Rating: 
Summary: A triumph of hype over experience ...
Review: First, the good new. James Siegel has a fluid prose style and a good ear for naturalistic dialogue. The narrative in the early chapters of DERAILED flows with an ease and spontaneity that is genuinely rare in popular fiction. Siegel also casts a stern and critical eye over the industry he works in -- advertising. DERAILED can be read, in part, as a critique of Madison Avenue's ongoing efforts to part consumers from money they can't afford to spend purchasing goods they don't need to own. That the protagonist, ad man Charles Schine, becomes a victim of a low-level con game that threatens to destroy his cocooned suburban existence is an apt although somewhat predictable comeuppance for the nominal hero of DERAILED. Now the bad news. "Nominal" is the operative word when it comes to Schine's synthetic heroism. Schine is one of the least sympathetic protagonists in modern fiction. He fully deserves the various indignities visited upon him. A selfish, self-pitying, cowardly paragon of duplicity in both his professional and personal lives, his slow descent into hell elicits little sympathy. His inability to act when confronted with the torments inflicted on him quickly becomes as tiresome as the sugar-frosted lies he manufactures to earn his daily bread and to keep the mounting suspicions of his colleagues, wife and the police at bay. Schine simply reacts as his world implodes -- and none too effectively. The deus ex machina that blows the plot into a new direction roughly two-thirds of the way through DERAILED is at once so preposterous and contrived the manuscript should have been returned to Siegel at that point with the admonishment: "Try harder" scrawled across the page in question in big red letters ... That this novel became a bestseller instead of going straight to the remainder pile says more about its saturation marketing campaign than the scarcely credible content. DERAILED is in fact a tribute to the very system it purportedly castigates: a product people didn't need to own bought with money they couldn't afford to spend ...
Rating: 
Summary: A thriller par excellence!
Review: James Siegel's "Derailed" is the most suspenseful and well-written thriller I have read in a long time. Charles Schine is just an ordinary guy until he meets a gorgeous woman on the train and begins an affair with her. Then everything begins to go horribly wrong, and the catastrophe snowballs until his life is completely out of control. He is thrown into a world of blackmail, scams, and murder. The plot unfolds as a story within a story. The action switches between an instructor who teaches English part-time at Attica State Prison and an autobiographical essay written anonymously by a prisoner in his class. Finally, the two stories converge into a blockbuster of an ending. Through Schine's voice, the unbelievable becomes credible. There are enough details about Schine, his family, his daughter's severe diabetic condition, and his job at an ad agency to make him come alive. The author shares every thought, every doubt, and every emotional nuance that Schine experiences as he watches his comfortable world crumble. As a result, the reader is drawn skillfully into the story, surprised by continual twists and turns, and held enthralled until the last page. Read this book - you will not be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Clever and Suspenseful Thriller - Highly Recommended
Review: How can I convince you that I enjoyed Derailed and that you should read it too? Well, maybe admitting that I was up until 1am this morning, frantically turning pages and determined to finish it will help. Derailed is a clever, intricate and believable thriller about what happens when a man's life careens hopelessly out of control after he makes one big mistake - having an affair. There are twists and turns throughout the book as the man, Charles Schine, desperately tries to keep the truth from his wife, be strong for their critically ill daughter and save his ailing career. By the way, he is also dealing with blackmail threats and serious intimidation at the same time. And that's only half the story! The main plus points for Derailed I think are it's fantastic first person narrative which is at times shocking and at others charmingly funny and the great dialogue between the characters which is punchy and realistic. The tension rises constantly as one disastrous event leads to another, and the pages absolutely fly by. My only complaint is that I thought some of the events that happened at the end of the novel were a little bit far-fetched and coincidental. Overall I would recommend Derailed to all people who love thrillers and enjoy the high tension of escalating twists. Enjoy! JoAnne
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for the all-night reading experience!
