I really liked the first two books in this series, but then I read #4 out of order and wasn't quite as happy. I had a really hard time getting into this one. In the first two, Stringer was an odd and interesting fellow, and the railroad world of the early 1900s was fascinating to me. But now Stringer is a detective, unhappy because he can't be a railway engineer, and sent undercover with very vague instructions and no backup. The atmosphere is depressing, and with the exception of "the wife", I found most of the characters depressing too. Because I put the book down so many times, I also had a hard time remembering a few of the peripheral characters and that didn't help. I do like that Stringer is smart in some ways and really dumb in others. Glasses frames without lenses, who wouldn't see through that in a second? (pun intended) The best parts for me were Jim's wife and his dad. There's certainly a lot of atmosphere, and if one pops up at the used bookstore I'd probably get it, but I won't seek them out.

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