Customer Reviews

Hostage

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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 that the reader may feel as if he's speeding straight into a head-on collision. This is what action-packed, suspense writing is all about, and this is an author who hits the mark every time out. When a writer like Robert Crais is in top form, nothing else comes even close to the kind rush you get from one of his novels. Buy the book, read it, then prepared for the movie that's in the making, staring Bruce Willis as a cop who's once again in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This is, for most of the ride, a darned good thriller. The story begins with an account of an LA hostage negotiator in a situation that will haunt him forever, and it may haunt me for a while, too. Crais doesn't play up the gory aspect, what bothered me was the trip inside the negotiator's mind, figuring out what's going on about two steps behind the character. It was believable and horrifying.

When the story shifts to the here-and-now, we find ourselves in the company of Dennis Rooney..., his younger brother Kevin (probably described by most who know him as "a wimp, but not a bad kid") and Mars, who would be giving Dennis the creeps if Dennis was bright enough to pay attention.

The trio rob a convenience store for no particular reason -- it seems like a good idea to Dennis, Mars doesn't offer any objections, and poor Kevin is in the truck with them and can't talk his brother out of it. You get the distinct impression that this is par for the course for Dennis and Kevin, but Dennis really ought to be thinking harder about Mars's reaction.

Predictably, the crime goes awry. Not "predictably" as in an objection to Crais's writing, but predictably in the sense that you just know any plot with Dennis at the helm is going to go bad, and soon. The three attempt to steal a getaway car and end up holding a family hostage. Talley, the negotiator from the prologue, gets called in to deal with them. Since the events of the prologue, Talley has left the LAPD and his family life is in disarray. Portrait of the Negotiator In Crisis -- and I believed that.

So far, so good. But the family in the house has mob connections, and the mob has reasons to want to control the outcome of this situation -- and at that point I started to get impatient.

I liked Talley, who is a believable character with a believable problem. I liked the kids being held hostage, who can't believe what's happening to them and who react to each other as brothers and sisters might. I even liked poor hapless Kevin, who left the house that afternoon thinking he was going to the movies, and who, because he's a lot brighter than his brother, knows this is going to end badly. I believed Dennis, with his eternal self-justification and efforts to come up with a plan to save himself -- I just didn't believe he was going to succeed. And I was creeped out and interested in Mars. I just didn't have anything left for the mob subplot, in which Talley finds himself negotiating for his own family as well as the one in the house. I didn't care about the mobsters, and I wondered whether there could be another way for Talley to find redemption and put his life back together.

As the story spins itself out, more is learned about Mars, who is decidedly not someone with whom you'd enjoy being trapped in a house. Thomas, the young boy hostage, is seen to be brave and resourceful. Kevin finally gets up the nerve to do the right thing despite the fact he's more scared of his brother (and Mars -- because Kevin is brighter than Dennis) than he is of the cops.

And then Crais just dumps them! Okay, we know what happens to them, and it's spectacular and all, but hey! I was invested in those people! I'd just spent a couple of hundred pages with them, and I didn't want to walk away and forget about them. We eventually get back to the kids, Thomas and his sister Jennifer, but Mars, Dennis, and Kevin vanish from Crais's thoughts, and I wasn't interested enough in the people who replaced them to make up the lack. I wanted SOMEONE to spare them a backward glance. They weren't likable (okay, Kevin was, in a half-starved-pup kind of way) but Crais made me feel for them, even when what I felt was loathing, and I was angry at him for not giving me some sort of coda to acknowledge that they had existed.

The fact that I am still so worked up about this several days later obviously means something. I will certainly read more of Crais's novels, and if this one ends up a movie, as some have suggested, I'll go and see it. But I really would have preferred a story about a straight-up negotiation between Talley and the folks in the house, dealing with the complications inherent in that. Of course, I don't read books about mobsters anyway.

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 up above five stars is that the character development would have had to be stronger for Hostage to become an outstanding book, rather than an excellent one.

