Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't stop shaking my head
Review: Who cares that Tom had steak for dinner and it was good? How does a lecture about the relationship between Amtrak and freight railroads fit into the story? More importantly, after this lecture is given by the laid-off Amtrak employee who still rides the rails, why does the chapter end? This is representative of the often useless Am-facts peppered throughout the book. They had no purpose, at least they weren't integrated well. Furthermore, it illustrates how conversations in the story would start and stop without realistic openings and definitely no purposeful closure. On page after page, the dialogue was disjointed and illogical. At worst, it was of mediocre high school student quality. I also agree with the folks who were insulted by the African American characters. They were all so musical! I'm sure that plays into the comfort stereotypes of so many people. Oh, and did I mention the dialogue? It was painful.
I could almost believe most, if not all of the events taking place in the book. You run into people on the train who don't stop talking about trains. You meet all sorts of folks. And in life, a wide range of twists take place and work out. The problem with this book is that none of them are developed, so that what could be a fascinating element of the story ends up being a two-sentence summary. "It turns out character X was a bad person and he realized it. He now wants to be a better person." Sometimes it was that bad.
Rating:
Summary: Crazy Train - All Aboard
Review: You would be crazy to waste your time with this book. I picked it up as an audio book rental from a cracker barrel on a recent trip and what a horrible book. The book itself was bad and the guy they got to read it was even worse. I would have rather listend to NPR in pig latin vs. this book. For those giving this book rave reviews...are you serious?? Are you being paid by the baldacci's? The train engineer didn't think to back the train up until the engines ran out of fuel. They blew the snow off with a helicopter. Dumb - Dumb - Dumb - Dumb - Dumb. Did I mention that it was incredibly dumb? Sorry, I don't write reviews but this was so horrible I couldn't let anyone else make the same mistake I did.
Rating:
Summary: Crazy Train - All Aboard
Review: You would be crazy to waste your time with this book. I picked it up as an audio book rental from a cracker barrel on a recent trip and what a horrible book. The book itself was bad and the guy they got to read it was even worse. I would have rather listend to NPR in pig latin vs. this book. For those giving this book rave reviews...are you serious?? Are you being paid by the baldacci's? The train engineer didn't think to back the train up until the engines ran out of fuel. They blew the snow off with a helicopter. Dumb - Dumb - Dumb - Dumb - Dumb. Did I mention that it was incredibly dumb? Sorry, I don't write reviews but this was so horrible I couldn't let anyone else make the same mistake I did.
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