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The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By

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The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By

By: Georges Simenon, Sian Renyolds - Translator
Narrated by: Mark Meadows
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About this listen

A brilliant new translation of one of Simenon's best loved masterpieces.

'A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion...disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers.'

Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man. Then he discovers that his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for - and something snaps.

Kees used to watch the trains go by to exciting destinations. Now, on some dark impulse, he boards one at random and begins a new life of recklessness and violence. This chilling portrayal of a man who breaks from society and goes on the run asks who we are and what we are capable of.

©1953 Georges Simenon (P)2016 Audible, Ltd
Classics Crime Fiction Genre Fiction International Mystery & Crime Literary Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime

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Critic reviews

"Classic Simenon...extraordinary in its evocative power." (Independent)
"What emerges is the bare human animal." (John Gray)
"Read him at your peril, avoid him at your loss." (Sunday Times)
All stars
Most relevant  
A careful chronicle of a man’s descent into madness after a life changing event. And whilst Maigret is absent, Luca puts in a cameo appearance. Mark’s reading adds to the atmosphere.

Spellbinding…..and with No Maigret

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