Rating: 3 stars

Justin Collier is the prince of beer. He has been living the "good" life in L.A. for several years, but something has to give. Justin's Food Network show has paid handsomely for the past three years, but the network has now dropped his show in favor of something new. Now Justin yearns to get back to life before the show.

Tired of L.A., the network, and the semi-celebrity that it all brings, Justin wants to get back to where he started; writing books on craft-made beer. Hearing some colleagues rave about a small brewery in Nowhere, Tennessee, Justin decides that it will be his next stop and hopefully bringing the final entry for his book on classic old American beers. At the airport, Justin gets stuck with an ugly rental car and sets off for the small town of Gast, Tennessee.

After an inexplicable four hour drive, for what should have been a short trip, Justin finally arrives at the Branch Landing Inn; upon his arrival, things get a little strange. Between his heightened sex drive and seeing and hearing the inexplicable, Justin discovers that something is not right at the Inn. Justin soon discovers a great deal about the town's rich and colorful history, one with deep civil war ties. Beginning with the mini museum at the inn and the railroad tycoon who built the mansion in the 1800's, he follows with the history of the railroad. The characters include Harwood Gast, the tycoon, his promiscuous, sex-crazed wife, and Lucifier's minion, Fecory, with a gold nose. The most realistic dreams plague Justin as he stays in the inn. In each dream, he is looking through someone else's eyes, someone from the 1800s.

With rich flashbacks, dreams, and historical detail, The Black Train has an interesting flow and good plot. It is a gory story with detailed scenes of torture and sex far from what is found in conventional fiction. Believable characters bring you into the story and keep you focused through each change in pace with the story itself, the dreams and the civil war era flashbacks.

Not for the faint of heart, The Black Train ponders the question, "Does evil really exist?", and then showcases the argument throughout. A chilling read that will spook you far into the night with an ending that leaves you wanting more. You will journey to hell and back with The Black Train.
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Mass Market Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: Leisure Books; Original edition (October 27, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0843962277