Customer Reviews

King's Ransom: A Novel of Suspense

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With a theme as contemporary as today's glaring headlines and a scenario as chilling as our worst nightmare James Grippando has crafted his sixth thriller.

While Matthew Rey, an entrepreneurial commercial fisherman is in Colombia, he is kidnaped by a violent band of guerrillas whose leader, Joaquin, gives sadism a new dimension. Matthew's son, Nick, an up-and-coming Florida lawyer, receives a ransom demand for three million dollars. Unbeknownst to Nick that is the exact amount of a kidnaping insurance policy recently purchased by Matthew.

As attempts to rescue Matthew through the State Department prove futile, Nick turns to senior attorney, Duncan Fit, for help. Duncan proves to be both two-faced and double-dealing as he dismisses Nick, and informs him that the law firm will represent an insurance company in a fraud suit against Nick and his family.

Out of a job and charged with several felonies, Nick seeks the assistance of stunning Alex Cabrera, a kidnaping negotiator.

Grippando's years of experience as a trial lawyer are evident in his taut description of Nick's uphill battle against Colombian guerillas, government agencies, and his former law firm.

While on business in Cartagena, Columbia, American businessman Matthew Rey is kidnapped and a $3 million ransom is demanded for his safe return. His son Nick is a novice attorney who attempts to free him. Nick is thwarted in his efforts by a lawsuit originating from his own firm against his family. It seems that his father had taken out a $3 million kidnapping insurance policy, and it looks as if the whole kidnapping is a set up by Matthew Rey to commit fraud. Worse yet, the FBI won't help because they believe Matthew is a drug smuggler and is somehow in cahoots with his Nicaraguan business partner. Since Nick cannot raise the money or negotiate his father's release through the usual methods, he enlists the help of a beautiful hostage negotiator, Alex Cabrera, as well as his former fiancee Jenna, who still has feelings for him.

A KING'S RANSOM is a taunt, intelligent addition to the genre. Grippando has written a hot thriller, filled with plenty of action and plot twists. This is an author I would not hesitate to read again.

On a business trip off the coast of Columbia, Matthew Rey, a partner in a seafood business, is kidnapped. The terms of the kidnapping are simple...supply the kidnappers with a three million dollar ransom.

Back at home in Miami, Matthew's pregnant wife, and fresh out of law school son Nick, are devastated by the news.

Nick, willing to do whatever is needed to free his father, begins looking into his families finances and discovers a kidnapping insurance policy for three million dollars. Shocked by his finding, Nick submits the claim, and is given Alex Cabrera, the young agent assigned to his claim.

As Alex begins her discussions with the kidnappers, Nick is approached by the FBI, claiming his father is actually a drug smuggler, and they are investigating every angle, including his father's business partner, and his estranged sister Lindsey, whom the family has not spoken to in months, but is living somewhere in Columbia.

As the kidnapper's demands are escalating, Alex is told the insurance comapny will not pay the ransom.

With no one to trust, Nick and Alex begin their own mission to rescue his father, even if it costs them their lives. With the FBI on their tail, and the kidnappers getting anxious, the pair will have to race the clock to bring Matthew home alive.

'A King's Ransom' grabs hold on page one, and plunges you on a suspenseful ride through 400 pages. Non-stop surprises, and action galore will keep the pages turning until the shocking climax.

James Grippando has been churning out excellent suspense novels, and his new novel proves he is a master of his craft.

The season of the "page-turning beach book" has arrived, and 'A King's Ransom' is the first entry in the category.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

This is my first time reading Grippando, and I thought A King's Ransom was a definite cut above the average thriller out there today, especially anything written by Grisham and his many clones. Its attraction lies in its combination of the legal thriller with a pure action story set against the exotic locales of Columbia and Nicaragua.

Its a story of Nick Rey, a young Florida lawyer, whose father, Matthew, has been kidnapped by a sadistic band of Columbian geurillas. The ransom demand (3,000,000.00) is the exact amount of Matthew's recent "K & R" (kidnap and ranson) insurance policy and the insurance company, who happens to be a client of Nick's law firm, suspects fraud and denies coverage. Nick fights battles on all fronts, with the insurance company, with his former firm (from which he's been fired),with his former mentor and, of course, with the kidnappers.

The prose is brisk and the plot develops nicely, but Grippando seems to want to cover too many bases here (and, in the process, uses too many cliches), from Nick's past rift with his father that needs fixing, to his father's suspicious (and undeveloped) business partner, to Nick's rift with his ex-finance, who's the only lawyer in town who will represent him in the legal fight with the insurance company, to the sexy and exotic "Alex," the hostage negotiator with, what else, a past.

I found the parallel story of Nick's father's experiences at the hands of the kidnappers more compelling than Nick's maneuverings at home. All in all, despite its cliches and more than passing resemblances to The Firm and the recent movie, Proof of Life, A King's Ransom is a very satisfying and enjoyable read. I am looking forward to reading other works by this author.

