A review by paulataua
The Man Who Watched the Trains Go by by Georges Simenon

3.0

Another of Simenon’s ‘romans durs’ in which an ordinary respectable family man and citizen is changed into a calculating psychotic capable of violence and murder following the sudden collapse of the company he works for. I am fascinated by Simenon’s focus on the unstable mind, and how there is much more to us that we show on the surface and that the hidden ‘us’ is always ready to be triggered by circumstance. On a less positive note, I felt the tone of the book was a little light and that somewhat spoiled my enjoyment of it. I wasn’t wholly sure if that was something to do with the narration, but I think not. Good if you can get over the tone.