As much as I admire the earlier novels by Mr. Crais, I felt that this one went beyond his earlier work in entering the realm of fine, mainstream novels through the excellent way that he developed the story both from a thematic and plot perspective.

In the plot, take notice that the pieces fit together inside one another . . . almost like nesting Russian dolls. That was a particularly fine device. An especially interesting element is that you will see yourself in the role of many of the characters, trying to decide what to do. It's a great mental and emotional challenge!

Ultimately, any novel lives or dies by whether or not you care about the characters and whether you find yourself inside the story. I was gripped by the third paragraph and the hold on me just got stronger as the pages passed. At one point, I realized that I had forgotten where I was or what time it was. If you are like me, you will remember Hostage for a long time to come.

After you finish Hostage (and I hope you do read it), think about where you are your brother's keeper. What more can you do to help?

Size up the situation, check your facts, be careful who you trust, and . . . take the leap!

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!!

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.

This book doesn't even take time to warm up...it is white hot from page one. I started on a Saturday and finished the next evening.

"Hostage" ensnares you as a reader...and you cannot stop reading. Neither can you stop guessing who is part of the double and triple crosses that stalk the protagonist( Jeff Talley).

It's one crisis after another...each brought to conclusion in a believable fashion. Quick time decision making, who to trust, who to doubt, when to go against the book, when to take the daring chance...carry the experienced former LA SWAT leader thru an intense twenty-four hours.

The villains are particularly unlikable...and you know that there are a lot like them out there. These miscreants are very real. Mr. Crais fully develops them, and they are to be feared.

Talley gets help from a least likely ally...one of the hostages, a ten year old boy (Thomas) who rises to the occasion. Thomas shows the boundaries one can push in a life and death situation.

I cannot say if this is Mr. Crais' finest effort or not. His writing is that good. I have gotten so much pleasure from his body of work, and was thrilled to have a new one by him. I do think it is as good as anything I have read this year. I rank "Hostage" up there with Michael Connelly's "A Darkness More Than Night", Harlan Coben's "Tell No One" and Dennis Lehane's "Mystic River" from this year's releases thus far.

This could be a great movie, but don't know if I see Bruce Willis as Jeff Talley. It could just as easily be a case where the book is far better than the movie.

In either case I am glad I read the book. I will read it again.

First book I have read by Robert Crais, I was not disapointed. The tension and realism brought to his story was remarkable, I felt as though I was part of the negotiation team. Also his ploting with a few sub plots was quite outstanding. His bringing everything together was very nice. I will read more of his books.

I have been reading Crais since 'Stalking the Angel' and have enjoyed each read more than the last. Demolition Angel proved that Crais was not just a one-character author. But if 'Hostage' is the direction of future works he would be well advised to return to Cole and Pike quickly. Longtime Crais fans will surely be disappointed, and not just because this is not an Elvis Cole novel. To me, 'Hostage' is a screen play, not a novel, and a trite one at that. My advise...wait for the next Cole novel.

Robert Crais is quickly becomming the master of suspense. Having stellar success with his "Elvis Cole" mysteries, he comes out with another amazing stand-alone thriller.
HOSTAGE is a page-turning literary delight. Three hit-and-miss young armed robbers take shelter in a house where they have found themselves three hostages. Upon negotiations, the leader stumbles upon a million dollars in cash within the house, and now getting away is his only thought. The chief of police, and one-time L.A.P.D. hostage-crisis specialist, gets thrown into the puzzle when his wife and daughter are threatened. Throw in the mob, the FBI, and a plethora of unique, diversified characters, and you have one entertaining, edge-of-your-seat novel.
Crais once again clearly shows his cohesive, masterful writing style that has you turning pages at a record pace. He brings together a multitude of interesting characters in an outstanding setting. The story is very believable, and you can't help but think of the many possibilities. Overall, this is one fantastic novel. The suspense is wonderfully drawn out, making for a very nice, complete book. HOSTAGE is another solid work by Robert Crais.