Customer Reviews

Hostage Zero

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Permit me to tell you at the outset that John Gilstrap is a very entertaining guy. If you ever have the opportunity to sit and listen to him, please do so. He tells great stories well, has a terrific sense of humor, and is extremely personable. And his books? They are even more fun than he is.

HOSTAGE ZERO is the second of the Jonathan "Digger" Grave novels, a fabulous one-sit read that goes down page-by-page like your next favorite --- and intelligent --- action-adventure movie. Grave runs a firm in the vicinity of Vienna, Virginia, known as Security Solutions, which provides the same to major corporations. He also has a firm within a firm, known to but a few key employees, that runs operations off the radar. He is assisted in these endeavors by Boxers, a giant of a man with a propensity for danger to match, and Venice Alexander, who is a master at intelligence gathering, among other things. Grave uses Security Solutions as a means of funding Resurrection House, a residential school for children whose parents have been incarcerated.

The book kicks into high throttle when Jeremy Schuler and Evan Guinn, two students from Resurrection House, are kidnapped in a late-night raid on the facility that leaves a beloved employee barely clinging to life. Understandably, Grave takes the invasion as an act of war and proceeds accordingly. Schuler is left for dead nearby, while Guinn is spirited away to the South American jungles of Colombia. The kidnappings present several puzzles. Why were these two boys taken? Why were they treated differently after their abductions? Do they have anything in common, other than the fact that they were students at the same school? Grave begins to slowly unravel the multiple threads that lead from the kidnapping with the assistance of his team and an unlikely ally in the form of Harvey Rodriguez, a Marine Corps medic who is down on his luck and then some. It is Rodriguez who discovers Schuler after the abduction, and his subsequent encounter with Grave and Boxers results in an uneasy alliance that gradually gives way to trust.

As Grave's investigation proceeds, he discovers a plot that originates at one of the highest levels of the newly installed presidential administration and stretches back in time to an incident that changed the course of a senatorial election. And when Grave learns that Guinn has been sent to the cocaine fields of Colombia, he launches what can only be described as a suicide mission to bring him back, throwing himself, Boxers and Rodriguez against a well-armed and tightly controlled criminal army on the enemy's turf in what turns out to be Guinn's last hope of survival.

There is enough heart-stopping action here to easily fill three books. Gilstrap somehow makes a three-man assault against a heavily fortified compound seem plausible, and, believe me, in his hands it seems like the most natural thing in the world. Of course, anything is easier to get into than out of. And be warned: not everyone who charges into the drug compound walks out. Still, there is much to keep Grave, his team and the reader busy from beginning to end, with plenty of suspense mortar to fill in the intervals between the explosive bricks. Add some memorable characters and Grave's continually unfolding backstory, and you have an action series worth staying with and waiting for.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I was inspired by this plot driven novel from its commencement.

Armed men enter The Resurrection House and kidnap two teenage boys. This is a home for children of parents who are in jail.

Later, one of the boys is discovered in a field by a homelss man who is a former Marine Corpsman. When the kidnappers return for this boy and are about to kill the homeless man, hostage rescue expert Jonathan Grave, saves the boy and dispatches the kidnappers. Graves runs a security firm and gives his protection to the Resurrection House.

Brandy Giddings is a special assistant to Secretary of Defense Jacque Leger. We learn that Leger set a plan in motion to make an old campaign problem disappear. The men he hired don't mind killing and kidnapping, if the price is right.

When Jonathan learns that there is some government connection to the kidnapping, he is disgusted. He figures that the only reasons for taking the boys was to ensure silence or to leverage cooperation. He intends to find out which and bring the other boy back to safety.

In a complicated plot that is most visual, we follow the kidnappers as they take the second boy to a drug factory in the mountains of Columbia. Most of the employees of this factory are forced to remain there and work. They have been kidnapped from local villages.

The author, John Gilstrap, has surged to the front of action writers. This story would easily fit on the movie screen as we follow the rescue team face tremendous odds to stop the criminals and rescue the young boy.

I enjoyed the story but did have to suspend my concept of reality and my sense of when a coincidence was possible. Jonathan Grave is one of the new breed of action heroes that are easy to like and wish for their success.

The time was right for me to look for an action thriller, something to carry me along without making me think too much. Hostage Zero gave me the buzz I was looking for but it was much more than escapism. With no disrespect to the genre, I don't expect it to provide well-rounded, thoughtful characters, but that's exactly what author John Gilstrap delivers. In this sequel to No Mercy, ex-Special Forces operative Jonathan "Digger" Grave runs a private security firm, with a special ultra-secret business specialty of hostage recovery.

Jonathan has a special interest in a school for the sons of imprisoned men. When two of "his" boys are kidnapped, Jonathan pulls out all the stops to get them back. The mission takes him and his team to Colombia, to the doorstep of a "cocaine factory," and with non-stop excitement...well, no spoilers here, but the story tears along at a great pace and the people behave with a strength of purpose that overcomes all the many obstacles to their success. There is a strong theme of military tactics and values, but if you think that's not your territory (it certainly isn't mine) just wait and see how well this theme supports the characters' missions.

