This book was a sappy, inane romantic mystery with shallow & unlikeable characters. If you want to read something GOOD by Baldacci, then read Wish You Well.

Good book to read during Christmas. Hard to put down. David Baldacci did it again with a good read.

From Publishers Weekly
Recently, Baldacci has ventured with success beyond the thrillers that made his reputation, first in 2000 with the historical melodrama Wish You Well, then earlier this year with the SF mystery novella The Mighty Johns. Here's another stretch, one that he performs with good spirit, a lot of humor and only a bit of strain a Christmas charmer set aboard a cross-country train. Tom Langdon's life hasn't been the same since his all-time love, Eleanor Carter, left him years ago while the two were hotshot journalists, and since he's quit serious reporting for writing fluff. Banned from flying for a year because of an air rage incident, he's decided to write about riding the rails over the Christmas holidays, planning to link up with his erstwhile girlfriend, a Hollywood star, in L.A. Aboard the Capitol Limited, running from D.C. to Chicago, Tom meets a host of unusual fellow travelers, including rambunctious train personnel, lonely wanderers and a pair of elopers; he also runs into Eleanor, now a screenwriter for a legendary film director who's on board researching a possible film about trains. Matters complicate further aboard the Southwest Chief, running from Chicago to L.A., as Tom's Tinseltown girlfriend shows up and proposes marriage just as Tom and Eleanor are working their way back together; a sneak thief nabs valuables; and an avalanche traps the train in the midst of a historic blizzard. The narrative is loaded with cool train lore (Baldacci dedicates the book to "everyone who loves trains and holidays") and plenty of romance and good cheer, though suspense is low who can doubt how things will work out? and the author gets a bit preachy about the advantages of train travel and the lessons of Christmas. This is a more warmhearted and enjoyable novel than Grisham's comparable holiday offering last year, Skipping Christmas, and Baldacci's fans will snap it up as the Yuletide treat it is. Expect this to stuff plenty of stockings on December 25; all aboard!
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Nice easy read for the holidays. Has all the elements, love lost, love found, interesting characters, a little mystery and suspense thrown in and a surprise. Enjoy!

A nice, easy to read holiday story. There is something for everyone: romance, mystery, action, and some great characters. I read it in a day.

Very enjoyable! Good holiday story with some neat twists.

The central character of the story is Tom Langdon, an investigative reporter who has relegated himself to writing about furniture following his more adventurous existence with his longtime girl friend, Eleanor, in foreign lands covering wars and such. He decides to take a cross-country train trip partly to fulfill a request from his now deceased father and partly to reflect on his own life and to see a friend on the West Coast. The Capitol is the train to Chicago where he changes to the Southwest Chief for the rest of the trip. There are colorful characters on the train and one gets a good insight into the domain of travel by rail. Tom is very surprised to find that Eleanor is on the same train. He has never forgotten her but has not seen her since she left him while overseas. He is overwhelmed by the coincidence and does some checking to try to verify that it indeed was a coincidence. Eleanor is on the train with her boss Max Powers, a movie producer as he is considering a movie with a train setting. For Eleanor seeing Tom was certainly not love at second sight. Two other travelers are planning to get married on the train as they go from Chicago to Los Angeles. Max decides to give them a great wedding and film it as well. After being snowbound in Colorado, the train continues to L.A. where mysteries are solved and some surprises revealed. A great X-mas story.

This book is an enjoyable read, with an element of mystery.

I loved this book. I actually felt like I was right there on the train riding with everyone!

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