Whistle

Barclay’s (I Will Ruin You) foray into supernatural thrillers features a new shop, Choo-Choo Trains, which suddenly appears in sleepy Lucknow, NY. Its owner, seventysomething train nerd Edwin Nabler, goes by the moniker “Mr. Choo.” He looks unthreatening, with his engineer’s cap and vest emblazoned with railroad logos. But for those who have second sight, as one of the novel’s characters does, he does not look insignificant; he looks like a ravening rat/coyote mix. Mr. Choo brings woe to Lucknow’s residents by selling enchanted trains to them. A flood of deaths follow. A body is found by the side of the road, scalped and deboned. The reason why is soon clear: Nabler is using the bones to build a giant magical train diorama in his shop, in which the victim’s hair is recycled as roadside grass, and small objects filched from townspeople are incorporated as well.