Customer Reviews

Detour

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Forget your job. Your family. Plans for the weekend. Forget it all if you decide to pick up James Siegel's "Detour". Once you start, consider your life on hold till you finish.

Like Siegel's "Derailed" of two years ago, "Detour" is a high adrenaline rush of terror for the ordinary guy who finds his life spinning violently out of control. This life is that of Paul Breidbart, an insurance actuary, and his wife Joanna. Wanting nothing more than to adopt a child, Paul and Joanna find themselves in a nightmare of South American drug cartels, crooked lawyers, and the ubiquitous Russian mobsters seemingly obligatory in pop thrillers. As an actuary, Breidbart views life in probability and risk - a skill that comes in handy as he finds himself facing so many successive steroid-class catastrophes that an alien invasion would not have occurred improbable. Unthinkable brutality and enough twists to qualify the title, this is one mean read.

As with "Derailed", Siegel's lean prose wastes no time as it moves at the pace of the best thriller films, giving neither characters nor readers much chance to catch a breath along the way. If Paul Breidbart were to handicap "Detour", I suspect he'd calculate a 98% probability of unqualified entertainment. Bravo!

Anytime you read a thriller, you need to have a willing suspension of disbelief. In his latest effort, however, Siegel provides a chain of unlikely, almost impossible, events that make it difficult to believe anything like this could happen.

The story is pretty straightforward - A couple goes to Colombia to adopt a baby, only to be taken hostage. To free his wife and new child, our hero must smuggle drugs back into the U.S. Of course, complications ensue, and he must fight to find a way to save his family and himself. To that end, it's an effective story, one that anyone with a child can relate to.

The reason I don't think this rates 4-5 stars is that, as I said earlier, the events that take place simply become too unbelievable to have any credence. It's unfortunate, because I believe this could have been a great book if Siegel had chosen to focus less on trying to shock us with plot twists, and more on the efforts of a desperate man trying to save his family. Ultimately, the book becomes predictable, and it's easy to guess the outcome.

Siegel is a fine writer, and I don't question his ability to keep the pages turning. However, I think he needs to worry less about twists (just like in Derailed) and focus on his strength, which is in building tension. He's written 3 good books to this point, but I think he can get better.

The question resonating throughout the latest spine-tingler from James Siegel is "Just how far would you go, what would you risk to save the person you love?"

Stage, film and television actor Holter Graham gives an accomplished reading to this story of a man caught in a life or death struggle.

Paul and Joanna Breidbart are a devoted married couple. Their lives are happy and complete save for the absence of a child. The waiting list to adopt a child in America is lengthy, so they decide to fly to Colombia to adopt a baby there. Their happiness is all too brief as Joanna and the baby are kidnaped; they're in the hands of drug dealers who will stop at nothing to achieve their ends.

Paul is told that in order to secure the release of his wife and baby he must smuggle cocaine worth millions into the U.S. and turn it over to a mysterious person in New Jersey within one day. If he does not do this, Joanna and the baby will both die. But, when Paul arrives at the meeting site in New Jersey the house has been destroyed.

What will he do and where will he turn in order to save his wife and child?

Siegel, the author of Derailed which Miramax has optioned for a major motion picture, delivers his story a bit like gunfire, in staccato bursts. And, it's frightening. If a fast-paced thriller laced with memorable characters is your pleasure, Detour is for you.

- Gail Cooke

This book is exactly what it is meant to be, entertaining. A mystery with many plot twists and turns. A great stand alone read. It does not have any returning characters, long courtroom dramas or police procedures to weigh it down. It moves at the speed of light and leaves you satisfied at the end.

This is the second book I have read by Siegel. The first being "Derailed" (much better book than a movie by the way). I really enjoyed the author's style while reading that book. It had action, it was interesting, not full of boring details. And each chapter left you hanging and craving more.

This book was no different. The story line may have been a little far fetched, or is it? Could this happen? Anything is possible. The story grabs you from the start and pulls you in. I stayed up way too late many nights wanting to find out what happened next. Finally, I just read the whole thing!

A story about a couple from New York who desperately wants a child of their own. After many years of failed attempts at fertility and other means, they decide to adopt. They don't want to go through the long and drawn out adoption process of usual after having gone through years of failing on their own. So, they turn to an adoption attorney who handles adoptions in Columbia. The process is surprisingly quicker there and less hassle. What they don't know is that trouble awaits. Soon, they find themselves captives of one of Columbia's guerilla factions. The only way our hero can save his family? Smuggle 2 million dollars of cocaine into the U.S. in 18 hours! Let the action begin!

Enjoyable characters, fast paced action, believable story, and great ending. I'll say this about Siegel, he ends a book well. Some authors either end too quick or don't end at all and leave you hanging. Siegel ends just right! The book has plenty of twists and turns to keep your attention. It plays like a movie in your head.

Read this when you have no other distractions because if you have something else to do, this book will keep you from it!! Enjoy it, I did!

James Siegel's newest novel is a page-turner in the truest sense of the word. The story rockets along, propelled by tight narrative, short action pieces, sizzling dialogue, and chapters that are shorter than the hairs on Michael Jordan's head. I found this book to be fun and involving, and though the two big twists at the end weren't surprising, the way the main character reacted to his own surprise made the segments believable.

