Underground

by Tobias Hill

A literary thriller in which, in a sense, the London Underground becomes the central character. Someone is pushing women under trains, and a Polish immigrant who works at a north London station - a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571201164
• ISBN13: 9780571201167
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 208 Pages

Customer Reviews

Underground

A fable of the London Underground, Tobias Hill continues to impress with this novel that follows the travels and obsessions of a Polish immigrant who labors in the Underground, and who gradually becomes drawn in to an investigation of a series of killings. A mystery as well as a tale of isolation, the hero works through his own demons (from childhood and after) while searching for a more tangible one in the present while connecting (or failing to do so) with those around him....

Evocative, claustrophobic and gripping

This is the first book of Tobias Hill's that I've read. It caught my interest because I'd lived in London for 10 years and always been interested in the 'city beneath a city' feel of the Tube.The story is a thriller: women are being pushed under trains and all the victims have something in common - they look alike. Casimir is a Tube worker with a hidden past. Two stories develop in parallel: Casimir and his Polish upbringing, and the hunt for the killer. Hill takes the reader deep into the tunnels and long-forgotten rooms of the Underground while delving deep into Casimir's buried past.I found the book switching narrative frustrating at first but as the stories developed and interwove the switches became part of the suspense.Tobias Hill's descriptions evoke the Underground with extreme clarity - you can't help feeling the damp and claustrophobia of being deep below the surface. If you've ever used the Tube in London and wondered where those sealed-off doors go or ever glimpsed a long-abandoned station through the train window - this book is for you.