Just finished A King's Ransom, after getting hooked on Grippando's books by reading Under Cover of Darkness. A King's Ransom kept me guessing right up to the last chapter, and left me wanting more. I especially enjoyed the cohesiveness with which the plot was woven and, also, the easy style of writing where one can become immersed in the story and not be bogged down in detail. It is obvious that James Grippando put in a lot of time in research to write so convincingly about Central America. I was told by another Grippando reader that if I enjoyed Under Cover of Darkness, I will love The Informant, which I am now going out to buy.

This book reminded me a lot of the recent Russell Crowe/Meg Ryan film _Proof of Life_, not that it was a bad thing. It's just that the two have very similar stories, revolving around the growing problem of "K and R" or kidnap and ransom in Latin American countries. It also has the same sort of alternating storyline, with scenes set among the kidnappers and their victims as they move from one primitive camp to another, and scenes involving the people who are trying to negotiate the ransom.

The book has very strong, believable characters and a convincing legal plotline, with quite a bit of courtroom intrigue and so forth. The story follows the efforts of young Nick Rey, a rising star at the law firm of Coolidge, Harding and Cash ("Cool Cash") in Miami, to win the release of his father, Matthew, kidnapped while in Colombia to purchase a trio of fishing boats for his struggling company. The FBI won't get involved because they suspect the elder Rey is a drug smuggler, the insurance company refuses to pay off on the K and R policy because it suspects an inside job, and Nick's own firm accuses his family of trying to defraud the insurance company with a false claim. Nick must deal with all this, while at the same time making several trips to Colombia to arrange the ransom, and to Nicaraugua to confer with his father's partner, a seemingly shady character responsible for the suspicions of drug smuggling. Nick has on his side Alex, a former member of the Colombian rebel force FARC, which is one of the largest kidnap for ransom operations in the world, and his ex-fiance Jenna, the only lawyer in town who'll still answer his calls, though she insists she's doing it for his father.

It all adds up to a wonderful page-turner of a book, an intelligent thriller that's all too rare in my recent experience. I'll definitely be looking for more of Mr. Grippando's books.

It's nice to read a taut thriller. You already know the facts. Nick Rey's father is kidnapped by a splinter group of the original Marxist terrorists that frequent-inhabit Nicaragua and particularly, the phone booth cramped Bogata. Matthew Rey is in Nicaragua to buy 4 fishing boats to augment his successful seafood-fishing business.

Nick Rey's father, Matthew is a straight arrow (we're pretty sure) but as in most families, Matthew has those family secrets that haunt many of us.

So we have at least two plots going on, plus the disappearance of Lindsey, the sister of Nick, and the denial of claim by the insurance company holding K&R insurance on Matthew (kidnap and ransom). So add two more. Then there's the introduction of the negotiator, Alex Cabreras, with five knife wound scars in her back and you have a really riveting book with really interesting characters. The FBI is pressuring Nick to "give up his Dad" and Matthew's partner doesn't seem so squeaky clean.

The reason I made it a 4 instead of a 5 is I find the dialogue uncomfortable. The guy, Nick Rey, is an articulate trial lawyer paid big bucks to convince, understand, react, all the while on his feet. Yet in talking to his girfriend - ex-girlfriend, girlfriend, he's an idiot. It's like we're looking at Wally Cleaver in the Third Grade having his first crush on Miss Johnson. Dialogue will make you sink or swim. I'm still waiting.

Good plot; good characters; good descriptive text. Poor speaking parts. Worth the read. 4 Stars. Larry Scantlebury

I picked up this book based on the back cover I've never read a book by James Grippando and didn't know anything about him and I'm glad I did pick it up. It's easily the best book I've read all year!!!! Read this book when you have a day's worth of time to read it because trust me once you start reading it you won't want to put it down. This book keeps hooked from first to last page and I see this book easily being turned into a feature film. I've read the review that says this book reminds them of the Meg Ryan/Russel Crowe film Proof of Life but I feel forget Proof of life this book was extremely more enjoyable than that movie.

This is a well written book, full of twists, turns, and suspence
which will keep you up a bit late and the pages turning. You will probably not be looking to take a vacation trip to Columbia anytime soon after reading this as kidnapings of tourists seems to be a local sport among some of the locals. In this instance Nick Ray's father has been kidnapped while on a trip to Columbia to buy some additional fishing boats for his fleet. Not to worry, he has purchased kidnap insurance. 3,000,000 dollars worth, which just happens to be the amount of the ransom demand. .... Strange things start to happen to Nick as he attempts to overturn their decision and doors that used to be open to him keep closing. The story moves between the kidnapped father and the searching son until they are finally brought together in an ending which keeps the reader rivited until the last page.

When you read "A King's Ransom" hold on to your chair, cause you're in for a fast read.

This story focuses on the kidnapping of an American citizen, Matthew, Rey, in Colombia, and his family's bid to have him released. Of course the kidnapping is for money - lots of money - $3 million dollars. Turns out Matthew has taken out a kidnap insurance policy in just that amount - imagine that. Intrigue follows intrigue as you follow Matthew through the jungles and his trials with his kidnappers; then you see nick Rey, his son, and his bid to free his dad, especially after the insurance company refuses to pay the ranson.

This is a book that is almost impossible to put down with all the twists and turns of a great thriller. James Grippando has done it again.