Derailed

Fatal Attraction meets The Usual Suspects in this dazzling thriller about a businessman whose life becomes a nightmare when he gets involved with the wrong woman. When an English teacher at Attica State Prison asks his incarcerated students to write about why they're in prison, he is astounded by the story of Charles Schine. Schine is a white, upper middle-class ad exec who meets Lucinda, a married woman, on the Long Island Railroad. Sharing pictures of their kids soon leads to a rendezvous in a sordid downtown hotel. But before they actually enter the room, they are held up by a man who rapes Lucinda, assults Charles, and steals both their wallets. He then proceeds to blackmail them. Desperate, Charles hires someone to eliminate him-but it's the hitman who ends up dead. In a world where no one is who they seem to be, Charles sinks deeper into a labyrinth of deceit, murder, and betrayal. And in a final act of stunning retribution, it's clear why Charles is in Attica-and what he's come to do there.

James Siegel grew up in New York and drove a cab while attending community college. One day a passenger suggested he apply for a copywriting job at his advertising agency, BBDO. Despite his award-winning career there, he never abandoned his dream of writing a novel.