Rating: 
Summary: As Good As It Gets
Review: After accidentally buying the audio CD version of James Siegel's astounding work, I spent every available moment in my car. Spellbound and haunted, I eagerly awaited every opportunity to drive, anywhere, to catch a few more minutes, only to make it that much harder to go back to whatever was on my schedule for that day.Siegel's story is of a life unraveling. A pattern seems to emerge, you sort of know what might happen next, and wham!! OK, I thought that the surprises were over. Wham! Be careful while you're driving. This stunning story doesn't let you go. When it is over.....what do you read (or listen to) next? What can possibly be this good?
Rating:
Summary: PERFECT SUMMER BOOK!
Review: This is the BEST fast paced, can't put down book I have read in a long time! Don't be fooled into thinking anything else. I actually read it outside of work because I was a few minutes early and really wanted to finish it! This is your book if you are looking for something to pull you in on vacation, because you will probably read it in two days! Enjoy it! To think i almost didn't take my sister-in-laws recommendation...Silly girl!
Rating: 
Summary: "Derailed" derails
Review: "Derailed" is a major disappointment. And it shows what hype can do for a book. The main problem, as others have pointed out, is the deus ex machina. I started off with great expectations and liking this book. But early on it seemed as if it was largely directionless. That's not to say it wasn't going anywhere, but the protagonist (and I use the word loosely) was hardly driving the plot. And then comes the big resolution, which is not of his making at all. I was hoping that the protagonist would turn the tables on the badguys and use their own methods against them, hoisting them on their own petards, so to speak. Instead, the resolution comes out of nowhere and has nothing to do with anything the protagonist does. Didn't an editor notice this? I guess they didn't care 'cause it's all in the hype. On top of this, the writing is, at best, pedestrian. "Derailed" runs off the tracks long before the final fade out.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Story
Review: Charles Schine was having a bad day. His daughter has juvenile diabetes that is getting worse, a marriage that is just drifting along and he was just kicked off of a major account at work. He gets on the train sees a beautiful woman and starts a mild flirtation. Big mistake because at that point his life is derailed. I won't dwell on the rest of the story in this review, but will rather leave that to the readers to discover for themselves. One of my criteria for a 5 star book is whether I could put it down or not. That criterion was certainly met. This is a thriller that will keep you on your toes from the first page to the last. There are some coincidences to move the story along, but you have to give an author some leeway in crime/suspense novels. The protagonist is not a totally sympathetic character, but you keep turning pages hoping that he can get out of the mess he made with his life. Even with some minor defects it is a quick and satisfying read.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining thriller...
Review: James Siegel has created a novel with shock value as its vantage point -- and I mean that in a good way. This fast-paced, engrossing and gripping thriller will have you turning the pages onto the late hours of the night.
Charles Schine lives quite an ordinary, if perfunctory, life. However, things haven't been going so well as of late. His white-collar position as creative director at an advertising agency never fails to stress him out, his daughter's childhood illness has him in a state of turmoil, and his marriage has fizzled out. But in a twist of fate he meets a beautiful stranger on a late morning train ride to Manhattan. Little had he known that meeting said woman would change the course of his life in ways he'd never envisaged... There are some rather gruesome scenes in this novel. At first I thought some of the scenes were an attempt to shock the reader, but as the story progressed I realized that those scenes were essential, for they emphasize the ongoing terror the protagonist encounters throughout the novel. The narrative is excellent and the characterization is precise. I take one point off because the dialogue is resonant to that of a suspenseful film at times. Sometimes I got the impression that Mr. Siegel leaned the novel toward notable film script material. Other than that, Derailed is one of the most entertaining and gripping thrillers I've read in quite a while. Highly recommended...
Rating:
Summary: Heralds the arrival of a major new thriller writer
Review: DERAILED is one of those books which the reader picks up with high expectations. James Siegel's debut has won praise from such established genre writers as James Patterson, Lee Child and Nelson DeMille. Being a fan of all three of the aforementioned authors, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book.
So does it live up to the hype? Who cares about "hype" anyway? What matters is: By purchasing DERAILED are you getting a good story? Darn right you are.
Charles Schine is an advertising exec, happily married with a daughter, who misses his train to work one morning and must take a later one. Aboard the train he meets a young woman named Lucinda Harris and they start talking, and talk eventually leads them to a cheap hotel room.
However their liaison takes a turn for the worse when several men break into the room, rape Lucinda and make Charles pay them a large sum of money in exchange for his life and keeping his reputation intact. Unable to come up with the full sum immediately, Charles is stuck with the dilemma of hiding this incident from his family and coming up with the money. But in DERAILED nothing is what it appears to be. To go any further would be to spoil the book.
DERAILED has more twists than a bag of pretzels and is literally a book you can't wait to get into each night and hate having to put down. Simply, this is one of the best thrillers released so far this year. You can bet your life DERAILED will soon be a Hollywood blockbuster. So if you enjoy the authors I mentioned earlier; DERAILED should automatically go on your list of books you must read in 2003.
Rating:
Summary: ending a bit much, but a great book anyway
Review: read the other reviews. I bought this based on my amazon.com recommendations and loved it. It went by very quickly with twists every few chapters. Towards the end it gets a bit too twisty and while entertaining you may find yourself wondering if there could have been a bit more believable of an ending. I would certainly suggest this book to anyone that likes a good page turner.
Rating:
Summary: Edge-of-Your Seat Entertainment
Review: Seriously, if your budget only allows you to buy a couple of books a year, make sure this one is at the top of your list. This book was impossible to put down!! I have to get ready for a job interview this morning, but I had to finish this book first. I loved the premise: Charles Schine is a middle-aged man going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. His daughter is sick, his wife is distant and unhappy, he's having problems at work, but everything happens for a reason and he ends up taking a later train into work one day. That's when he meets the sinfully beautiful Lucinda....and Everything changes. I hate cliche's, but it's true.....this book grabs you from the very beginning and doesn't let go. I highly recommend this book, however, make sure you have nothing really important that has to get done right away because you won't want to put this book down!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: Derailed is an excellent, gripping page turner about a man whose life it turned upside down when he takes a later train to work one day. He meets a woman on this later train, and has an affair with her. In what may be seen as a thinly veiled homage to marital fidelity, our heroes life quickly spirals into hell as he attempts to consumate this affair. Murder, bribery, embezzlement, the list of evils he must face go on and on. While reading the book, I thougth I figured out where Siegel was headed--I was both right and wrong. I don't want to give away anything, but suffice it to say, the plot took interesting, unexpected and intriguing (yet still plausible) turns. Derailed is a clever, engaging story. You really won't be able to put it down. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Derailed
Review: Derailed is a great book to read during a weekend. Just when you think you know the way the plot is going, it changes. It's
very entertaining and a quick read. I would not hestitate to recommend this book.
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