Shouting at the Window

SHOUTING AT THE WINDOW is an intense, claustrophobic thriller. A man takes a train journey between two (unnamed) cities. Haynes - we only ever get to know his surname - is on the margins of a petty criminal, living from day-to-day, who has had to flee from his usual territory to somewhere more secure. The three parts of the story - “Departing”, “Changing” and “Arriving” - reflect his progress on the journey. The police suspect Haynes of the murder of an elderly lady and the theft of her jewellery. He is also sought by the vicious henchmen of the local gangland boss - a sinister bookmaker called Malcolm. The events leading up to Haynes’s flight are told in flashback. During the course of the journey, much is learned of Haynes’s background - his dreadful school, his estranged brother, his opportunistic daily lifestyle - as he observes changes in the landscape and his fellow travellers. It becomes clear that the apparently mundane circumstances of the passengers hide states of affairs that, in reality, are much more complicated and serious. There is death on the journey, as well as adultery and deception, despair and resignation. But Haynes’s principal journey is in his mind, as he considers his own deteriorating circumstances. The train presents him with a means of escape, but it also represents entrapment and claustrophobia. Haynes’s only hope of salvation lies with his brother, living in the second city. He knows his destination, but has thrown off his various pursuers?