Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect is a type of fiction referred to as metafiction. In Western literature, metafiction is most strongly associated with contemporary writing, especially Postmodern fiction and drama, but its roots go back to early works such as Chaucer’s 1387 work, The Canterbury Tales. Metafiction can take many forms, but at its core, it self-consciously examines the act of writing itself. For this reason, it’s sometimes referred to as “self-reflexive” or “self-referential,” meaning that it examines its own artificial nature. The goals of metafiction can vary: It might be intended to parody another work or a genre, to satirize some aspect of society or art itself, or to ask critical questions about the nature of truth and language.

Metafiction often breaks the “fourth wall,” explicitly drawing its audience’s attention to its status as a created work through techniques like allowing the author to appear and discuss their writing process, incorporating characters who know they’re fictional, or openly questioning its own truthfulness. Metafiction can also be more subtle, discussing topics like genre, other literary works, and the truthfulness of language without undermining the story’s pretense of reality.