Terror Train! - Softcover

Cross

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0689717652 ISBN 13: 9780689717659

Publisher: Aladdin, 1994

Synopsis

Two boys, traveling from Chicago to Portland, Oregon, by train, join forces with an elderly mystery writer to investigate a fellow passenger's sudden death.

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6 Young Jeff Glover and Nguyen, his adopted Vietnamese brother, are travelling from Chicago to Portland, Oregon, on a luxury train. Aboard the Empire Builder, they encounter several bizarre characters: mysterious, hoarse-voiced Mr. Kurtz; bad-tempered Nicholas Drake, and Mrs. Larkin, an overbearing mystery writer from New Zealand. When Mr. Kurtz disappears, apparently having jumped from the train, Jeff, Nguyen and Mrs. Larkin suspect foul-play and decide to set a trap for the killer. Since the murderer's identity is established early on, most of the suspense in this novel comes not from solving the mystery, but in the threesome's dangerous attempts to bring the criminal to justice. One disappointment is Cross' failure to fully utilize his setting, as there is little description of the parts of the country through which the train passes. Cross does, however, make effective use of the Empire Builder's passage through the Rocky Mountains as a setting for the story's exciting climax. Terror Train moves along at a fast clip, and readers are sure to appreciate Nguyen's clever observations and deductions. Jeff and Nguyen previously appeared in Mystery at Loon Lake (Macmillan, 1986) and they will no doubt be cropping up in more mystery/adventure novels in the future. Ruth Sadasivan, Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, Ohio
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aladdin
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689717652
• ISBN 13: 9780689717659
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 111