The Christmas Train

 

By David Baldacci

Tom Langdon used to travel the world, writing stories for newspapers and magazines about the people and events he encountered. His work sometimes took him into dangerous situations but after many years of that, Tom came back home to the US and started writing about much less dangerous subjects, maybe because he was getting older. Or maybe because a failed relationship left him floundering and directionless. 

He had been very much in love with Eleanor Carter and had even bought a ring, intending to ask her to be his wife. But it didn't work out. He never got around to asking and she wearied of waiting for him to speak up. So she gave up and left him.

Because of an unfortunate incident at an airport, Tom is banned from flying. He needs to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast to join his current girl friend for Christmas. So he is taking a train instead, using the train trip as a subject for story for work. 

But a big surprise is awaiting him on the train: Eleanor is on the train. She is still pissed and gives him the cold shoulder. She is doing a script for a big Hollywood movie director, Max. Max and his assistant Kristobal are also passengers on the train.

Tom gets to know some of the passengers and tries to get closer to Eleanor, even as she continues to treat him with contempt. But Max talks Eleanor into working with Tom on the script, forcing the two ex-lovers into spending time together. Tom never understood what happened and Eleanor finds it hard to understand why he doesn't know what went wrong. Just when it seems Eleanor is starting to thaw, it all falls apart again, leaving Tom feeling lower than low. Fortunately for the two former lovers, the weather is going to intervene, in the form of an avalanche that nearly derails the train in Colorado. 

This was an entertaining read. There was some religious mumbo-jumbo that was a tad annoying, but not enough to make me stop reading the book. The plot was a bit contrived, especially with the double avalanche, but whatever. There is a minor mystery on board too, in the form of a thief who is helping themselves to the passengers' money and valuables. I was relieved no one died in the course of the story although I was kind of expecting a corpse a la Murder on the Orient Express.

Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.