Highly recommended for those who just want to escape for a while.

Paul and Joanna Breidbart have wanted a child of their own for the past five years. Unable to conceive on their own, they finally considered the idea of adopting a child. Once they are in Colombia, and their daughter Joelle is put in their arms, it is love at first sight. Their driver Pablo and their nurse Galina assigned to them at first are indispensable but trouble starts when Galina disappears with their baby. The police do not believe them when Galina produces a note she says she left behind. Things get creepier when Joanna believes that their baby has been switched. They ask Pablo to take them to Galina's house to confront her. Once there, they are taken hostage by rebel forces. Some of the side stories are disturbing and distracting. Mention of Paul's fascination with numbers since he is an actuary appears more than necessary. Paul is forced to smuggle drugs into the United States in exchange for his wife's and baby's freedom. Things go horribly wrong for Paul. Detour is an exciting, challenging, fast-paced novel that will keep you turning the pages until the end.

An actuary, according to my handy-dandy Merriam-Webster dictionary, is "one who calculates insurance and annuity premiums, reserves, and dividends." Actually, a friend of mine who frequently gives legal seminars is fond of beginning such mind-numbing exercises by defining an actuary as "an accountant who doesn't have the force of personality to become a CPA." Lots of nasty things happen to an actuary in DETOUR, the new James Siegel novel, and that definition is the least of them, believe me.

Paul Breidbart is the actuary; he and his wife, Joanna, want nothing more than to have a child. They have been trying to conceive for years, without success. When they open their hearts to the possibility of adoption they find that the quickest way to be matched with a child is to travel to Colombia. Travel --- and life --- in Colombia is fraught with danger, yet everything happens on schedule. They receive a baby girl who is perfect in every way. The adoption proceeds without any problem. That is, until the Breidbarts leave their new infant daughter alone for a few hours with their new nanny.

When they return, they slowly but inexorably come to realize that they now have a different child. And, indeed, their baby has been switched. They can still get their newly adopted daughter back. All Paul has to do is smuggle, or in the vernacular, "mule," two million dollars worth of cocaine from Colombia to Jersey City. He delivers the cocaine (within a narrow time limit, of course), a telephone call is made, and his wife and their new daughter get to leave Colombia and fly home.

Paul, of course, is way outside of his element. The only things he is used to pushing are pencils and papers. He somehow makes it to Jersey City on time. It appears, however, that someone is determined that the cocaine Paul is carrying is not going to make it to where it is supposed to go, and the fates of Paul's wife and daughter are of no consequence. Paul finds himself in a nightmare scenario where he must not only keep himself alive but also must bring his wife and daughter home as well. Joanna's chances for survival, however, are even more tenuous than Paul's --- and her captors are growing increasingly impatient.

Siegel's narrative ability is first-rate. The sentences fly right off the pages as the they keep turning, revealing surprise after surprise. I gave up trying to figure out what would happen after the first 60 pages or so, and it was just as well. Siegel also pulls off the neat trick of introducing a major, captivating character --- always difficult to do --- in the last fourth or so of the novel, and saves the best surprise for the last three pages. DETOUR is one novel you'll want to finish without coming up for air.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Recently I read Siegel's debut masterpiece Derailed and quickly picked up a copy of Detour. Detour is another great novel, in some parts it does slow down a bit and is slightly predictable but the majority is as fast paced a can't put down thriller as Derailed.

In Detour an American couple unable to conceive children choose to adopt a baby through Colombia as it has a shorter waiting list than alternative markets. It all goes smoothly until they realise that their baby has been switched by their nurse. It is only when they get to her house that they realise the switch is only the start of their nightmare. Paul must consume thirty six condoms filled with cocaine, fly back to the USA and deliver every single one of them intact so that his family will be released. If he is one minute late, gets caught or if one ruptures inside him his wife Joanna and his new daughter Joelle will both be killed.

Detour is definitely a must read thriller and if you haven't already done so get a copy of Derailed as well. You can in fact if you haven't read this already, get both books in the one two book - Detour: AND Derailed.

If you're looking for another author who writes like this also check out Linwood Barclay and Harlan Coben.

I like reading new authors or authors who are still starting. I picked up Siegel and "Detour" because it caught my eye. Interesting. Kind of tugs at you. Then all of a sudden, you're hooked.

Reviewers say it wasn't as good as "Derailed." The movie was abysmal so I hope Mr. Siegel survives the connection between his skill as an author and a poor film result. Crais had that problem with the horrible "Hostage" but Crais, unlike Seigel, has a larger body of work to buoy him up from artistic blunders.

You know the plot here so I won't repeat it. James Grippando did something like this in "A King's Ransom" where Nick Rey is trying to get his father out of similar harms way, but "Detour" is at a much higher level of magnetic tension.

Siegel keeps turning up the tension up higher and higher. Even the silly, out-of-context line from Joanna to her husband Paul, "she amells different" about their newly adopted daughter Joelle is delivered so well that you know we've started on a roller coaster ride dwn and down and down.

I found that Mr. Siegel ratcheted up the tension well, evenly and did have a nice grip on scenery, feelings and diverse peoples. I will read "Derailed" but you can keep the movie. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury