An instant bestseller when it was first published in Japan, Train Man became a multimedia sensation, generating a smash-hit TV series, a blockbuster film, and multiple manga series. Now here’s the novel that started it all. Boy—bashful and not overly brave—defends girl from obnoxious drunk on a Tokyo train. Girl sends boy a thank-you pair of pricey Hermés teacups. Boy’s a geek and doesn’t know what to do next. End of story for most nerds—but this one turns to the world’s largest online message board and asks for help, so for him it’s just the beginning. This matchless love story is told through a series of Internet chat room threads. As Train Man, our hero charts his progress and unveils each new crisis—from making conversation to deciding what to wear on a date and beyond—in return, he receives advice, encouragement, warnings, and sympathy from the anonymous netizens. And Train Man discovers the secret to what makes the world go round—and proves we really do live in a universe where anything can happen.

This is a true story of love for the internet generation - the international bestseller that sold over a million copies. This wonderfully unique book from Japan derives from a series of postings over a three-month period to a particularly computer-geeky thread of 2 Channel, the world's largest anonymous Message Board. The events all took place in Tokyo. One day a shy otaku computer geek mentioned on the message forum how he had met a girl on a subway train. As things developed he continued to post updates to the message board. He gained the nickname 'Train Man'. With each update from bashful Train Man, his fellow correspondents throw in own colourful speculations, boyish encouragements, tongue-in-cheek warnings, and fabulously inventive ascii text drawings. Train Man tries to take on board their comments as events unfold. Eventually he finds love with the girl, Hermes, and reveals to her the entire history of the thread. The true identity of Train Man remains a closely guarded secret.

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Some of these cases—like the infamous Villisca, Iowa, murders—received national attention. But most incidents went almost unnoticed outside the communities in which they occurred. Few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal and uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. “A suspenseful historical account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history. “A beautifully written and extraordinarily researched narrative…This is no pure whodunit, but rather a how-many-did-he-do” (Buffalo News).

An instant bestseller when it was first published in Japan, Train Man became a multimedia sensation, generating a smash-hit TV series, a blockbuster film, and multiple manga series. Now here’s the novel that started it all. Boy—bashful and not overly brave—defends girl from obnoxious drunk on a Tokyo train. Girl sends boy a thank-you pair of pricey Hermés teacups. Boy’s a geek and doesn’t know what to do next. End of story for most nerds—but this one turns to the world’s largest online message board and asks for help, so for him it’s just the beginning. This matchless love story is told through a series of Internet chat room threads. As Train Man, our hero charts his progress and unveils each new crisis—from making conversation to deciding what to wear on a date and beyond—in return, he receives advice, encouragement, warnings, and sympathy from the anonymous netizens. And Train Man discovers the secret to what makes the world go round—and proves we really do live in a universe where anything can happen.

A mother’s worst nightmare: the subway doors close with her baby son still on the train. In this suspenseful debut novel, a woman goes to unimaginable lengths to get her child back. A struggling, single mother, Emma sometimes wishes that her thirteen-month-old son Ritchie would just disappear. Then, one quiet Sunday evening, after a sinister encounter on the London Underground—Ritchie does just that. Emma immediately reports his abduction to the police but there she faces a much worse situation than she ever imagined. Why do the police seem so reluctant to help her? And why do they think she would want hurt her own child? If Emma wants Ritchie back, she’ll have to find him herself. With the help of a stranger named Rafe, the one person who seems to believe her, Emma sets off in search of her son. She is determined to find Ritchie no matter what it takes…but who exactly is the real enemy here? "A heart-stopper” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) with dark twists and intertwining narratives, The Stranger on the Train is an unforgettable, “first-rate debut thriller” (Washington Post) that you will keep you guessing until the shattering finale.

A real-life thread on an internet forum started it all. A nerdy otaku meets a girl on a train and posts an urgent query on the web--How the heck do you talk to girls? What should he wear on the date? Where should they go? The forum's response was amazing, and the thread grew incrementally longer as the nerd's relationship with the woman developed. Eventually published in book format to become a best seller, the thread spawned a blockbuster movie, a hit TV series, as well as this heartwarming manga adaptation of an entire internet community rooting for love and romance.

Reading level: 4 [red].