DNF at 62%

It took me a week to get to that point. I just couldn’t get to grips with it. It felt like it was trying to be too many things at once. Is the focus on trafficking or on spies?

I also found it hard to keep track of the characters and the names being mentioned - there were too many, and too many similar names!

It jumped between scenes/time periods without warning so it got a bit confusing trying to keep track of which part of the plot I was reading.

This book just wasn’t for me and I didn’t feel like I could give this a fair review as I didn’t want to finish it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The Late Train to Gipsy Hill fulfils all the requirements of a crime thriller with its intricate plot, varied cast of characters and frequent action scenes.

The storyline couldn't be more up-to-date either, set in a London in which football clubs are owned by rich Russians while other of their countrymen use the buying and selling of property as a way of laundering dirty money. As the author notes, 'Amongst the Russian criminal fraternity, London had become known as the world's laundromat, washing billions of pounds of dirty cash every year'.

Through a chivalrous act of kindness towards a damsel in distress, poor Gary, the book's hero, finds himself plunged into a world in which Russian secret service agents may be carrying out killings in a particularly dangerous way (with or without the knowledge of the Russian President) whilst rival gangs of Russian criminals fight for precedence.

If, like Gary, you're in danger of becoming confused by the twists and turns of the plot - of which there are many- and the multitude of Russian characters, the author thoughtfully provides periodic recaps of the events that have taken place. However, you'll have to wait until the very end to get the whole picture.

The book contains a lot of convincing detail about the structure and operations of the intelligence services and the Metropolitan Police no doubt gleaned from the author's time as Home Secretary. I just hope that some of what Gary discovers doesn't hold true in real life. There's also an impressive display of knowledge of the London Underground and bus network, and even a fleeting role for a vehicle linked to the author's former occupation.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Late Train to Gipsy Hill and thought it was an impressive debut.

Alan Johnson is a great bloke and loves cats! I know this after getting him involved in a charity recipe book in which he dedicated the recipe to his cats. So it was no surprise to see the first character in Johnson's first fictional novel to be Oskar, the longstanding feline who lives at The Strand Hotel in London.
Very soon Oskar himself becomes embroiled in a major espionage plot as a group of Russians gather and very soon two are poisoned. Johnson as a Labour MP was also Home Secretary so he has insight into the machinations of the police, the secret services and international relations. Russian influence particularly through business and money laundering were developing as Johnson served under both PMs Blair and Brown. Abramovitch was welcomed with open arms as his finances pumped into Chelsea FC so it was interesting to see how the characters meeting there were still developing organised crimes too.
And so to the main character Gary Nelson. Everyone loves a 'Gary' surely? But the name typically throws up an image of a sad, rather lonely, somewhat dim bloke, which in the beginning is what we get. But then the fates collide with his attraction for the young blonde on his daily train commute.
"... bad guys and ballerinas our gifts to the world", says one of the Russians towards Britain. So true and of course the past incident of fatal poisonings of Litvinenko with polonium and the Scripals with novichok.
I liked the developing story of Gary and his mum and the search for his birth father.
There is a charm about the way Johnson writes and his past memoirs are rightly best sellers. I did wonder if the transfer to a fiction thriller with let's face it some heavy duty themes in the plot. Readers do not worry - about from a bit of a rush in conclusion of some threads - this is an excellent read. Hope there's more!

I've tried to get into this book a number of times but I just cannot enjoy it. The start was confusing with similar Russian names and descriptions of this person and that which I found hard to follow. I found the character Gary really creepy. I read about a third of the book in all but cannot give a full fair review as it just didn't grab me.

Could Alan Johnson be the next lovely man everybody likes to follow the Richard Osman route into becoming a blockbuster novel writer? This book has lots going for it in theory. Knowledgeable author whose memoirs are a great read; Russian poisoners on the loose in London a topic I’d just enjoyed listening to a podcast about; vivid setting in South London commuters-ville. And a main character Gary who checks the cricket scores before going to bed and even spends down time at an Oval County Championship match!

In the end there were rather too many interchangeable Russian characters which confused at times and the Ukrainian- English dialogue of Arina grates a bit. But well done AJ for giving this a try, I did enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for a fair review

Really great start that gets you into this book from the off. If you know London well, the setting will feel particularly familiar to you, if you don't, the plot still takes you nicely along the way. Good plot, interesting characters. Didnt quite know what to expect from Alan Johnson, but he delivers.

A good mystery, crime thriller! I enjoyed some of the twists and turns that the novel took and compared to a lot of other books in this genre, I do think it was different in many ways.

I enjoyed the character development of Gary and his mum, I also liked her little side plot. The story also flowed well and I didn’t feel confused or lost at any point in terms of the plot.

However, I did find the ending very rushed. It seemed like in the last 50 pages the story had climaxed and finished. I was left wanting a bit more. I wish that the ‘final showdown’ was slowed down a bit really. Without spoiling the ending too much, I feel that Arina’s character’s involvement and backstory was very rushed. I feel as if there are a lot of loose end which have been hastily tied up. It would be much better if this had been slower and more controlled. The fact it skipped ahead months for the final chapter just seemed lazy in my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of this book for review.

It was only after quite some time reading that you realise that this is fictional story it just reads so true to life that it feels real. Brilliant writing to start a book. OK so it does taper off a little but not much enjoyable and believable till the end

I finished this book this morning, stayed longer in bed to finish it.
This is a first Alan Johnson book I have read and I do like his writing style, it is an easy style and I found myself turning the pages with rapid succession.

This ia an interesting book with several plots working together and merging to bring the story to a conclusion.

"Gary Nelson has a routine for the commute to his rather dull job in the city. Each day, he watches as a woman on the train applies her make up in a ritual he now knows by heart. He's never dared to strike up a conversation . . . but maybe one day.

Then one evening, on the late train to Gipsy Hill, the woman invites him to take the empty seat beside her. Fiddling with her mascara, she holds up her mirror and Gary reads the words 'HELP ME' scrawled in sticky black letters on the glass.

From that moment, Gary's life is turned on its head. He finds himself on the run from the Russian mafia, the FSB and even the Metropolitan Police - all because of what this mysterious young woman may have witnessed. In the race to find out the truth, Gary discovers that there is a lot more to her than meets the eye "

Taken from the blurb and show exactly how this book is, it is a political thriller and a book about Gary, who finds himeslf thrust into a world of espionage , all because he watched a girl put her make up on, on a train journey.

I have witnessed many woman doing this on trains myself and am so glad that, I did not get a message of 'Help me' in mascara written on the mirror.

A rollicking rollercoaster of a book and one that i shall recommend.

Thank you to the powers at be for letting me read this and enjoy a new to me author.

Really enjoyed this espionage thriller - didn't realise the author was THE Alan Johnson until I finished it and actually that's probably a good thing! The book is a modern thriller with likeable characters and a well paced story! Would recommend!

Hmm a bit of a mash up of a book for me. Part mystery, thriller and part spy, Russian drama. I don' t think the two worked together. The initial premise on the train was good but then the Russians entered stage left and I lost the plot a bit I'm afraid. I think its trying to be too many thing at once so it wasn't one for me I'm afraid.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I agree with the previous review. I don't get it. The book is odd, the writing is odd, it was hard to follow with the names. I just couldn't do it. Too puzzling and I gave up.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for access to this advance reader copy. I found the tone of this book odd. Is it a thriller based around human trafficking or is it a book based on a curmudgeon.