Death on the Railway by Manuel Rose
Twenty-one-year-old Angelo Russo is ill-prepared for the “real world” after the death of his parents in a car accident. While he, along with his older sister, Carina, has inherited the family home, he’s running out of funds fast. But that becomes the very least of his problems when Carina seduces him one night and then walks out the door — never to be seen alive again. When Carina turns up dead and dismembered near the local railway station, the local police decide Angelo is their number-one suspect. With no family left, Angelo is now completely on his own and must forge ahead to prove his innocence amid his grief and trauma.
Death on the Railway by Manuel Rose is a slasher-type horror novel, but it is also the story of an emotionally and sexually immature protagonist who faces a series of horrific events that force him into taking on the responsibilities and more mature mindset of an adult.
Being a pizza delivery boy isn’t going to pay the bills, so Angelo starts looking for more substantial work. A chance meeting on the train with a transgender conductor leads Angelo to a job with the railroad. And while the conductor, Taylor, is only too eager to help Angelo get (and keep) the job, Angelo is revolted by his patron and her flirtatious advances. It is soon clear that Taylor is obsessed with Angelo — perhaps psychotically so. As Angelo begins to make friends with his colleagues and identify possible love interests, terrible things start happening. One by one, they are being killed — some in the same manner Carina was, and all on railroad property.
MURDER AND MAYHEM WITH PARANORMAL AND ROMANTIC ELEMENTS
Meanwhile, Angelo discovers that Carina, while still quite dead, is not at all at peace. She begins to haunt him incessantly in their family home, jealously guarding him against making new friends or taking new lovers, warning him about imminent danger, and seeking vengeance for her murder.
The railway killings escalate to include more and more random young women traveling by train alone at night. Each time, the killer has taken at least one souvenir body part, often an organ or two, but sometimes a scalp of hair. There is no doubt that a serial killer is on the loose, one with some surgical skill, one who appears to be fixated on the railroad as the source of young victims. The murderer soon earns an apt nickname: The Railway Butcher.
As the body count grows, so too does the number of questions. Who is the killer? What is the killer’s connection to the railroad? Why is the killer removing some of the victims’ organs? And how is it that the killer seems to always be one step ahead of the police? The story takes several twists and turns before we discover all the answers.
While the grisly murders continue unabated, Angelo grasps for new love and a sense of purpose, but he finds it is a slender thread. He falls for an old frienemy of his sister’s, Carlita, but after she narrowly escapes being killed by The Railway Butcher, her personality starts to change and her memories of the past seem to be slipping away. Angelo must fight for her recovery, but more importantly, he must finally let his sister go if he is to find future happiness with the woman he loves.
Death on the Railway is not for the faint of heart — it is replete with gore and creepy eroticism, characters with misogynistic and transphobic viewpoints, and more trauma triggers than you can shake a stick at. If you are unfazed by the subject matter and appreciate an omniscient, direct storytelling style, you will find this a read that moves quickly from scene to scene, twisting and turning toward an ending with multiple shocking surprises in store.
