August 14, 2005

Derailed by James Siegel book review

Derailed

This is a cleverley plotted thriller that I picked up for two reasons:-

1) It was only £1.63 at ASDA

2) The front cover is really cool. It gives a suggestion of pace, speed and the red colouring makes you think of danger.

The front cover was exactly right. Charles Schine is an advertising executive in New York. He's a family man, though his marriage is in a rut and his daughter is sick with a bad form of diabetes with no prospect of improvement. Thanks to chance Charles Schine meets Lucinda on a train into work. Charles Schine's life is torn apart.

The plot requires you to have some suspension of belief, but not much. If you can read John Grisham thrillers you can read James Siegel. The main family is nicely fleshed out, the bad guys suitably bad and the mess in which Charles finds himself suitably believeable that you start rooting for the poor guy and trying to think of ways out for him. The narrative device the author uses at the start and end of the novel is clever, however I can't reveal what it is without revealing some of the plot. It's a clever way to get the story going anyway. It's a solid paperback with twists and turns that make you root for the good guy and hate the bad guys. Well worth a read.

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