Hostage: A Novel

I have been a Robert Crais fan since I first read THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT many years ago. It sounds cliche, but here is an author who really does get better and better with every book he writes. HOSTAGE is the story of an ex-hostage negotiator who needs some space and time to find himself again. No other writer working today has Crais' grasp of tension and intrigue, emotion and sensibility. He is a true master of the genre. HOSTAGE is a 5-star read that you won't be able to put down from the time you see the title page until you hit the last words. Crais is riveting, pouring suspense into every page until you think you too are part of the book, hostage to his spellbinding writing.Crais is also the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole series, a wickedly funny, sharp and moving collection of novels starring an L.A.-based private detective. EVERYTHING he has written is worth it -- here is an author you simply MUST read. For suspense and tightly-strung storylines, there is no better author.Thank you Robert Crais!! And publish the next one soon!!

When Robert Crais writes a book as good as HOSTAGE, I can almost forgive him for making me and his other fans wait two very long years for the next "Elvis Cole/Joe Pike" novel. Remember, I said almost. HOSTAGE is the story of Jeff Talley (think Bruce Willis!), a former LAPD SWAT negotiator who quit his job and left his family due to serious stress, burnout, and guilt over a hostage negotiation that turned bad. He's now the Chief of Police of Bristo Camino, a small California community where life is simpler and the job less demanding. At least it is, until two young hoods and a deadly psychopath rob a minimart and kill its owner. In a futile attempt to escape the police, the three criminals jump the wall of a housing development and invade the home of Walter Smith, taking him and his two children hostage. Talley and his people, along with the help of the California Highway Patrol, surround the house; and, for the most part, things run smoothly. Talley uses his skills as a former hostage negotiator to keep the criminals inside the house calm, biding his time until the L.A. County Sheriff's SWAT team arrive to take over. When they do and Talley signs off control of the situation, his troubles aren't ending. No way. What he thought was a bad day is going to swiftly turn into a nightmare that will push him right to the edge. You see, Walter Smith isn't an ordinary family man. He's the accountant for the West Coast mob and has two computer disks in his home office, loaded with information that can literally bring the criminal organization down to its knees. Mob honcho, Sonny Benza, has no intention of letting the local police or even the FBI get possession of these incriminating disks. He quickly brings in a team of killers to kidnap Talley's wife and daughter, and then tells our reluctant hero to get those disks one way or another, if he wants to see his family alive again. Talley is caught between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to turn and the odds are stacked heavily against him. He wants to save his family, as well as the hostages inside the house, but he may not be able to do both. It's going to be a hard decision to make, not to mention a long night, but the worse is still yet to come! HOSTAGE is an adrenaline surge that will have the heart pounding and the blood racing, clearly illustrating why Robert Crais is considered the MAN. He's able to create true-to-life characters that breathe with authenticity...characters that could very well be your next-door neighbor or the person you work with. He then puts these normal, everyday people in a "do or die" situation, juices up the stress to the point where a massive stroke is imminent, and waits patiently for the ground to fall out from under them to see what happens. As expected, the quality of Mr. Crais' writing is high and cuts to the very bone with its razor-edge sharpness and terse dialogue. The chapters are brief, tense, and to the point; yet, paced in such a manner t

I was, indeed, a willing HOSTAGE while reading this book. Robert Crais has once again proven his unending range and masterful talents as a writer as he steps up the suspense and the danger and lets us view the escalating events that end up with title situation. Unable to find peace with himself, Jeff Talley seeks the next best thing--escape. But a series of events propels him back into the world of fears and nightmares that he's been so desparate to avoid. Crais' deft style builds layers on layer, creating multi-dimensional characters: good guys, bad guysand those many characters who don't fall into neat black and white categories. Crais keeps you on the edge of your seat, captivating you with a spiral of suspense delivered in a highly visual manner without being pedantic with his descriptions. Don't get me wrong. I love Elvis Cole as much as the next reader and want to continue my trips into his highly entertaining world of detecting. But I ferverently hope Crais continues with his stand-alone novels because they provide a different sort of entertainment.

Fans of Robert Crais will not be disappointed in this one. Chief of Police Jeff Talley has a hostage situation to contend with as Walter Smith and his two children are held hostage by haphazard, hit-and-miss robbers. The tension mounts and continues to escalate as Talley's own family come into danger. This book is filled with a wide assortment of fiendish players, including a ruthless Mob boss and some other downright unsavoury characters.What impressed me the most about the book was the author's writing style and the action-packed plot. This is definitely my favourite book by this author. The riveting suspense captured the reader's attention from page one and never lot go. Praises galore for Crais; he has, once again, written a top-notch thriller in much the same renowned literary style as that of Dennis Lehane.

The less you know about the details of this story before you read it, the more you will enjoy it. My recommendation is that you stop friends from telling you anything specific, and avoid reviews that summarize the book. As a result, I will characterize the book in a very general way so that you can decide if you want to read it or not without revealing much. Please forgive me for this reticence, but I think you will be glad when you are finished with the book. First, let me provide a word of warning. The book contains references to sadism, torture, and violence against children. If such disturb your days or your sleep, perhaps you should ask a friend who has read the book how upsetting it was before deciding to go forward. I found these elements to advance the story, and not to be overplayed . . . but they are certainly there.Hostage deals with situations where a criminal has seized someone as a bargaining chip for something they want. Hostage situations usually either lead to lots of people being killed, or everyone getting out alive. The difference is usually related to the skill, talent, and patience of the hostage negotiator. Hostage's protagonist is the chief of police in a small town north of Los Angeles, Jeff Talley. He had served as such a hostage negotiator during part of a truncated career with the LAPD. Having had that experience colors your view of the world in many ways. It makes you feel responsible for the hostages, the criminals, and for those who are helping you defuse the situation. That's a lot of responsibility to have on your shoulders. Also, you get used to lengthy delays, suddenly melting down psychotics, and impetuous colleagues. The criminals will make unreasonable and dangerous demands, and you have to decide how to respond with little help. Few would fail to melt under the pressure.At one level, Hostage can be read as a classic thriller about the ins and outs of hostage situations. Those who enjoy police procedurals and seeing crimes from many perspectives (of police, hostages, and criminals) will feel like they have a front row seat. If that's all there were to the book, I would have praised it and given it a three star rating.However, the book also operates at other levels. One develops the theme that we are hostages to someone else, whether or not that person is a criminal. Our actions are constrained by that other person, and danger lurks if we stray from the demands of the relationship. I thought this idea was very well developed and interesting. I graded the book up one star for this quality.Several other themes also affected and impressed me, including how one obtains redemption for the consequences of avoidable mistakes, the importance of getting the facts right before taking action, being careful who you trust, and how to decide what the right thing to do is when confronted with two evils. All of this amounted to more than an additional star. The only reason that I did not take the book