Rating: 
Summary: All aboard
Review: I'm not a regular Baldacci reader, though I have enjoyed two of his books. The Christmas Train, however, is a major departure for Baldacci. This is not a mystery, and there is no villain to nab....just good warm hearted storytelling about a train journey. The book has a lot going for it, love, confused passion, and the inevitable romance trains seem to exude in novels from decades back. If you're a lover of trains you'll want to experience this story. If you're a sucker for heart warming christmas story, you'll also want to read this book. If you're both a lover of trains and christmas stories, then you're doubly in luck. Get this book and read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice little holiday tale
Review: If you're looking for a David Baldacci thriller, look elsewhere - this isn't one of them. THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN is a cute little holiday story that is sweet, funny and whimsical. I liked it.Tom Langdon is riding the rails from D.C. to L.A. to spend Christmas with his girlfriend. He can't fly because he threw a fit when airport security accidentally singled him out during a pre-flight screening. He encounters a trainload of characters, from quirky passengers to long time railroad employees filled with interesting tales. His ex-girlfriend Eleanor, whom he loved but lost because he was scared of commitment, just happens to be on the train as well. If that's not enough, someone is swiping items from the passengers' compartments and the train is headed toward a blizzard in the Rockies. For sure, some of THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN is a little too cute, but it's a holiday story, it's going to be a little corny. It's still a nice tale about getting a second chance at something you thought you lost forever. And it's a neat advertisement for train travel - but not during the winter.
Rating: 
Summary: crap
Review: After a brilliant book like absolute power i do not believe an author could think of a crap like christmas train. It was like reading a Mills and Boons
Rating:
Summary: Crazy Characters and Christmas Miracles
Review: Journalist Tom Langdon loved adventure. Disappointed with "the human condition" he decides to take the train from Washington DC to L.A. in time to spend Christmas with his bi-coastal girlfriend, Lelia, a former third-rate horror actress turned award-winning cartoon character voice artist. Tom, at 41, felt that "half his time on Earth was gone, and all he had to show for it was a failed marriage, no offspring, an informal alliance with a California voiceover queen, a truckload of newsprint, and some awards. By any reasonable measure, it was a miserable excuse for an existence." Tom's taking the train due to a 2-year ban from flying in the U.S. as a result of an unfortunate security incident at La Guardia. He's going to take the train and write a story about traveling by rail during the Christmas season as a last request from his father, finish what his ancestor, Mark Twain, didn't. "Do the Langdon side of the family proud." He had about 3,000 miles of America to find himself during the holiday, a time of renewal. As you can guess, he gets much more than he bargained for. With a host of colorful characters, The Christmas Train is a fun adventure for the holidays. It's filled with surprises, including an elopement, a thief, a terrible snowstorm and of course, some second chances and Christmas miracles. You'll enjoy this light-hearted holiday tale.
Rating:
Summary: Different kind of holiday spirit that warms your heart
Review: I've never read any of David Baldacci's thrillers but this fine departure definitely scores. *The Christmas Train* tells the tale of a journey home in time for Christmas. Tom Landon is a weary and cash-strapped journalist who is banned from flying in the United States after an overly probing search at the LaGuardia airport security check-point causes him to blow his top. Now Amtrak would be his only option to arrive in Los Angeles in time to spend the holiday with his girlfriend. To finance the luxurious cross-the-country train ride (which includes a delux single room and dining services), Tom pitches a story about a train ride done during Christmas season. As soon as the journalist boards the homeward train, Tom meets a ridiculously eccentric but humane cast of passengers. Agnes Joe, an old woman in her late fifties, seems to know all of the train crew and stewardesses and fellow riders but nobody knows why she rides the train so often. Tom also meets someone whom he suspects as a fugitive. The head stewardess Martha brings in an enchanting African American children choir to carol for the train. An avalanche changes Christamas plans of everyone onboard as horrendous snowballs block both ways of the tunnel. Lives of those onboard are on the edge as the trapped train runs out of heat and the last bit of fuel. For Tom, it turns to be an opportunity for rekindling romance spraks with his ex Elanor, or Ellie as they venture out to the cruel blizzard in hope of soliciting help for the train. This book will warm your heart, every turn of the page will make you laugh and tear. A wonderful read for Christmas season. A holiday charm. 4.2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Too many threads to bring together
Review: This book was recommended to me by a friend and given the setting and the plot, (a train trip I have taken and a similar broken relationship) I was set for a wonderful read. However, Mr. Baldacci seemed to empty his plot notebook into these pages, throwing in too many distractions that took away from a very good examination of the chance meeting between Tom Langdon and his one-time girlfriend Eleanor Carter. References to Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad were sprinkled in, but never really added anything to the story. About mid-way through the book when the characters were set in their orbits, too many threads are added to the plot: a mysterious thief on board, heavy-handed foreshadowing about a winter storm, the train trapped by an avalanche, passengers forced to seek shelter in a windswept tunnel, our protagonists trekking off to find help, then the revelation that all is a farce. Instead of weaving these threads into a believable fabric, all I got was a jumbled, knotted mess. I'll be trying one or two of Mr. Baldacci's other titles in the hope that those books, not written to capitalize on the Christmas shopping season, will be a better way to spend my time.
Rating:
Summary: Yes, Christmas Candy, Cookies, Presents, and the Tree
Review: I made an effort to start reading this book last August but couldn't quite gain enough inertia. However, in December (2003), I found it very easy to slide into. The implausibility of some of the plot elements, like a long lost love showing up on the same train, simply didn't matter. With good humor and attention to detail, this book will hook you. It helps to have the Holidays running at full boil, too. Perhaps there is a difference between the reader who has often wished to take the time to travel on a train through the Rockies at Christmas, and those who have never entertained the idea. Given the time in my salad days, it would have been easy, but 15 years ago some major back problems popped up and the idea of riding a train so far... is almost diabling in itself. So, the book was a gift to me. Consider this: there are a great many tremendous Christmas (music) albums (largely comprised of the same 20 or so songs); there are maybe 20 excellent Christmas movies. But, how many excellent Christmas books of any kind are there? Dickens, ummmm, Dickens, ummm, Dickens....? Under the right social circumstances, every popular Christmas song ever written/performed could be considered an excess of nostalgic rot. Jokes. No, this book is a gift to the reader who comprehends the standards for a book about humans at the Holidays are very different. Dickens, given an unlikely scenario, could have won two or even three Nobel Prizes for his Christmas novels (the impact that they have had over the years should count) but no one else has come close. Read and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Love Boat Rides The Rails
Review: There are two good things about this book: the dustjacket and the title; everthing else is as flat as roadkill and a lot more stinky. This book should be flushed down the toilet because it's a load of crap. It's as if someone took a Love Boat script and exchanged the boat for a train. Agnes Joe, a large and at first, bullying female, is actually an undercover railroad police officer, and the priest who steals and returns other people's property isn't a priest, just a poor man who lost his wife and two sons. After reading this book, I know how high school English teachers feel after spending the weekend grading term papers. I returned the book to my bookseller. If you loved the Love Boat, you'll love this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. There was a good story line that kept my interest. I extremely appreciated the language of the book, with few swear words and no sexual writing.
Rating:
Summary: great for the holidays
Review: really enjoyed this book--surprised others thought it was disappointing; it is not a heavy read, rather a light and fun one--i kinda think that was the point; anyway, if you like trains and the childhood mystique and attraction that comes with them, read this book; perfect for cold night next to the fireplace.
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