''The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By'', first published in English in 1938, is a crime thriller by

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

about a man's rapid descent into criminality and madness following sudden financial ruination. A film adaptation was released in 1952.

Plot summary

Kees Popinga, a quiet, respectable Dutchman working as head clerk in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

becomes increasingly unhinged after discovering that his cynical employer has looted and ruined his firm and confides in him that he will fake a suicide in order to escape punishment. Accepting a large sum of money from his erstwhile employer, Popinga sets out for Amsterdam, hoping to ingratiate himself with his employer's mistress, Pamela: but she mockingly laughs in his face, infuriating him. Popinga assaults her and accidentally kills her. He then hurriedly leaves town, eventually making his way to Paris. There, every day, he buys the various newspapers which carry the story of the murder. Although Chief Inspector Lucas of the Police Judiciare confidently predicts that Popinga will be arrested at any moment, Popinga successfully evades them. He begins sending letters to the police and to the newspapers, playing a sort of cat and mouse game. Soon the man becomes more and more delusional, seeing himself as a master criminal and certain that the woman he has become involved with, a prostitute named Jeanne Rozier, is genuinely interested in him, rather than in her pimp/boyfriend, Louis. For a time, Popinga joins Louis's gang of car thieves and hides out with them. But his reputation as a dangerous murderer wanted by the French police, frightens them, and he takes off on his own. He wanders the streets of Paris and its outskirts, staying in cheap hotels with prostitutes by night, until a pickpocket steals his wallet containing all the money he has left. Just as he is attempting suicide, he is captured by the French police. The French authorities send him back to Holland where he is put in a mental institution.

Film adaptation

The book was adapted for the screen in 1952 as ''

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By ''The Man Who Watched Trains Go By'' (1952) is a crime drama film, based on the 1938 novel by Georges Simenon and directed by Harold French. It has an all-European cast, including Claude Rains in the lead role of Kees Popinga, who is infatuate ...

'', starring

Claude Rains William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. After his American film debut as Dr. Jack Griffin in ''The Invisible Man'' (1933), he appeared in such highly regarded films as '' ...

and

Märta Torén Märta Torén (21 May 1925 – 19 February 1957) was a Swedish stage and film actress of the 1940s and 1950s. Torén's father was a Swedish military officer, and for three years, during World War II, she was a secretary in the Swedish war offic ...

and directed by

Harold French Harold French (23 April 1897 – 19 October 1997) was an English film director, screenwriter and actor. Biography After training at the Italia Conti School, he made his acting debut age 12, in a production of ''The Winter's Tale''. As an ...

. The story was changed to make Kees Popinga into a more sympathetic character.

References

*http://catalogue.bl.uk/, The British Library *http://www.thereadingroom.com/books/details/the-man-who-watched-the-trains-go-by-georges-simenon/1976203 *http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-man-who-watched-trains-go-by-georges-simenon/1007037047?ean=9781590171493 1938 Belgian novels Novels by Georges Simenon Belgian crime novels Belgian novels adapted into films French-language novels {{Belgium-stub