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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.

´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

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Praise for Georges Simenon:

"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." -The Guardian

"These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself." -The Washington Post

"Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals." -People

"I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov." -William Faulkner

"The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature." -André Gide

"A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness." -The Independent (London)

"Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales." -The Observer (London)

"Compelling, remorseless, brilliant." -John Gray

"A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable-lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates." -Muriel Spark

"A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it."lle -Peter Ackroyd

"Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century." -John Banville

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Simenon, Georges
Georges Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1903. He is best know in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.

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