shows and the penthouses, within the clammy darkness, around the next turn...an unholy evil waits to disgorge itself in violence and blood. Now the final nightmare must explode. Now the killing frenzy must begin...
337 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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856 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
May 16, 2020
This one was an absolute classic from the Golden Age of Horror. You have a mysterious underground slasher, strange killings in the area, a missing train from the early days of subways, little dwarfish people, "The Knights of Bernardus" (always had to think about Machen) and bizarre creatures trying to come in from a parallel world (strong reference to Lovecraft, Cthulhu was even mentioned). Can Prof Carter, Lya and Corvino stop the rising madness from beneath their feet? The author takes you on a fantastic trip deeper and deeper underground. The story is fast paced, fantastic, Lovecraft influenced. The cover is great too. A horror classic from the 80s. Absolutely recommended!
May 17, 2025
Quintessential (as in typical, not perfect) 80s horror, Night Train is an above-average example of the "group of people from different walks of life join forces to battle a mounting evil"-type novel that was so prevalent during that decade, complete with the obligatory over-the-top ending. You have your stock hard-nosed but secretly sensitive cop, a sexy reporter looking for her big break, and a quirky-but-genius college professor who just so happens to be well-versed in ancient evil lore.
So there's nothing really new here, but the descriptions of their expeditions through the demon-haunted New York City underground really does an excellent job evoking a feeling of claustrophobia and mounting terror. I also like that the novel references the Necronomicon, Cthulhu and megapolisomancy (from Leiber's Our Lady of Darkness) as if they were real, or at least real legend (in the case of Cthulhu). It definitely has its slow spots but the highs more than make up for it. Recommended for fans of this sort of thing (you know who you are).
ETA (5/16/25): Just wanted to mention that, despite having read this nearly a decade ago, it has really stuck with me. It might not have struck me as anything particularly special while reading, but certain scenes will stick with me forever (I’m thinking especially of a cameo from a certain Greek god in the depths of NYC’s tunnels), as well as all the creepy lore surrounding the lost subway train and just the grimy city atmosphere in general. I’m surprised by some of the negative reviews, because as far as my tastes go, cheesy midlist 80s horror doesn’t get much better than this.
So there's nothing really new here, but the descriptions of their expeditions through the demon-haunted New York City underground really does an excellent job evoking a feeling of claustrophobia and mounting terror. I also like that the novel references the Necronomicon, Cthulhu and megapolisomancy (from Leiber's Our Lady of Darkness) as if they were real, or at least real legend (in the case of Cthulhu). It definitely has its slow spots but the highs more than make up for it. Recommended for fans of this sort of thing (you know who you are).
ETA (5/16/25): Just wanted to mention that, despite having read this nearly a decade ago, it has really stuck with me. It might not have struck me as anything particularly special while reading, but certain scenes will stick with me forever (I’m thinking especially of a cameo from a certain Greek god in the depths of NYC’s tunnels), as well as all the creepy lore surrounding the lost subway train and just the grimy city atmosphere in general. I’m surprised by some of the negative reviews, because as far as my tastes go, cheesy midlist 80s horror doesn’t get much better than this.
April 13, 2019
Lacked cohesion and identity. Started out resembling a ghost story following the ill fated disappearance of train and its passengers in early 1900's deep in the catacombs of the New York subway system only to morph into a battle against hell incarnate.
Despite it's shortcomings Night Train is a lot of fun. The cast of characters is diverse yet familiar for 80's horror with a cop, a reporter, and a specialist of the occult, banding together to ward off the eternal evils dwelling in the bowels of the city.
The combination of crime and horror worked really well to give the story an added layer of depth with a semblance of realism; short-lived but appreciated.
Published in 1987, the Night Train left the door ajar for more horrors beneath the city that never sleeps, but I can't find anymore by the author directly relating to this particular cast of characters/concept.
My rating: 4/5 stars. If you like 80's retro horror, this one ain't bad.
Despite it's shortcomings Night Train is a lot of fun. The cast of characters is diverse yet familiar for 80's horror with a cop, a reporter, and a specialist of the occult, banding together to ward off the eternal evils dwelling in the bowels of the city.
The combination of crime and horror worked really well to give the story an added layer of depth with a semblance of realism; short-lived but appreciated.
Published in 1987, the Night Train left the door ajar for more horrors beneath the city that never sleeps, but I can't find anymore by the author directly relating to this particular cast of characters/concept.
