The Midnight Train

by Matt Haig ★★☆☆☆

In 2020, Matt Haig released The Midnight Library, a story of a woman who attempts to take her own life only to live out different variations of "what-might-have-been" realities instead. It's not an original concept, but it's one that took the literary world by storm with over 2.5 million ratings (and a 4.0 average) on Goodreads. His 2024 follow-up, The Life Impossible, didn't garner nearly the same excitement, and so he's returned to his moneymaker with a not-quite-sequel that revisits the what-if questions of life's choices.

Wilbur Budd is 81, professionally successful but full of regrets, having squandered his marriage and his friendships in the name of building his business. When he dies, he wakes up standing on an empty train platform, where he's picked up by the titular train, which will carry him on a journey through his entire life. Starting with his infancy and showing him all of the key moments of his life up until his death, Wilbur is forced to confront the ways he might have made different choices. He's joined on the train by a helpful guide from the afterlife who explains the rules, the most specific being he is not to attempt to interfere with anything he witnesses.

Wilbur watches his life flash before him through the windows of the train, which stops at seminal moments that helped reorient his life's path. Some are joyful, but many are tragic. "The Midnight Train lingers for as long as it needs to, and sometimes happiness has the least to teach us," Wilbur is told. Wilbur continues as an observer, much like Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol or George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life. Like Scrooge, Wilbur is shown his many missteps, but instead of being offered the opportunity to change like Scrooge, Wilbur is forced to simply watch and regret. Despite the strict rule prohibiting interference, Wilbur decides to take matters into his own hands.

Haig says in the Acknowledgements "Obviously this isn't a sequel to The Midnight Library, in any traditional sense. But conceptually, it follows on. The Midnight Library was a library between life and death. This is a train through life after death. And now I feel both novels are having a heated debate with each other about how best to live." The concept was already thoroughly covered in literature and movies (and by Haig himself), and there's little that Haig brings that's new to the party. While he may feel the novels are debating each other, I'd suggest they're more closely in harmony: "You think we should appreciate the small things in life and the people we love more than personal ambition or professional success? Me too!"

This is an underwhelming entry into the "life in review" canon, and the most cynical part of me sees it purely as a money grab or a desperate grasp at what created so much success a few years ago. It fails to connect emotionally, and it's mostly a retread of things we've seen done better before. You can skip getting aboard this one.

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Quick Facts

• Title: The Midnight Train

• Author: Matt Haig

• Publisher: Viking

• Release Date: May 26, 2026

• Format: Ebook

• ISBN-13: 978-0593833384

• Pages: 255