Jennifer Rockwell, the Femme Fatale in this contemporary novel is dead and it is up to Detective Mike Hoolihan- an emasculated female detective (“If you take intelligence from me, if you take it from my face, then you really don’t leave me with very much at all.”) – to find out why.
Night Train is Martin Amis’ literary police procedural crime novel and true to literary type novels, character comes before plot. Hints that Jennifer Rockwell is a femme fatale are dropped throughout the novel.
-
She’s sexy: Jennifer Rockwell was a cleavage in a lab coat. But she wasn’t Mary Poppins. A spinning top looks still and stable until the force starts to weaken.
-
She’s confident: The confidence with which she carried it (her body) was self-evident, self-sufficient – I guess the word I want is “consummate.” She never needed to give it a moment’s thought. And when you consider how much the rest of us think about our bodies, and what kind of thoughts these are. Yes, absolutely right. We should all be so lucky.
-
She’s smart: Jennifer Rockwell was an astrophysicist who had everything to live for–brains, looks, the world’s best lover, and unlimited career horizons-
-
She’s tough: In every respect her intellect was tough.
-
She’s drop-dead gorgeous: I have known Jennifer Rockwell since she was eight years old. She was a favorite of mine. But she was also a favorite of everybody else’s. And I watched her grow into a kind of embarrassment of perfection. Brilliant, beautiful. Yeah, I’m thinking: to-die-for brilliant. Drop-dead beautiful…She had it all and she had it all, and then she had some more. Guys? She had them coming out of her hair…
Carol Balawyder 
I love Martin Amis but I haven’t gotten around to this one yet.
LikeLike
It’s really different from his other novels. You might want to read my comments on Goodreads or Amazon about it. I hope you read it and let me know what you think. 🙂
LikeLike
I have added it to my list 🙂 I am rereading rabbit is rich by john Updike for some reason. When I am finished I will give Amis a go . Hope all is well with you over there
LikeLike
Very well, thank you…Hope the same with you. 🙂
LikeLike
Hmm, I can’t say I’ve ever been attracted to the idea of reading Martin Amis. I suspect it would have to be a boarding house with not much in the way of choice.
LikeLike
You might want to read my review of Night Train on either Goodreads or Amazon. com. 🙂 Your presence here is much appreciated.
LikeLike
It’s Jennifer’s ‘desperate trap’ that gets me.
LikeLike
If you have a chance to read the novel you’ll see how Hoolighan falls into Jennifer’s trap…not saying more. 🙂
LikeLike
Oooh, so she’s dead AND tricky?
LikeLike
Bonjour et merci, Carol to introduce this author to me… Amis = (des) amis? 🙂
* * *
@”Sexy, confident, smart, tough, gorgeous and dangerous.” – I think of Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct”… 🙂
LikeLike
Yes…I just saw the latest Roman Polanski movie La Venus a La Fourure in which the lead actress, Emmanuelle Seigner plays an impressive femme fatale. 🙂
LikeLike
Character before plot is always very interesting to me in a mystery. It tells me the author is taking a chance, one that can pay huge dividends when done well. I admire the courage and will have to look into the author, for sure. Thank you, Carol.
LikeLike
You’re welcome…It’s quite an unusual mystery. And Amis certainly did take a lot of chances in his writing. 🙂
LikeLike
Sounds like she would make a great movie character, Carol. Someone Sharon Stone might have played during her Basic Instinct Days or Demi Moore. Have you heard of the prostitute who is under investigation in the string of male deaths recently? She strikes me as similar to these fictitious characters– at least how she is being portrayed in the media right now since who knows if that is the whole story.
LikeLike
No, I haven’t heard of her. There’s obviously a reason for her hating men but also why did she choose that profession? Was it a cover for her? We often hear the opposite where it’s a man who murders prostitutes. In any case, both are twisted.
LikeLike
Sounds exciting. She sounds like an enigma through life and death which is usually a big part of being a femme fatale. 🙂 (PS, thanks for the lovely compliment re: Nora Ephron 🙂
LikeLike
You’re welcome. I hope you’re enjoying her book. In case you don’t know she wrote When Harry Met Sally. 🙂
LikeLike
Lol, of course I know, in fact I just watched it again recently. One of my favourite movies is Heartburn, written as fiction but based on the breakup of her own marriage. 🙂
LikeLike