My rating: 4/5 stars. If you like 80's retro horror, this one ain't bad.
September 11, 2021
"Night Train" is a kind of homage to Fritz Leiber's "Our Lady of Darkness." But while the latter book remains in my top ten favorite horror novels of all time, I fear that "Night Train" will be largely forgettable.
Considered a classic among the paperback horror boom of the 70s through the 90s, this 1984 urban thriller has a lot going for it. First of all, it was written by Thomas F. Monteleone, who is a two-time Stoker Award winner, prolific novelist, author of the brilliant short story collection "Fearful Symmetries," and editor of one of the best horror compilations "Borderlands." The novel itself has something in it for everyone. It's a police procedural. It's a creature feature. It's a slasher. It's a ghost story. It's a Lovecraft Mythos story. It's got a little romance, a little gore, a little thrills. It's a fantastic time capsule for the urban decay that was New York City in the 70s and 80s. So what's wrong with it?
Well, I'm not really sure. I can say that despite the fact that it is quite well paced, there are moments that still seem to drag. And somehow, despite the amount of time spent on our main three characters, I never really felt I got to know them. The dialogue was rather inane and generic. In fact, a lot of this book seemed to be a collection of cliches collected from horror movies, cop shows, detective comics, and pulp fiction of every genre. I just know that months from now I am going to get this book confused with countless other works. In fact, it's already happening. I made the mistake of reading this book around the same time as reading "Ghoul" by Michael Slade. Talk about your outdated urban cliches! If there is a black man in either of these novels, you better be sure they sport a gold tooth. If there is a woman under thirty, you better be sure she is a stripper with an IQ of 60. If there's an Italian chef, you bedda believe that he is gonna speak-a like-a the Mario and-a the Luigi!
Funny enough, the publishers of the e-book tried to "modernize" the story here and there. It was a lazy attempt and quite unnecessary. Throwing in a couple of pointless references to cell phones that didn't exist to that degree in 1984 doesn't make a book any more palatable. All this accomplished was to throw in a little 21st century technology into a clearly 80s setting. In one scene, we even have a cop working on his laptop in his apartment before getting up to check his answering machine, even going so far as to ramble on about how he hates talking to these new-fangled tape recorders. That's like reading a novel from the 20s that has been "updated" to have a cop check his email on his smart phone, but then still has him go to Western Union to respond by telegram. Hilarious.
Overall, there wasn't a lot of original material here to make this stand out from it's contemporaries. To make things worse, Monteleone chose to write in the most bland narrative voice imaginable, without a hint of irony, humor, pathos, or energy. I truly had a hard time staying awake reading this in the evenings, even though it is fairly straightforward and packed with action.
But I rate books by enjoyability, and "Night Train" was certainly enjoyable, with enough monster and serial killer mayhem to keep me engaged to the end even if the book did take the place of melatonin for a few nights. Perhaps you'll love it more than I did. But for me, this ranked a solid three stars.
Considered a classic among the paperback horror boom of the 70s through the 90s, this 1984 urban thriller has a lot going for it. First of all, it was written by Thomas F. Monteleone, who is a two-time Stoker Award winner, prolific novelist, author of the brilliant short story collection "Fearful Symmetries," and editor of one of the best horror compilations "Borderlands." The novel itself has something in it for everyone. It's a police procedural. It's a creature feature. It's a slasher. It's a ghost story. It's a Lovecraft Mythos story. It's got a little romance, a little gore, a little thrills. It's a fantastic time capsule for the urban decay that was New York City in the 70s and 80s. So what's wrong with it?
Well, I'm not really sure. I can say that despite the fact that it is quite well paced, there are moments that still seem to drag. And somehow, despite the amount of time spent on our main three characters, I never really felt I got to know them. The dialogue was rather inane and generic. In fact, a lot of this book seemed to be a collection of cliches collected from horror movies, cop shows, detective comics, and pulp fiction of every genre. I just know that months from now I am going to get this book confused with countless other works. In fact, it's already happening. I made the mistake of reading this book around the same time as reading "Ghoul" by Michael Slade. Talk about your outdated urban cliches! If there is a black man in either of these novels, you better be sure they sport a gold tooth. If there is a woman under thirty, you better be sure she is a stripper with an IQ of 60. If there's an Italian chef, you bedda believe that he is gonna speak-a like-a the Mario and-a the Luigi!
