- This novel, set in Tasmania like much of contemporary Australian fiction, is quite frankly weird. If it weren't for the fact that the characters are so interesting and likeable (apart from one), and the pace rather compelling, I would have bailed pretty early.
- It's a strange cocktail indeed. Colley’s given us a mix of the fantastical and the real, with no distinction between them. His point presumably being that the spiritual is real and embedded in the everyday. And without it the book would be a tiny domestic story of minimal significance, although heartwarming.
- At the centre of the story is a ghost train which arrives at Hobart station one morning, as it has arrived at various stations around the world over the last sixty years. It's carrying passengers from Italy who thought they were on their regular hour-long commute to Rome. The police turn up, and there are witnesses. It's a real event.
- Also central to the story are two brothers, our narrator Geo, a viola player, and the older Wes, a policeman. Their recently deceased father was an abusive drunk who favoured Wes. Their mum, also now dead, was a violist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Music and its beauty plays a big role in the novel.
- As does heaps of paranormal stuff. The father’s old lamp flickers when not plugged in. He’s presumably communicating. Their mother communicates via an ouija board. Twisting pendants, crystals and divining rods feature predominantly. Labuschagne is a bookseller and a paranormal enthusiast. Sten is the Swedish ghost train hunter. Paco and Camille are young hippy backpackers who turn up one day and hang around.
- Their interactions are full of whiskey and joints and cigarettes. Day and night they're into it. Why Colley has made this so central is beyond me. And why he has made Wes so ugly and abusive is also beyond me. Perhaps love, friendship and hate are all part of the reality mix, redeemed by the spiritual.
- The Signal Line is a metaphor for when you advance another step closer to your dream. These characters are searching, and desperation isolates and pains them. As the narrator's girlfriend tells him at one point: Many people live without knowing their passion. But you found yours at the beginning, and you can spend your whole life expressing it. You are blessed....I believe chasing the dream is more important than the dream...chasing something is what makes a person grow.
- The ending is very sentimental and pretty soppy. Even Wes is redeemed.
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