Rating: 
Summary: Like Holiday Candy...
Review: ...maybe it's not nutritiously substantial, but it sure is tasty!David Baldacci's The Christmas Train is a light-hearted tale that clips along at a jolly pace, much like the vehicle that carries its eclectic cast of characters. The ensemble hails from just about every temperment and every walk of life, and though they're not terribly "deep", they are interesting to watch. Much like one's travels in reality, Baldacci brings the group (with us) together, allows us to see their initial facades, and in some cases digs a little deeper. For spice, he adds a splash of intrigue to the story in the form of a none-too-complicated mystery. It's a fun diversion, but the story's focal point remains interpersonal interplay. One truly refreshing aspect of this book is the complete absence of any objectionable material - the book could be easily rated G (or stretch to a PG for one honeymooning couple). It's nice to know there are authors who can write an enjoyable novel without heavy doses of profanity, sex, or violence. Who wants to read about that stuff at Christmastime anyway? ;-) Worth the ride, The Christmas Train provides the reader with a warm holiday treat!
Rating: 
Summary: A six stars Xmas story
Review: Although I don't celebrate Xmas, this book is the best story of Xmas I ever read or saw at the movies, maybe someone must made a picture of this book, the story of Sam will have you in the book all the time, the way everybody travels in a train (that's true, I know because I was on one) and have no secrets to the strangers at the lounge car or the dinning car.
When you are reading the love story of Tom and Ellie you will think that is a little bit foolish everything that happened to them in the train, but at the end of the book you will have a smile at your face.
Rating:
Summary: A WARM, WONDERFUL HOLIDAY STORY.............
Review: Hard to articulate how wonderful I found the Christmas Train. Full of colorful, lovable, animated characters, readers will find a reason to love each of them. Tom Langford, having been banned from air travel, has decided to travel by train to meet his sometime love Lelia in California for Christmas. A journalist, Tom sees this as an opportunity to pen an interesting story of rail travel. What he encounters is more than even he could have hoped or bargained for. Along the way he encounters a former Catholic priest, a famous Hollywood producer, and what was once the love of his life. This is a tale of unrequited love, danger, friendship, mystery, and hope....; enjoy!!
DYB
Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Ride
Review: How delightful of Mr. Baldacci to depart from his usual style to write this engaging tale! I thoroughly enjoyed my trip! Bought a couple books for Christmas stocking stuffers. It reads like an old fashioned romance black and white movie with a little intrigue. Something light that Alfred Hitchcock would have done. The reminiscing of older train rides now just memories to our older family members was interesting to read about and the book left me wanting to believe in the magic of trains and Christmas.
We need to read more of these from Mr. Baldacci's pen. Nice to read from a man's perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Pay Attention to the Bad Reviews. They are Right On!
Review: I picked up this book immediately after reading Grisham's "Skipping Christmas." When I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be a lot better than "Skipping Christmas." I was soon disappointed. It ended up being as insulting to the intelligence as "Skipping Christmas." I would have to think really hard to figure out which book was worse. I'm trying to figure out if it was part of Grisham's and Baldacci's book deals to write really lame Christmas stories and that they waited until the last minute and threw this crap together in order to meet a deadline. I really can't understand the good reviews that this book got. This book is not worth your money or your time.
Rating:
Summary: The Bore-iant Express
Review: Ok, so the great cover sold me on this book. I am a train buff and thought "Just how bad can it really be?" It was worse. I once gave it as a Christmas gift to another train buff friend; no wonder he never sent a thank you card. When I was through, I couldn't even donate it to the library.
Rating:
Summary: wated time and money
Review: This book isn't worthy of your time or money. Mindless pap would be a good description of this drivel. A total bore of a book that would have been better left unwritten and unread.
Rating: 
Summary: Like a Hardy Boys book, only worse
Review: This is the only David Baldacci book I've ever read, and if the rest are as bad as this one, it'll be the last. This book was written in the style of a Hardy Boys novel, only without the exclamation marks: "Tom walked down the passageway, not knowing what a surprise was in store for him (!)." That's a paraphrase, but there are many sentences just like it, and the whole book is written in that tone. Actually it's not good adolescent fiction either, due to the occasional sex scene. This should have been a short story in Reader's Digest (minus the sex). A lot of people will excuse its faults, claiming it's just a fun Christmas story, but that's no excuse for poor writing. The characters are barely two-dimensional, and he relegates all the African-Americans to caricatures of proud but subservient railroad employees. You can tell he did his homework when it comes to details of life on trains, which is spouted by the characters like speeches from a museum tour guide. This book was a real disappointment, billing itself as warm and humorous, but's it's really a Grade B whodunit.