Funny enough, the publishers of the e-book tried to "modernize" the story here and there. It was a lazy attempt and quite unnecessary. Throwing in a couple of pointless references to cell phones that didn't exist to that degree in 1984 doesn't make a book any more palatable. All this accomplished was to throw in a little 21st century technology into a clearly 80s setting. In one scene, we even have a cop working on his laptop in his apartment before getting up to check his answering machine, even going so far as to ramble on about how he hates talking to these new-fangled tape recorders. That's like reading a novel from the 20s that has been "updated" to have a cop check his email on his smart phone, but then still has him go to Western Union to respond by telegram. Hilarious.
Overall, there wasn't a lot of original material here to make this stand out from it's contemporaries. To make things worse, Monteleone chose to write in the most bland narrative voice imaginable, without a hint of irony, humor, pathos, or energy. I truly had a hard time staying awake reading this in the evenings, even though it is fairly straightforward and packed with action.
But I rate books by enjoyability, and "Night Train" was certainly enjoyable, with enough monster and serial killer mayhem to keep me engaged to the end even if the book did take the place of melatonin for a few nights. Perhaps you'll love it more than I did. But for me, this ranked a solid three stars.
August 3, 2023
Very fun read by Monteleone, and one that does a great job of depicting NYC back in the gritty 80s. Nonetheless, I felt that the author was trying a little too hard to make this campy, throwing just about every horror trope at the wall to see what would stick. Great camp usually comes about when the author/director is not trying to achieve camp status. Think Plan Nine From Outer Space! A recent great campy novel I stumbled across was Bugged!, which also tried to be a 'serious' novel. Night Train came close here, but just did not fill the bill.
Our three main characters are Lya, an intrepid up-and-coming television reporter, Michael, a NYC cop, and an eccentric NYU prof named Carter, whose research interests center on old cults and mysticism. At a party, Michael meets Lya (who soon become love interests) and also Carter, who tells them (among other mysterious things that happen below the streets of NYC) about a subway train that went missing in 1915. Lya feels this would make a great story and starts digging. Meanwhile, some crazy called the subway slasher is doing his thing, amassing a rather high body count, and Michael is wrapped up in that.
No more on the plot. Monteleone tosses into the mix a strange dwarf cult that came to NYC in the 17th century, Lovecraftian mythos (Carter has friends at Miskatonic University of course), and all kinds of other nasties that seem to move from whatever their dimension is to under the streets of NYC. Perhaps it has to do with ley lines? See what I mean about tossing in every trope but the kitchen sink? After meandering around for some time, with lots of characters introduced just to meet their foo, Night Train does come to a fun denouement. A pretty good slide of the 80s horror genre, but more pseudo-campy than scary (although it had its moments). 3.5 stars, but not enough umph for 4.
Our three main characters are Lya, an intrepid up-and-coming television reporter, Michael, a NYC cop, and an eccentric NYU prof named Carter, whose research interests center on old cults and mysticism. At a party, Michael meets Lya (who soon become love interests) and also Carter, who tells them (among other mysterious things that happen below the streets of NYC) about a subway train that went missing in 1915. Lya feels this would make a great story and starts digging. Meanwhile, some crazy called the subway slasher is doing his thing, amassing a rather high body count, and Michael is wrapped up in that.
No more on the plot. Monteleone tosses into the mix a strange dwarf cult that came to NYC in the 17th century, Lovecraftian mythos (Carter has friends at Miskatonic University of course), and all kinds of other nasties that seem to move from whatever their dimension is to under the streets of NYC. Perhaps it has to do with ley lines? See what I mean about tossing in every trope but the kitchen sink? After meandering around for some time, with lots of characters introduced just to meet their foo, Night Train does come to a fun denouement. A pretty good slide of the 80s horror genre, but more pseudo-campy than scary (although it had its moments). 3.5 stars, but not enough umph for 4.
June 22, 2015
A fast paced, fun novel of '80s horror set beneath the streets of New York City, this twisted tale of missing trains, a subway slasher, urban legend, and an unspeakable evil loose in the labyrinth that lies below the City That Never Sleeps.
Monteleone perfectly captures the ambiance of the subway system, and the entire entwined nest of tunnels cut into the bedrock, tapping into that most primal of fears....not just of the dark, but of the subterranean blackness.....where the Night Train runs.
