Book Review: The Main Character | Jaclyn Goldis

I loved Jaclyn Goldis’s first mystery novel, The Chateau. It was a compelling locked room mystery with deep backstories. It’s rare for the sophomore mystery to be better than the debut, but in this case I thought Goldis knocked it out of the park with The Main Character! It’s creative yet has a vintage feel, while also being refreshing and compelling.

What is The Main Character about?

Reclusive, mysterious author Ginevra Ex is famous for her unusual approach to crafting her big bestselling she hires real people and conducts intensive interviews, then fictionalizes them. Her latest main character, Rory, is thrilled when Ginevra presents her with an extravagant bonus—a lavish trip along Italy’s Mediterranean coast on the famed, newly renovated Orient Express. But when Rory boards the train, she’s stunned to discover that her brother, her best friend, and even her ex-fiancé are passengers, as well. All invited by Ginevra, all hiding secrets.

With each stop, from Cinque Terre to Rome to Positano, it becomes increasingly clear that Ginevra has masterminded the ultimate real life twisty plot with Rory as her main character. And as Ginevra’s deceptions mount, and the lies and machinations of Rory’s travel companions pile up, Rory begins to fear that her trip will culminate like one of Ginevra’s with a murder or two. In the opulent compartments of the iconic train, Rory must untangle the shocking reasons why Ginevra wanted them all aboard—and to what deadly end.

What did I think?

Goldis returns with another locked-room mystery, inspired by and an homage to Agatha Christie’s legacy. This book is quite different in tone and story than The Chateau. It opens with a reclusive and eccentric author, Ginevra Ex. One of the most successful authors in the world. Ginevra always found it came naturally to crank out a mystery per year to critical acclaim and the bestseller charts. Until her last book, which flopped. Ginevra has now made it her mission to make sure her next book is a success.

The beginning chapter is critically important, and not just because of the mysterious dead body Ginevra has discovered. Ginevra has written what she believes to be her triumphant return to the best seller charts. I found it fascinating that Ginevra bases her book on real people, and this is where the rest of the cast comes in. For her grand finale, Ginevra has gathered the cast of real-life people onto the Orient Express for one opulent and twisted ride. Unfortunately, things don’t go at all as planned.

“Ginevra had forgotten the cardinal rule: Often characters have a mind of their own. And characters are prone to hiding secrets—from the author and from each other. […] Sometimes it doesn’t matter that you’ve lined it up perfectly, […] the twisty, perfect lead-up to that critical character’s final zig. Because instead of zigging, they zag.”

Ginevra has cast Rory Aronov as her main character, and placed her in the most expensive compartment onboard the luxury train. Of course, she did this before she discovered a dead body three days before the trip. The real life Rory is the inspiration for Ginevra’s latest novel, has just left a ten-day meditation retreat, hoping that it will give her the soul searching she needs to work out how she’s gotten to where she is in life. Her relationship of ten years has just ended, her career is in ruins, and she’s learned a life-changing secret while working with Ginevra on her new book. But when Rory arrives in the bar car, she sees it filled with people she knows. Her best friend, Caro, her older brother, Max, and her ex-fiancé Nate.

No one is more surprised than Rory to find these three on the same luxury train as her. It seems Ginevra arranged it as a “surprise” for her main character. But soon Rory and the reader learn that there are more surprises in store. Secrets are now trapped on a luxury liner traveling across Italy and are just waiting to be spilled. The characters are wildly unreliable, and their various perspectives slowly fill in the details about what exactly Ginevra intended. But even Ginevra couldn’t have foreseen how this would all play out.

One of the most mysterious and compelling parts of the story for me was how much Ginevra already knew. She had sent a few copies of the book onboard, but they are stolen before any of the central characters can read what’s in them. Or did one of them steal the books to keep the others from finding out a terrible secret? Ginevra also has quite a few secrets she kept from Rory and the reader, and those are waiting to be revealed along with the other ones. This is a story more twisted than the very train they are riding on.

The central characters are pitted against one another, and it seems at some points as though they won’t escape this train without blowing up every long-standing relationship they have. Or can there be healing through forced proximity? The tension was high throughout, and Goldis kept the pace moving with well-timed reveals and expertly plotted twists. This was a fun ride for the reader (though perhaps less fun for the characters). I loved the premise of a writer arranging this for the real life inspiration of her characters, only to see what happens.

Brilliant, entertaining, and compelling!

If you liked The Main Character, what should you read next?

About the Author

Jaclyn Goldis has a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a JD from NYU School of Law. She practiced estate planning law at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago for seven years before leaving her job to travel the world and write novels. After culling her possessions into only what would fit in a backpack, Jaclyn traveled for over a year until settling near the beach, where she can often be found writing from cafés. 

Thank you to Atria Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.