Customer Reviews

The Hostage

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Hostage" is Duncan Falconer's first novel and is hopefully the start of a long series of books. I enjoyed it a lot and found it VERY exciting, although the believability of the plot is a bit of a problem.

The hero of "The Hostage" is Stratton, a member of the British SBS (Special Boat Service, similar to the U.S. Navy SEALs). Stratton, whose first name is not mentioned in this book, is the toughest of the tough guys, but still comes across as a real person. He's very focused and experienced and doesn't hold back from having to kill when killing is necessary.

In fact, the subject of Special Forces soldiers having to kill when necessary is one that is explored several times in the book. The message here is that, unlike ordinary soldiers, Special Forces soldiers need to feel a desire to get a "hit" on their experience sheet in order to be a success.

So does this imply that Special Forces soldiers are psychopaths? Or just very motivated to do a good job and become a success? Or perhaps a bit of both, along with a craving for excitement?

As mentioned above, the story in "The Hostage" is very, very exciting. In fact, this is one of the most exciting books I've read in a long time, and I'm a fan of military thrillers. Duncan Falconer is very good at creating suspense and building up to a climax, with lots of action along the way.

The "bad guys" are various members of the "Real IRA" of Northern Ireland. First they try to kidnap a member of the "detachment" that Stratton is working with in Northern Ireland, and come very close to succeeding. Then, in Paris, they do succeed in kidnapping an American sailor, a U.S. Navy SEAL working together with the SBS as part of an exchange program.

Finding and freeing the American sailor is a top priority for Stratton and his team until the Real IRA spring an even nastier surprise on the British government: They are in possession of a biological weapon that can kill millions of people and they intend to unleash it in London!

Duncan Falconer's own experiences as a former member of the SBS provides credibility to the descriptions of the action. Like Andy McNab and Chris Ryan (two former members of the British SAS who have become authors) he's been there and done that. (I've only read one of Andy McNab's novels and none of Chris Ryan's so I'm not in a very good position to make comparisons.)

The characters in "The Hostage" are very well developed and well presented, unlike the two-dimensional clichés that populate most action thrillers. Even the bad guys are shown to have understandable motives. For example, there is a love story between one of the bad guys and one of the women working with Stratton, and we understand the bad guy's feelings and the tragedy for both of them when their relationship comes to an end.

The really great excitement of the story and the well-developed characters had me close to awarding five stars to "The Hostage". What caused me to drop the fifth star and give four instead were various problems with the realism of the plot.

For example, the biological weapon is so potent that it would presumably wipe out the entire civilized world if unleashed. It would certainly spread from London to Ireland, and that makes it crazy for the Real IRA to consider using such a weapon.

And why did the Real IRA decide to use the American SEAL's wife as a courier? And why did Stratton make a two-hour drive to London when he could have gotten himself transported by a helicopter? And why didn't Stratton shoot the bad guy just before the final showdown? OK, then there wouldn't have been the very exciting final showdown, but, but ...

In conclusion, "The Hostage" is an action thriller that is well above the average. I'm looking forward to more of Duncan Falconer's books.

Rennie Petersen

Thoroughly enjoyed the active portions of the book. Was occasionally disappointed in the author's long descriptions, often spending several pages on a character's background. Found myself flipping through these pages to get back to the meat of the plot.

Overall though, I recommend it. Actually, one of my favorite books in this genre is "The Operative," also by Duncan Falconer. Definitely try that one!! It was published 3 years after the "Hostage," so maybe Duncan learned to move things along a bit faster.

The book is set in Ireland and England for the most part, and features a series of characters most of whom can best be described as spies, and of them have a military background and the det (or detachment) has links to MI5. From here it gets a little...vague, due to the storytelling.

Usually when I give a book a low rating, it's because I feel the author didn't try - look to Coben and Katzenbach for no better examples of laziness - but in this instance, I think Falconer was trying hard, but was relatively inexperienced as a writer.

I don't doubt his technical knowledge, but structuring a story is another matter. For example, I got inside the heads of many characters: Stratton (ex-army, loner, known to have many kills); Aggy (described as "pretty" and trying to make a go of things in a male-dominated world; Lawton who works at MI5, the Munros who are on secondment from the US, with Hank a SEAL, and his wife Kathryn who is there reluctantly, and several others.

After this, I was not sure of who the main character was, and this to me is the book's greatest shortcoming. Telling a tale from multiple perspectives is no great flaw, but in this instance each character came through as being of equal strength, with none dominating the tale. A further distraction was the switching of point of view within a paragraph, something the author did repeatedly.

Hot on the heels of this in terms of shortcomings, was the apparent unfamiliarity with the language: words of similar meaning were often confused - "peek" is not the same as "peak", for example - and the refusal in many instances to use prepositions which truly grated: "...[he was] the other side of the room/street". Please Mr. Falconer, use the words "on" or "in" as appropriate.

I touched on the descriptions when referring to Aggy, and here was a common flaw to many genre fiction books. Too much telling and not enough showing. I want to know what features to place on the cast in my mind and this is something I expect an author to provide. I also want to read demonstration of emotions rather than "he felt proud" or similar. In addition, nobody seemed to walk or run anywhere. They "made their way". (What did they make it out of? Lego?) Toss-in a healthy use of stock phrases and cliches and there is much to annoy the discerning reader. At times, exhaustive and unnecessary detail was laved, like when Hank is on the ship and the reader is treated to just about a step-by-step breakdown of his every move and thought. This is just too much.

However, I did care enough about the characters to read the book through, something I don't always do if the work is poor. The exception here must be Hank (possible spoiler!) who was allegedly a USN SEAL, but came across as a bit of a wally with delusions of grandeur. Perhaps I am wrong about SEALS, but I tend to see them as motivated, focussed, and of fair intelligence. Hank was the Inspector Clouseau of SEALs.

Perhaps the wisest move would be for me to recommend you look to one of Falconer's later works, and looking at it critically, determine if his skills have improved. I will be, for I see potential.

But if they haven't then be prepared for my next review, which will be less generous.