Monteleone perfectly captures the ambiance of the subway system, and the entire entwined nest of tunnels cut into the bedrock, tapping into that most primal of fears....not just of the dark, but of the subterranean blackness.....where the Night Train runs.
May 14, 2018
I'm not sure this book makes any sense, but when you've got Prometheus chained up in an abandoned subway station, killer sewer starfish, a sect of dwarf albino monk wizards living beneath the Lower East Side, and the occult powers of gentrification going on I don't know if making sense is a positive or a negative.
July 15, 2020
Despite sporting one of the bangin’-est covers of the era, Night Train is painfully mediocre. Monteleone is the editor behind one of the great horror antho series ever, Borderlands, but as an author he is too quick to resort to cliche—you know as soon as the cop says he needs to “see the body” that the coroner is gonna be eating a sandwich over said body. Only the wizened old prof who’s an expert in ancient cults/religions offers any charm or wit during the proceedings. I guess there was some crazy shit going on but it’s written in such a square pedestrian manner I missed it. For evil subway cults you still can’t beat Barker’s “Midnight Meat Train.”
September 8, 2023
This wasn’t awful awful, but it was pretty damn dull, and it had a really weak ending as well. Plus, I prefer my horror stories with less
April 1, 2021
Several interesting plot hooks that unfortunately don't quite pay off in the end. Good buildup marred by the absence of real plot or conflict, then everything gets resolved thanks to wondrous devices one of the protagonists pulls out if his cupboard. I really struggled with this rating - three stars is far too high, but I rounded up on the strength of the writing style.
November 4, 2018
Nice build and atmosphere but the ending is so rushed that it nearly ruins the book. It seemed like there was just too much set up without focus to really pay off. Evil dwarves, bugs, dinosaurs, flesh eating jellyfish... promising for a while but it all just kind of fizzles out. I’m guessing the author wrote themselves Into a hole and just blazed out. An okay read but kind of unsatisfying.
February 13, 2022
Lots of big ideas but I found myself bored at times. Really liked the missing train aspects, the slasher, and the batshit crazy ending.
August 19, 2023
Very 80s horror I love it
May 23, 2022
I don't believe in rounding up ratings, but this book was pretty good overall so I'll round it up to a 4 star rating, 3 stars seems a bit too low for the level of fun I had reading it. The story chugged along wonderfully until the sex scene. I not a prude or anything, but that scene should have been dropped. I just wanted a "nice" horror-mystery with some adventure, which this has, but the romance aspect between the two characters could have been downplayed a lot more. If this isn't your thing either, please don't let this deter you from giving Night Train a try; just do as I did and skip these sections.
July 19, 2025
Creepy subway horror meets boss-fight chaos. This was a nostalgic B-movie in book form, but the great concept got derailed (🫠) by terrible editing choices on the digital edition and uneven execution.
Energy: Campy. Driven. Chaotic.
🐺 Growls: Super annoying (and half-assed) modernization edits (inconsistently changing from the original to have cell phones, Wikipedia, and uber instead of phone booths, microfiche, and taxis, but doing it inconsistently so it was really noticeable and it killed the immersion).
🐕 Howls: Action scenes fell flat and were hard to imagine.
🐩 Tail Wags: The vibes. The settings. Reading this felt like I was watching a 1980s horror adventure movie. The action didn’t drag and felt like a video game final boss finale.
Scene: 🇺🇸 Manhattan, NYC, USA
Perspectives (multiple): A philosophy and ancient religion professor. A news anchor chasing a story. A mentally ill subway dweller. A detective on the subway slasher case. The detective’s work partner. A street advertiser for a strip club. A city exterminator. An unhoused elder. A gang member. A street food vendor. A Department of Sewers worker. An unhoused addict.
Timeline: Linear. 1980s. ☀️🍂 Summer to autumn.
Narrative: Invisible in the room, eavesdropping, observing from afar (third person omniscient)
Fuel: Sinister happenings, eerie settings. Following the case and theorizing on who or what is responsible. Subway lore. What happened to the lost train? Who is the slasher and why are they kiliing? Will the characters solve the case?
Cred: Speculative realism
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Star-stone. Sooty girders. Polished rails. Confluence of tunnels. Graffiti. Machine oil, ozone, and trash. Train 93. Cutco knife. Slithering things.
