Derailed

James Siegel is the author of this thriller novel set in the United States. The story was made into a motion picture with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston in it. Similarly, it was made in Bollywood and Kollywood too.
The story is of Charles Schine, a married man with a diabetic teenage daughter. His marriage is not going well because of the stress of the daughter's sickness. On his way to work, he forgets to pay the train fare and is on the verge of being thrown out. An attractive woman pays the fare for him - Lucinda Harris. Their acquaintance grows into friendship and then into something more.
They decide to stay at a hotel and just before they decide to make the move, a man breaks into their room - hurts and burgles them and rapes Lucinda. Charles feels responsible for Lucinda's state. Now the thief starts threatening Charles for money and Charles coughs it up. Then the threats become more frequent.
Charles career wasn't going too well either. He uses the help of one of his co-workers, Winston, who is an ex-convict and a murderer to get rid of the thief. Their ploy is almost uncovered by cops and Winston is murdered. Charles works in cleaning up the crime scene.
Charles' wife is now concerned and his house is also visited by detectives. He confesses everything to his wife. Just before confessing to the detectives, he looks out for Lucinda. This is when he discovers that Lucinda is part of the whole gang that repeats the whole cycle with many people - hunting for eager husbands, making them fall in love, go to the same hotel, time it perfectly so that the thief comes in to burgle and create a rape scene, while hurting the guy, and finally top it off with continuous monetary threats. He is furious. Now, he plans on avenging them.
So he waits at the same hotel waiting for them to come back. D-day comes and he barges into the room right after the thief enters, exposing their colours to their new victim. In the scuffle, Charles kills everyone in the room. Mysteriously, the hotel blows up too. In the news, his name appears as one of the dead.
His family is devastated, but he secretly calls his wife to let her know what had happened. It stays a secret for a while until Charles establishes his new identity. He decides to go to a new town and using one of the fake driving licenses he obtained from his ex-convict friend, he manages to get other documents. He manages to get a job as a teacher. A few months later, he brings his family with him and they live happily until the thief rudely enters their life again.
As part of volunteering, Charles volunteers at the local prison and finds out that the thief is still alive and he tracked them down using the special kind of medicine that Charles' daughter needed for her treatments. Charles visits him in his cell and finishes him off.
I had actually seen the Kollywood version of this book before reading it - pachchai kili muthucharam - which was an interesting movie, typical of the gory and violence the director was famous for. The book was much more racier than the movie version, although the movie was better adapted for the South Indian audience it was made for. The book was better catered for the thriller that North American readers enjoyed. Although the story had a few loopholes and was soggy in some parts, the overall was a good package and a worthwhile read.