Tunnel [Paperback]

Walter Wager (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 2001

Terrorists seal one end of New York City's Lincoln Tunnel and place a missile at the other, threatening to activate it-unless they are paid millions in ransom. Trapped inside are hundreds of commuters, including a car load of druglords heading for a huge deal, and the undercover DEA agent who has set them up. Outside, the FBI and the NYPD battle over solutions. Police Captain Jake Maloy is inclined to act first and worry about paperwork later. Plus, Malloy knows that the woman he loves-DEA agent Jo Velez is in double danger.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A master criminal who has pulled off a successful string of bank robberies, Gunther's looking for a really big score and an early retirement. He warms up for the big event by terrorizing the citizens of New York with a series of bombings. NYPD captain Jake Malloy, an ex-Navy SEAL who's on temporary assignment to the Joint Task Force on Terrorism, has enough on his plate already: the head of the Cali drug cartel wants him dead and has already sent two hit men to make it happen. But that's just a secondary plot line in this fast-paced thriller; the main action follows Gunther and his well-planned scheme to blow up the Lincoln Tunnel unless he gets $10 million. Meanwhile, Jake's girlfriend, Jo Velez, a DEA agent who's undercover with a Colombian drug smuggler, is trapped in the tunnel, unaware that her cover's been blown and her time is running out, too.

Wager spins a strong and suspenseful tale that's got Hollywood written all over it--no big surprise from a writer whose novels have already been turned into big action flicks (Die Hard 2, based on 58 Minutes; Twilight's Last Gleaming, adapted from Viper Three). Like his characters Gunther and Malloy, Walter Wager's a real pro, and his latest will keep readers on edge until the last page is turned. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Wager is an experienced thriller writer (Telefon and 58 Minutes, among many others), so the comparative lameness of this excursion is an aberration. The chief problem is its tone, which is inappropriately jocular given that large numbers of innocent people are being hideously slain at frequent intervals. A rogue gang of former East German secret police still at work in the U.S. hit upon a scheme to extort $10 million from the city of New York. After proving their seriousness by a series of escalating terrorist attacks in different parts of the city, they seal both ends of the Lincoln Tunnel, with hundreds of cars and motorists inside, and threaten to blow it up unless the ransom is paid. There are additional complications involving the CIA and the Russians (still apparently trying to outsmart each other 10 years after the Cold War has ended). The girlfriend of the novel's dashing hero, police captain Jake Malloy, who is herself a Drug Enforcement Agency official on the track of a group of desperate Colombian drug smugglers, is among those trapped in the tunnel. Fortunately, Malloy is an ex-navy SEAL and is able to collect some of his old buddies in a daring underwater rescue effort that gets him into the tunnel in time to thwart the evildoers--but not before a pregnant woman, also trapped, almost gives birth on the spot. It's possible that in an action movie (and 58 Minutes did become Die Hard II), the piling up of coincidence and the casual, cartoonish tone would not seem so glaring, but on the printed page they stand out starkly. Still, no one can say this isn't a rapid read. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (September 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812564677
• ISBN-13: 978-0812564679
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,706,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tunnel, May 27, 2000

By 

Richard Lebre - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tunnel (Hardcover)

As an avid reader of mysteries and thrillers, I was amazed at how bad this book was. I read at least two novels per week (I am retired) and this ranks among the five worst novels that I have read. The story has been done at least a hundred times before, and the writing was very poor. It seemed like the writer was double parked and was in a hurry. It must have been written with a screenplay in mind because it certainly was not a good read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TUNNEL - A passage of crime and terror, November 15, 2000

By 

Dean Redfern (Indian River Shores, Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tunnel (Hardcover)

When the cold war ends, Soviet bloc spies in the United States turn their attention and skills to crimes - robbing banks, killing innocent people and hostage taking. Hiding behind the political pretense of the so-called Beirut Brigade, the thugs move their operation to the Big Apple for one last big heist. But the Joint Task Force on Terrorism has an adversary the Brigade did not count on: Jake Malloy, a New York cop and Navy ex-Seal with a gun, strong instincts, and a belief in the Golden Rule. Malloy puts the clues together from the various crime scenes and hunts the bad guys down in a climatic ending. TUNNEL is action packed from start to finish, and does not let you come up for air until the end.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zippy Tale, July 14, 2000

By 

N. Bilmes "bookaholic" (Vernon, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tunnel (Hardcover)

This book is one of the quickest reads I've ever encountered. It's almost impossible to put down. The terrorist plot at the center of the book is nothing new, and the hero of the story is an unblemished impossibility of a person, but the story holds together and delivers non-stop entertainment. If you're looking for great prose don't read this book, but if you're looking for a great read...grab it!