British author Martin Amis may not have reinvented the crime novel as we know it, but he messes with enough conventions to breathe new life into it. Set in the U.S., Night Train is the story of Mike Hoolihan, a former homicide police officer who is called in by former mentor and lifesaver Colonel Tom Rockwell to investigate the suspicious suicide of his daughter. As facts pile up and details are uncovered, the case becomes more and more suspect, until Hoolihan is left with a cold, unpleasant reality. There are enough red herrings to mislead the reader, but none are irrelevant or coincidental. And aside from the crime itself, there is little violence in Night Train: Not one creep gets slammed against a wall, bashed over the head with the yellow pages, or shot while trying to flee police. The ripples of the one death create sufficient tension in the lives around Hoolihan without there being any need to force it. Amis should be applauded for this restraint, and for creating one of the genre's most memorable figures. As a detective character, Hoolihan commands respect and attention: She is intelligent, but not given to long-winded monologues or artificial philosophizing. Amis' writing is tight, and, with the exception of one incorrect usage of American racist slang, does not betray his British origins. Just don't set aside more than a few hours for it, because it's a short book and a fast read.