Rating:
Summary: A Trip Across America Becomes A Journey Of The Heart
Review: Tom Langdon, a globetrotting journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, is forced by circumstances to take a transcontinental trip aboard Amtrak to meet his current girlfriend Lelia Gibson in LA for the Christmas holidays. Tom's family connection to Mark Twain had inspired him to become a writer, and according to legend, Twain had taken a similar trip with the intent of writing a story based on his encounters across the country. Thus, Tom decides to use this trip to write the story Twain had never completed and fulfill one of the last requests of his father before his death. Always in the background of Tom's consciousness is what he now regards as the major mistake of his life, that he never proposed to his true love and fellow foreign correspondent Eleanor Carter, with whom he has now lost touch but still cares for deeply. The first section of the book consists of the segment of the journey from DC to Chicago aboard The Capitol Limited. Readers are introduced to the major characters and the outline of the limited plot and interrelated mysteries become clear. We also get a lesson in intercity train travel and learn that this will be a combination holiday story, romance and mystery as well as an advertisement for Amtrak and the joys of leisurely travel and seeing America rather than overflying the country to simply speed to your destination. We meet the eccentric Agnes Jo, who Tom believes is hiding some secret: Steve and Julie, who are planning a marriage on the train since their parents disapprove of their relationship; Amtrak employee stalwarts Regina and Tyrone, and numerous other characters where it is not clear who has a bit part and who is central to the plot. But on a train you have time to get to know all of them. The second section of the book consists of the trip aboard The Southwest Chief from Chicago to LA. Here the plot thickens, the action quickens, the mystery deepens, and the passengers and crew are threatened by potential tragedy. My use of stereotypes in my description is intentional; Baldacci cleverly uses stereotypical characters such as Lelia, the actress whose fame derives from her role as the voice of Cuppy the Beaver, Gordon Merryweather, the despicable class action attorney who soon gets his comeuppance and Max Price, the famous movie director who is accummulating material for his next epic involving train travel, to quickly get us involved with the story without the necessity for a lot of background. At the same time he lets us know that this will be a fun trip of the sort many of his readers have probably dreamed about taking. All the usual adjectives apply - heartwarming, charming, schmaltzy, romantic and just plain fun. It is a very fast read, a great story for a long afternoon or evening in front of a Christmas fireplace or a short trip; ironically much too brief for a long train ride but about right for a high speed Acela ride between NYC and DC or Boston. This book, along with WISH YOU WELL, shows the versatility of the author, but I certainly hope that he has not completely abandoned the action-adventure-mystery genre. While it is hard to write a suspenseful Christmas story since an ending of renewed hope, forgiveness and the fulfillment of dreams is almost essential to the feelgood spirit of such a story (as well as its commercial success, even for Scrooge and the Grinch), Baldacci does include enough plot twists and character misdirection so that fans of his previous stories will recognize his hand at work here. Finally, the ending was very clever, and helps renew our faith in Santa Claus. I debated my rating and some readers may think five stars is overly generous, but as I completed my review I was reminded how thouroughly I had enjoyed the book and how it had completely lived up to my expectations. Thus, I am convinced that Baldacci has accomplished his goal as an author, and felt that such a feat deserved at least close to five stars. This book cannot and should not be compared to ABSOLUTE POWER or SAVING FAITH, but has to stand on its own and be rated on that basis.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful book.
Review: What a fun, delightful, informative read. I have only read two of David Baldacci books, this one and Wish You Well. I have thoroughly enjoyed both of them. In my opinion Mr. Baldacci is a truly talented writer. He can take an everyday subject and spin an engrossing tale from it. He does not resort to foul lanquage or gratuitous sex to enliven his plots. He simply writes about life.
The information he includes about the history and inner workings of the passanger train is fascinating. In lieu of boring you with high praise of this book I will merely say ...this is a
good book, pick it up and read it especially during this holiday season.
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