Several story lines weave together into a great, tight plot. Corrupt politicians, thoroughly bad drug lords, a man on death row, a falsely accused veteran living way off the grid, lost young boys so finely-drawn that you want to reach out and brush their hair back from their faces...and Jonathan, closed in on himself, anything to keep from feeling. This is a very well-written book, and it should definitely be a movie! I'll be looking for more in this series.

Linda Bulger, 2010

Late to the party with my take on HOSTAGE ZERO, I defer to the other excellent interpretations: Two young boys kidnapped from Resurrection House, a benevolent home for children of incarcerated parents, one spirited into Colombian jungles with no hope of salvation from a cocaine "factory". No hope except larger-than-life Boxers and Jonathan "Digger" Grave, who happens to be the founder of "Rez House". Boxers and Grave take along support: Harvey Rodriguez, a former Marine medic falsely convicted of doing things that would prevent him from being near children.

True, there are more twists and gut-wrenching turns than newfangled light bulbs in one novel that has enough action to be the screenplay for a miniseries. Only there's so much justified violence that it would never be shown on TV. Perhaps a video game? Especially when Boxers realizes that the Bad Guys have enough fire power to "turn us both into humidity." Boxers doesn't recognize Harvey's existence, because of allegations of pedophilia, thus his concern for "us both".

This is really two novels: One of action, violence and salvation; the other a coming-to-terms that made me wonder who the real hero of this "explosive" read really is. Though Boxers is Mr. Macho and repeatedly berates Harvey, it is Harvey who hones in on the inspirational part: "[T]he only life worth living is the one worth dying to protect."

And Jonathan softens his sharp edges honed by military training, when he opines: "Bad things happen; you live through them and you adapt. Dwelling on them was as useless as trying to change the past. Those doors are locked on purpose." Paramount is the struggle Jonathan has between his method of dispensing justice and circumstances that compel him to act: "I'm not an assassin."

HOSTAGE ZERO confirms Gilstrap as a master suspense/thriller writer, something that will keep the Jonathan Grave series running as long as Sue Grafton's Alphabet Soup-titled mysteries.

---Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy

John Gilstrap is really trying to create a big plot with his second book about Jonathan Grave. Unfortunately he falls a little bit short of what I think was his goal. This is by no means a bad book, I enjoyed reading it, but it left me wanting for more explanations.

The plot has just about everything you want if you are looking for action. You have kidnapings, you have big politics with connections to the top, you have a framed man at death row a former mafia lawyer in hiding, and a Jonathan Grave that with a little help from his big black friend is a one man army that even Rambo is not even close to matching.

Even with all this, this book is a step in the right direction from the first Jonathan Graves book when it comes to how believable the events in the book is. What I feel is lacking is how all the big pieces are tied together. There is a wealth of opportunities to exploit all the connections between the big politics and other crocks, and really create a good and deep book. Instead all this is just pushed under a rug, while "Digger" (Jonathan Graves), goes on his one man army mission and solves the whole book, almost without mentioning any of the backdrop created.

I like the character Gilstrap have created, and I will recomend this book for someone who is looking for a easy and action filled read, but it is just an ok book, not a great one.

This is the second book I have read from John Gilstrap. The first one was also a Johnathon Grave novel. The suspense in this book is fantastic. It grabs you right from the beginning and makes you not want to put down the novel. I actually had to download the kindle app for my phone so I could continue to read this novel! Johnathon Grave is a relatable and likeable character. His best friend/business partner Boxers is a little underdeveloped, but as a satallite he is also fantastic. The author doesn't do it as much in this book as the last, but at times he can be overly wordy, and tries to be more clever than the situation calls for. It can get irritating, but with all the action in this book, there wasn't as much room for the word play. Also, the fact that the Computer expert is called Ve-ne-CHAY while spelled Venice is quite annoying. It is mentioned at the beginning of both of the books, but it never comes up again in this one. You can tell the author knows what a battle is like, and the suspense is amazing. All in all, a great thrill ride! Just be prepared to not want to put it down!

MOST OF THE TIME THE AUTHOR REALLY HELD YOUR ATTENTION. BUT, ABOUT 25 PERCENT OF THE BOOK WAS NEEDLESS INFORMATION AND I FOUND MYSELF SKIMMING THOSE PARTS. I ENJOYED THE BOOK AND IT WAS A GOOD THRILLER. I AM SURE I WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT A 4 IF THERE WAS NOT MORE INFO THAN ONE NEEDS TO KNOW

Good settings. Lots of actions. First half of the story is great.
But the conspiracy was revealed too easily and no surprises after that. The man behind the secrets shouldn't have given up without any fight.

A quick read. Gilstrap does it again with an action packed thriller leaving me wanting more from this author. Well constructed plot. Enjoy.

I am not the type to review books, but this and the second Digger novel "No Mercy" were two of the best action novel I have read. Love the characters, the narrative and the visualization of the locations.

I impatiently wait for the next book.