Having said that, although I can't say I enjoyed this book, I didn't hate it either. It is well-written and compelling. It kept me guessing right up to the ending which seemed an appropriate homage to the original story. This is my second book by this author, both based around Christmas. This mystery has a very Golden Age feel, with events taking place on a train. We have Roz, a retired ex-detective, heading to Scotland for the birth of her first grandchild. She has a difficult relationship with her at times, feeling she has put her career first and still having issues with coming to terms with events when she was young and about to become a young mother herself. Do you believe? We do at the Mid Norfolk Railway Polar Express Train and that is why we are proud to be hosting an exciting magical experience like no other. After the success and fun of previous years, THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride is returning to the Mid-Norfolk Railway again with the magic of the 2004 motion picture THE POLAR EXPRESS™ being theatrically re-created so you and your family can be immersed in the sights, sounds and intrigue of this classic children’s tale. Prepare to be surrounded by the magic and wonder of the Christmas season! Make lots of mistakes, Rosalind. Make them frequently. And do not give up who you are to be someone else, or someone you think you should be. It never works. Find your strengths and use them. You have many. No one can figure things out like you can. No one stands up for victims like you do.”

Christmas Express is the great family board game for those who believe in Santa, and those that wish they still did! Jump aboard our festive loco and race to be the first to reach the North Pole. Avoid the pitfalls on the way and you might just find out whether you’ve been naughty or nice! I lived with this - it was never hugely intrusive, but the thing that finalised my mixed feelings about the book was the ending. There's an interesting twist at the end - but the reaction to that twist is to totally lose any sense of justice being done. It just felt wrong. I am still giving the book 3 stars for the good parts - a clever mystery, intriguing setting, lots of action and a surprise at the end. I liked Roz and enjoyed the role she played in solving the crime as well as preventing total anarchy on board the train!

Did you expect any of that having read the publisher’s summary. Yeah, I didn’t think so. And that is a HUGE problem. main point is that the themes of domestic abuse and sexual violence, while important to discuss, were too much for this novel. before reading it seems like a bit of festive crime fiction, so the heavy topics would throw people off. setting it at christmas time was unnecessary. didn’t like the detective honestly. took way too long to get into the murder and detective part (about half way through the book) because there were too many other things the book was trying to do. made it slow and too long, repeats itself a lot, and there’s a lot of telling not showing which created some strange dialogue.

As we are now on the run up to Christmas, we take a closer look at The Christmas Express Game from Cheatwell. Climb aboard the The Train to Christmas Town, a train ride expertly designed to bring the spirit of Christmas to life for another year. Bringing the whole family together for a special ride to remember, experience festive fun with fabulous characters and interactive entertainment. I absolutely loved it! Such a clever and pacy read with a glorious nod to classic Christie’ JO JAKEMAN My other issue with the book is that none of the characters come across as particularly likeable; they don't really develop any kind of personality other than long descriptions of what they're doing or obsessing about. This isn't helped by unnecessarily long descriptions of how a character uses his vape pen, or eats a sweet. In the first part of the book, the detective, Roz, is trying to get to Scotland to be with her daughter who has gone into labour. Roz feels that she's failing her daughter by not being there. We know this because we're told it over and over again. Roz has made a traditional Scottish sweet to take with her. We hear about this sweet endlessly while Roz is waiting for the train, how it tastes, how long it lasts, how she should have sent some to her daughter in the post.The book isn't bad, but apart from a couple of central characters, I found it difficult to get a picture of some of the others (there are four students, practising for an unlikely sounding cross between University Challenge and Big Brother, for example, who I had real trouble making anything other than ciphers in my mind). The side story of Roz's life didn't really add to the main thread of the mystery plotting, and the prose could sometimes try a bit too hard. I'm going to make this short. This looked like exactly the kind of wintry read I love but I never connected to the characters (unusual for me even when they're unlikable). None of these folks were given enough depth and they were a bit too much of the current moment. Additionally, while the reader knows there's a murder from the outset, the actuality of it is far too far into the story (and then the subsequent ones) for me not to call shenanigans, especially in a book of this length. So much rigamarole in the lead-up and it just got to the point that I just didn't care any longer. That's the worst thing that can happen with a book.

Land at a Station and you can move again, or land on a bridge and take a shortcut. Or play 3 of a kind and move directly to the next station… there are many ways to be first to the North Pole Station.

Production Map

The light-hearted tone, cheerful banter, festive puzzles and the cover all suggest a Christmassy comfort read and the frequently darker content completely jars with that feel. The content simply doesn't match the tone.