Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fast Track is fast-paced, September 30, 2005
DeDakis' debut novel is a page-turner, full of interesting sub-plots, suspense, and energy. One can easily imagine this as movie material, because it is very visual and action-filled. The protagonist and narrator is a young woman, and DeDakis easily makes the transition to a woman's voice. He clearly understands her motivation and her character. She, Lark, is a likable and appealing figure, and she, foibles and strengths combined, makes the entire novel attractive and interesting. The 300 pages of this mystery go by fast, and mystery lovers will find it compelling. This reader hopes for more novels to come from this author, whose profession is editing the early morning news for CNN.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BE CAREFUL ON THE RAILROAD TRACKS, LARK, June 23, 2009
Lark Chadwick is a likeable, naive young woman who gets a rude awakening into real life. There were times when I wanted to smack her for the stubbornness she displays, but I had to keep reading just to find out what was really going on. Thanks, John, for creating such a wonderful page-turner. I lost sleep but it was worth every wink....even reading it for the second time! The characters and scenery are very real, and the surprise near the end makes sense of the entire story. Can't wait for the sequel!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tension Lies Between Secrets Revealed and Unrevealed, February 27, 2006
John DeDakis, who edits and writes on Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room, has crafted an exciting narrative with his debut novel Fast Track.
Our story begins with a cataclysmic event when our principal protagonist Lark Chadwick's aunt, Ann, unexpectedly takes her own life. Lark had been very close to her aunt after her parents were killed in a collision with a train. As a result, Lark is now determined to find out how exactly the accident occurred and why did her aunt commit suicide.
Following the shock waves of the suicide of her aunt, she accidentally meets up with Lionel Stone, a former Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times editor who has now recently become the publisher of a local newspaper. Stone hires Lark as an investigative reporter and what she discovers, after a relentless journey, was that she was in the car at the time of her parents fatal accident. Fortunately, she had been thrown to safety, thus giving her the name of "the miracle baby," by the press.
However, Stone never realized that when he hired Lark that the subsequent story she would stumble upon was beyond his wildest imagination that would include a threat on the life of his newly hired reporter, a move to oust the local priest, the questionable and suspicious behavior of the law authorities at the time of the accident, and the exact nature of the train accident. Moreover, Lark believes that her entire life had been lived in the shadow of a lie, as she was never told the truth by her aunt and grandparents as to what exactly happened.
The novel's strength is its roller-coaster plot, where tension lies between secrets revealed and unrevealed. In fact, you can't stop reading and you don't want to stop!
Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures
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