• Cinematic, gritty writing style
• Eccentric, likeable, morally good, heroic, questionable, and troubled characters
• Books to read on the subway
• Urban legends subway horror
• Ragtag underdogs facing adventure, close calls, and cover-ups
• Undercurrents of romantic tension
• Mix of megapolisomancy, Greek mythology, and interdimensional chaos
• Duty and sacrifice
• How-far-would-you-go-to-save-your-city hopepunk
Content Heads-Up: Alcoholic parent (mention). Animal attack (rats). Animal death, cruelty (rats). Blood. Child abuse (physical; memory). Divorse, custody fight (recall). Fatphobia (character comments). Financial insecurity, unhoused. Intoxicated driving (mention). Loss of parents (as child). Mental illness (delusions, auditory hallucinations, schizophrenic symptoms, trauma/flashbacks). Mugging. Murder. Nicotine (cigarettes). Physical attack. Sexual content (behind closed doors; consenting, in love). Vehicle crash (permanent injury). Voyerism, peeping.
Rep: American. Cis. Asexual. Hetero. Dark, pale, olive, blue-black, light brown, and paper white skin tones.
📚 Format: Kobo Plus
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Energy: Campy. Driven. Chaotic.
🐺 Growls: Super annoying (and half-assed) modernization edits (inconsistently changing from the original to have cell phones, Wikipedia, and uber instead of phone booths, microfiche, and taxis, but doing it inconsistently so it was really noticeable and it killed the immersion).
🐕 Howls: Action scenes fell flat and were hard to imagine.
🐩 Tail Wags: The vibes. The settings. Reading this felt like I was watching a 1980s horror adventure movie. The action didn’t drag and felt like a video game final boss finale.
Scene: 🇺🇸 Manhattan, NYC, USA
Perspectives (multiple): A philosophy and ancient religion professor. A news anchor chasing a story. A mentally ill subway dweller. A detective on the subway slasher case. The detective’s work partner. A street advertiser for a strip club. A city exterminator. An unhoused elder. A gang member. A street food vendor. A Department of Sewers worker. An unhoused addict.
Timeline: Linear. 1980s. ☀️🍂 Summer to autumn.
Narrative: Invisible in the room, eavesdropping, observing from afar (third person omniscient)
Fuel: Sinister happenings, eerie settings. Following the case and theorizing on who or what is responsible. Subway lore. What happened to the lost train? Who is the slasher and why are they kiliing? Will the characters solve the case?
Cred: Speculative realism
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Star-stone. Sooty girders. Polished rails. Confluence of tunnels. Graffiti. Machine oil, ozone, and trash. Train 93. Cutco knife. Slithering things.
• Cinematic, gritty writing style
• Eccentric, likeable, morally good, heroic, questionable, and troubled characters
• Books to read on the subway
• Urban legends subway horror
• Ragtag underdogs facing adventure, close calls, and cover-ups
• Undercurrents of romantic tension
• Mix of megapolisomancy, Greek mythology, and interdimensional chaos
• Duty and sacrifice
• How-far-would-you-go-to-save-your-city hopepunk
Content Heads-Up: Alcoholic parent (mention). Animal attack (rats). Animal death, cruelty (rats). Blood. Child abuse (physical; memory). Divorse, custody fight (recall). Fatphobia (character comments). Financial insecurity, unhoused. Intoxicated driving (mention). Loss of parents (as child). Mental illness (delusions, auditory hallucinations, schizophrenic symptoms, trauma/flashbacks). Mugging. Murder. Nicotine (cigarettes). Physical attack. Sexual content (behind closed doors; consenting, in love). Vehicle crash (permanent injury). Voyerism, peeping.
Rep: American. Cis. Asexual. Hetero. Dark, pale, olive, blue-black, light brown, and paper white skin tones.
📚 Format: Kobo Plus
My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶
October 28, 2022
Love this cover! Another read for the Halloween season. I've read this one several times in the past - my poor copy is starting to fall apart. The two main characters are a bit cheesy and could have used a little more character development. Still, this is so good and creepy. Subway systems are a bit creepy anyway so what better place for some horror. I'll reread this again in the future - so long as my copy stays intact.
January 2, 2018
Adventurous and entertaining
I personally liked it , being a station agent working for the New York City Transit Authority , I feel that I can appreciate the locale more than most people. Well done Mr. Montpelier.
I personally liked it , being a station agent working for the New York City Transit Authority , I feel that I can appreciate the locale more than most people. Well done Mr. Montpelier.
October 29, 2019
I picked this novel up at a thrift store on a whim and I'm so glad that I did. It's terrifying and very memorable. Monteleone includes some frightening surprises mixed with moody horror in ways that make this a good book to read on a dark night.
July 3, 2025
It's very disposable and cliched but I would be lying if I said it didn't keep me hooked until the end. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it paints a convincing picture of just how gritty and sleazy New York was back in the 1980's, and the main story of how there's a portal lurking beneath the city's street that leads to a Lovecraftian dimension of evil plays well into it. The characters are all stock types but whatever, they serve their purpose well.
Also, I don't know what was the rationale behind the Diversion revision of the copy I read, but the decision to update some terms to today's language was very distracting. Terms like Uber, Lyft, Wikipedia and PDF don't make sense in this context, it's a story very obviously set in the 80's.
Also, I don't know what was the rationale behind the Diversion revision of the copy I read, but the decision to update some terms to today's language was very distracting. Terms like Uber, Lyft, Wikipedia and PDF don't make sense in this context, it's a story very obviously set in the 80's.
July 26, 2025
1.5 rounded up.
That was a mess.
I know it's a classic but it read like a rough draft, and Monteleone seemed like he couldn't wait to be done writing it by the end.
Kind of fun for escapism, like a low budget syfy original movie, but mostly just bad.
Sometimes I think I need to be more willing to DNF
That was a mess.
I know it's a classic but it read like a rough draft, and Monteleone seemed like he couldn't wait to be done writing it by the end.
Kind of fun for escapism, like a low budget syfy original movie, but mostly just bad.
Sometimes I think I need to be more willing to DNF
June 12, 2020
The smells and sounds of New York's underground are viscerally presented in this hefty invention, beginning with the IRT in 1915 and flashing forward into today. Monteleone doesn't stop there. Instead, he plunges ahead into "places beneath us that few have imagined, much less seen … a virtual kingdom of darkness beneath our feet" as well as a slasher now targeting late-night riders. What follows is an action-filled tour de force with a cast of characters to match. Along the way, the author spews fascinating details of the inner operations of the MTA and of big-city police, making me wonder about how much first-hand research he managed to conduct during the writing. The developing terror turns into quite the nail-biter.
August 22, 2016
A surprising good read when you consider I found it in the "free" box at a thrift store. It definitely reads like a b-movie horror film from the 80's, which I'm certainly a fan of. There's some camp, yeah, and at times it's pretty corny (two of the main characters fall over the moon in love with each other almost instantly even though they know nothing about each other) and the plot itself is a bit...well very much like an 80's horror film, but there is a lot of charm to the book that makes it all pretty good.
May 1, 2020
A good theme, engaging prose and decent characterization got bogged down in the author's tendency to over-stretch the build-up to the grand finale. A case in point is the head-to-heel descriptions of people who were about to be brutally slayed in the next two-three pages. That said, the spookiness of the tunnels, the mysterious fog and its accompaniments, the mounting fear, the stream of consciousness, the Prometheus simulacrum and the author's obvious knowledge of New York and its culture made the book worthwhile.
August 2, 2022
A wild romp
This book reads like a great 80s horror movie - which makes sense since it was first published in 1984. Lots of crazy, wild creatures, mysticism, a serial killer, giant rats, this books has them all. Definitely a fun time!
One small complaint would be that somewhere along the way to becoming an ebook, someone decided to try and make the story more modern, so there's random mentions of Uber, Lyft, and some wonky timing. Each time something like this would pop up, it there me out of the story. Wish they'd just left it as the original novel.
This book reads like a great 80s horror movie - which makes sense since it was first published in 1984. Lots of crazy, wild creatures, mysticism, a serial killer, giant rats, this books has them all. Definitely a fun time!
One small complaint would be that somewhere along the way to becoming an ebook, someone decided to try and make the story more modern, so there's random mentions of Uber, Lyft, and some wonky timing. Each time something like this would pop up, it there me out of the story. Wish they'd just left it as the original novel.
February 22, 2018
This book may not be perfect -- with plenty of '80s cheese and the Super Mario-like stereotype of an Italian restaurant owner standing out -- but it is tons of fun (like all good '80s cheese). Plus, as a recent resident of New York, it's good to know about the strange and horrifying things that lurk under the ground on my commute. Hopefully detective Michael Corvino is keeping a close watch on the things that would slither through the nexus between realities.
May 21, 2018
Great book, which shows us the greed of the human being and what can be done to get what you want.
The plot is very well taken. Starting with a simple idea, where a man arrives at the train, he dies and carries in his possession what appear to be jewels. Then it unfolds, showing us that not all passengers are what they appear, and especially the desire of each of them to own the object. Deaths everywhere, and a well-managed environment of madness.
Totally recommended.
The plot is very well taken. Starting with a simple idea, where a man arrives at the train, he dies and carries in his possession what appear to be jewels. Then it unfolds, showing us that not all passengers are what they appear, and especially the desire of each of them to own the object. Deaths everywhere, and a well-managed environment of madness.
Totally recommended.
September 25, 2019
Beneath the streets of New York, an underground labyrinth full of nightmarish creatures threatens an unsuspecting metropolis. An unlikely troupe must summon all the bravado they can muster to locate and shut out the evil gathering in the tunnels of their city. First published in 1984, Night Train roars back to life for the first time in hardcover to scare the crap out of a whole new generation. Prepare to accommodate at least a few sleepless nights of terror. All aboard!
December 14, 2019
This book has every. single. horror element you can imagine from serial killers to the paranormal AND somehow it all works! It was suspenseful and hard to put down. It was written in the 80s and I love all the 80s elements in it too, everything from pagers to boom boxes. Definitely one for any horror, mystery, and/or paranormal enthusiast.
February 5, 2020
Wow, what an imagination!
I really enjoyed this very exciting tale! Great characterization and oddly comforting undertones of hp lovecraft. NY subways are always crazy places but never more so than in this book.
I really enjoyed this very exciting tale! Great characterization and oddly comforting undertones of hp lovecraft. NY subways are always crazy places but never more so than in this book.
April 16, 2023
I was willing to forgive a lot of the issues I had for this novel, when I thought it must be the work of a fledgling author, but the author turns out to be pissy old Boomer with a 40 year writing career to his name, though I’d never heard of him before this.
This explains the paper doll that the only female character is (no really, multiple occasions the author gives the reader a head to toe description of the outfit the character with the stripper name is wearing, apropos of nothing), and the fact that she lives in a New York City with no minorities not mugging somebody.
Politics aside, the book was a bit of a jumbled mess, though there were moments that worked pretty well. It felt like someone took an anthology of Lovecraft themed short stories set on the New York subway system, put them in a mason jar and shook it. By the end, I still wasn’t sure if it was set in the 80s or current time.
Also, some concepts were just ridiculous, for instance; a serial killer who repeatedly finds themselves alone in Grand Central Station long enough to slash multiple victims without ever being seen and never getting a drop of blood on themselves. Also, ‘Stripper name’ is supposed to be a journalist looking for the story that’s gonna put her on the map. She gets a tip about a train car that disappeared around the turn of the century and thinks that this is it! This is the story, so she throws herself into it. Then, she starts dating the detective in charge of the ‘Subway Slasher’ case and patiently waits for him to solve it, before picking his brain about the old subway car. Huh?? Never even acknowledges the ‘Slasher’ story. LOL.
Three stars is generous.
This explains the paper doll that the only female character is (no really, multiple occasions the author gives the reader a head to toe description of the outfit the character with the stripper name is wearing, apropos of nothing), and the fact that she lives in a New York City with no minorities not mugging somebody.
Politics aside, the book was a bit of a jumbled mess, though there were moments that worked pretty well. It felt like someone took an anthology of Lovecraft themed short stories set on the New York subway system, put them in a mason jar and shook it. By the end, I still wasn’t sure if it was set in the 80s or current time.
Also, some concepts were just ridiculous, for instance; a serial killer who repeatedly finds themselves alone in Grand Central Station long enough to slash multiple victims without ever being seen and never getting a drop of blood on themselves. Also, ‘Stripper name’ is supposed to be a journalist looking for the story that’s gonna put her on the map. She gets a tip about a train car that disappeared around the turn of the century and thinks that this is it! This is the story, so she throws herself into it. Then, she starts dating the detective in charge of the ‘Subway Slasher’ case and patiently waits for him to solve it, before picking his brain about the old subway car. Huh?? Never even acknowledges the ‘Slasher’ story. LOL.
Three stars is generous.
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