Review: Phenomenal is the first word that comes to mind to describe this roller coaster. I once read that to write a great novel novel, you have to keep the protagonist in trouble, trouble, trouble! It couldn't have been done any more effectively. The beginning development was very believable, and a sympathetic character emerged. I liked the author's writing style immediately--he is FUNNY! Even as the book turned into a deadly serious game of suspense, I found myself laughing out loud at some of the clever turns of phrase. The plot itself has been detailed ad nauseum in these reviews, so I'll not repeat what you could read on the "book flap" but will say that it TRULY is impossible to put down. I read it in one sitting because I couldn't tear myself away. Now, if you're expecting a man's moral awakening as he learns his lesson...sorry, that is not the direction you're going in this book. And if you're expecting the totally plausible beginning to continue in the same way, forget about it, because this tale becomes so unbelievable you'll have to snicker at how ridiculous it is...but you'll keep reading. This is one to get under your belt for the sheer enjoyment of the ride. Derailed is great fun. Make a big pot of coffee before you begin, get comfortable, and start the book that will keep you wide-eyed all night! I only wish I still had it ahead of me to enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: TRAIN OF THOUGHT
Review: DERAILED is a very good book---that said, why? Author Siegel travels territory familiar to both James Patterson and Harlan Coben, but in his own way, fashions a more believable plot. Its hero, Charles Schine, is a normal everyday working stiff who finds his life unbelievably changed when he oversleeps one morning and has to take a later train. He meets a Catherine Zeta-Jones type of beauty named Lucinda; he starts an affair with her; loses a major ad account; and that's just the beginning. Although not as devastating as the characters in Scott Smith's brilliant A SIMPLE PLAN, his lies and betrayal leads to horrifying consequences. I found myself liking the supporting character of Winston, the mailroom guy who trades sports trivia with Charles; Deanna, Charles' wife, who he should have had more faith in. You'll have to form your own opinions about Dexter, Vasquez, and the mysterious Lucinda. Suffice to say, the book is a real page turner, with several plot twists and a very satisfying ending. Looking for more efforts from this great "new" writer.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: HBO must make this into a movie.
Review: I just finished this book and my heart is still racing. At first, I thought it was going to be about the typical mid-life crisis that seems to happen to the shallow, bored, yuppie type characters that have too much money and not enough commitment to their familes. In fact, I was just ready to close it and take it back to the library. (I always feel compelled to read a book even if I don't like it, feel like I am disloyal to the author.)
I decided to read another chapter and on page 53, wow, the story began to explode and I was drawn into it and could not put it down. It has so many unpredictable twists and turns that make it one of the best books I've read in since Mystic River.
Rating: 
Summary: Great read
Review: This is a story you've seen many times in Hollywood movies. Nonetheless, Siegel's writing keeps you in suspense and you absolutely cannot put this book down until the end.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: You won't be able to put this one down. Interesting character development and fun to discuss with your friends afterward.
Rating:
Summary: All Aboard for Suspense
Review: You just never know who you're going to meet on your commute to work. Charles Schine learns this in spades in James Siegel's dark novel of suspense and deception. Without giving anything away, Charles finds himself sitting next to the beautiful Lucinda on the Long Island Railroad and accepts her offer to pay for his ticket when he finds that he doesn't have his wallet. One thing leads to another and, after drinks one day, lunch another day, and so on, they find themselves in a mid morning tryst at the Fairfax Hotel in Manhattan. Unfortunately for them, things turn ugly when a thug breaks into the room, pistol whips Charles and brutally rapes Lucinda. Siegel describes this in gory detail for about 10 pages. After that, things really start to fall apart for Charles. How far do things fall? Blackmail leads him to robbing funds from his own critically ill daughter's hospital fund. Murder and conspiracy are just around the corner. Charles attempts to take things into his own hands and turn the tables on the bad guy. The only thing is ol' Chuck isn't Clint Eastwood, he's you or me, and the results are direly predictable. The funnel that he falls into is dark and dangerous and Siegel, at times, makes it appear so hopeless that one feels that there is no way out. Still, I think the reader, in general, has to have some empathy for Charles because he is so much an "everyman". When Lucinda asks him if he was a hell raiser in his youth, he answers, "heck raiser". His Job-like situation throughout this book has us hoping against hope that everything happens for a reason, and maybe it does. I grew up on Long Island and can just picture the 9:05 out of Babylon and all of the stops in between, so I enjoyed this book from a homey standpoint despite it darkness and even though some of the aspects of the scenes at the Fairfax Hotel are a tad too coincidental for my tastes. Still, James Siegel is a contemporary of James Patterson and it shows with chapters that leave you hanging. The book, as a whole, is a fast read. I read most of it on the metro going into D.C. for a meeting. Still, I didn't sit next to any pretty girls. All aboard.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to Put Down!
Review: I hadn't read a good book in quite a while. I took Derailed on vacation after reading a great review and found myself picking it up every chance I got. It's a thrilling and intriguing page-turner which I highly recommend.
| 
