The Christmas Train, by David Baldacci
OK–this is a romance. And I don’t usually review those here.
I’ve made an exception, because there is so much more to this one than just a couple getting together at Christmastime.
When cynical journalist Tom Langdon boards an Amtrak train, for a three-thousand-mile cross-country trip, his life is not exactly the stuff of which Christmas magic is made. Tom is disillusioned with his career, filled with regrets about his past and involved in a relationship that’s much more convenient than romantic. Current girlfriend Lelia is waiting for him to join her in L.A. for a holiday skiing trip with a number of her closest entertainment-industry associates. So, Tom steps aboard the venerable Capitol Limited, for the first leg of the journey from Washington, D.C. to Chicago.
But as the “Cap” pulls out of Washington’s Union Station, Tom begins encountering a vibrant and festive community: Christmastime travelers, headed all over the nation, for varying reasons. There’s warmhearted conductor Regina, who can handle any situation–from a rambunctious boys’ choir to an escaped boa constrictor–with compassion and aplomb. And feisty train regular Agnes Jo, pompous attorney Gordon Merryweather, shy couple Steve and Julie, who are eloping against their parents’ wishes…
Then, the unexpected strikes, in several different ways. Things aren’t as they seem, the colorful cast of “train people” helps move the action along–and Tom realizes he’s on the most important Christmas journey of his life.
What makes this one special, is the way Baldacci uses subplots to show readers that, indeed, “everybody is a story”–and a cross-country train journey has a way of bringing those stories together. Using humor and a keen eye for detail, Baldacci captures the adventure of cross-country Christmas rail travel. He also expertly weaves in cultural, historic and factual details about trains (who knew that Amtrak doesn’t actually own most of the rails on which their trains run?), without getting “off track” (sorry) from the story.
I have now made the East-to-West-Coast train trip three times at Christmas, and The Christmas Train makes me want to book my tickets today for a Version Four!