“The Christmas Train,” by David Baldacci

FM's ratings:

1.      Premise 7

2.      Prose 8

3.      Plot 9

4.      Characters 7

5.      Overall 8

This book is a departure from Mr. Baldacci’s usual crime and political suspense novels.  Being a Christmas novel, this one is relatively tame, though the tensions late in the story build nicely.  Its seems he also attempted to make a more personal statement about things like love, faith, and truth, sliding into triteness on occasion, and almost getting heavy-handed regarding religious belief.  Hey, it’s a CHRISTMAS story, so maybe we should expect that.  As a bonus, there is a lot of train lore thrown in; just enough to be informative without bogging the story down.  And even though the characters often come across as rather stereotypical, there are some touching scenes.  I enjoyed it enough to recommend it AS a Christmas read, realizing that most people will get more out of it than I did.  It does make me want to read more of his works, but I’m glad I have this one behind me.