Eleven Fathom Gutter by Chris Browning
Trains Book 1
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Jack Riser’s life has been struck by chaos. Recently discharged from the Coast Guard due to mental health issues, he has relocated to his hometown for a fresh start. However, his demons seem to have followed him, as he is haunted by specific delusions of people he encountered during formative times in his life. These four “friends” set Jack upon a unique purpose – cover train cars with messages detailing possible calamities and his own mental decline.

Jack’s endeavors are generally futile, but it is the people he encounters along the way, either intentionally or through happenstance, that keep the wheels of the story in motion. Gemstone is also the home of Phillip, Jack’s young, pillowcase-hopping neighbor who is struggling with pre-adolescence; Sigrid, Phillip’s best friend; Candy, a local prostitute who acts as a friend and sounding board for Jack’s various issues; and Blaise, a mysterious and devious obscene phone caller with dark intentions of his own.

While Jack is giving into his delusions, he also grapples with forgiving Scott, one of his “friends,” after bearing witness to the aftermath of his violent suicide years before. As he confides in Candy, he feels himself getting closer and closer to her and begins to worry about her safety. Jack also mentors Phillip through the divorce of his parents and various other obstacles, such as bullies and childhood crushes. Phillip and Sigrid navigate these pre-teen hurdles together, their youthful naivete contrasting Jack’s own struggles. When Sigrid’s babysitter is murdered at the end of the story, it symbolizes the decline of small-town innocence – with only the slightest hope of the proverbial light at the tunnel’s end in upcoming sequels.

Healing isn’t always a linear process.

Setting this in the 1980s was an intelligent choice for the storyline. Mental health care in that era was quite different than it is today, and inventions like the Internet and cell phones were not at all part of the daily lives of ordinary people. This meant that Jack didn’t have as many opportunities to test out what his delusions were saying to him as he might have had in the modern day or to keep track of old friends as easily. Without giving away spoilers, these limitations were an important part of the plot development and made this a stronger read than it would have otherwise been.

The multiple time jumps among various characters were confusing to me. This would have been easier to read if everything was shared in chronological order, especially given Jack’s struggles with his mental health that sometimes made me wonder how differently the same events would be described by other characters who were part of those scenes. That is to say, how accurate were his perceptions of certain events? Yes, this was tied into the mystery elements of the plot and some uncertainty was therefore expected, but having more clarity here would have made this a smoother read in my opinion.

Some of my favorite scenes were the ones that explored Jack’s trauma and grief from witnessing an act of violence when he was a young man. He lived during an era when men were discouraged from what was perceived vto be showing weakness by talking about their feelings, so processing those memories was difficult and time consuming. I thought these moments were well written and showed the audience a lot about who Jack was as a human being.

Trains Book 1 – Eleven Fathom Gutter was a wild ride.