Customer Reviews

The Wrong Hostage (Sound Library)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Grace Silva is quite a woman - attractive, intelligent and successful. Little in her background indicated that she would one day be a respected district judge in line for an appointment on the federal appeals court. The press calls her Hispanic, but she considers herself to be "the perfect all-American mongrel, " a blend of Irish, and Kazakh. She had been raised by her grandmother in a Santa Ana barrio - she left and never looked back.

"She'd spent her adult life forgetting the gutter, ignoring it, not looking back, climbing high and fast to a place where the air was clean and the nights were safe and women didn't have to be arm candy to be allowed into the halls of power."

But, now she's going to have to crawl back into that gutter in order to save her son's life. Fifteen-year-old Lane is a student at All Saints School, a private high school on the beach a short way from Ensenada. He's a good kid, smart, athletic but he's been sent here as a reprimand for turning his Fs into Bs on the school's computer, and a few other online pranks.

When Grace receives a call from Carlos Calderon telling her she has to be in Ensenada in three hours, something about Lane, she doesn't hesitate. In too short a time she realizes that Calderon, one of the most powerful men in all of Mexico, is acting for someone else - Hector Rivas Osuna who heads a vicious crime family in Tijuana.

Lane is, in effect, a prisoner at the school and will be killed unless Grace returns the millions of dollars stolen form Osuna by her former husband, Ted. She has two days to accomplish this and Ted is nowhere to be found. Pushed to the breaking point, Grace goes to Joe Faroe, a former lover who may be the boy's biological father. Once a kidnaping specialist for a Manhattan based firm, he knows his way around the underworld.

Lowell has crafted a page-turner spiced with danger and romance. Thanks to her husband who covered immigration and crime for the L.A. times, the author has a knowledge of the drug trafficking world as well those who live and die in it. She has painted chilling word portraits and penned realistic dialogue. Those who like their thrillers ringing with authenticity will relish The Wrong Hostage.

- Gail Cooke

Make room on your bookshelf for this daring romantic suspense novel from Elizabeth Lowell. Add THE WRONG HOSTAGE to THE DANVERS TOUCH, TELL ME NO LIES and the Donovan family series of books that hopefully are already in your personal library. But whether you are reading Lowell for the first time or are familiar with her previous works, this story will entice you to pick up one of her books. This reviewer was reminded of how Lowell's writing and storytelling abilities have set her apart from the many romantic suspense authors. She writes with an intensity and passion that few can match.

Grace Silva was orphaned at 13. By combining her drive and intelligence, she climbed her way out of poverty and violence to become one of the most esteemed judges on the federal bench. Judge Silva is a judge personified; law is her life and maybe her religion. It is more important to her than anything, except her 15-year-old computer wizard son, Lane.

Recently divorced, Judge Silva discovers that former husband Ted Franklin has disappeared. The wealthy businessman has not been heard from for over three weeks. To make matters worse, she is summoned to their son's expensive prep school in Mexico only to learn that Lane is being held hostage. Ted's business dealings with Hector Rivas Osuna, a ruthless, violent and powerful man in Mexico, have put them both in jeopardy.

Grace must find Ted to get him to turn over millions of dollars that he stole from Hector in just two days, or their son will be killed. So she turns to ex-lover Joe Faroe. Joe recently retired from the elite St. Kilda Consultants, a global private investigation firm based in Manhattan. He left St. Kilda after being betrayed by a friend when on assignment. His experience has taught him that politicians and governments make laws, and since people run them, they reflect the good and the bad of humanity.

Sixteen years have passed since Joe and Grace were in the same room. Their attraction is instantaneous, just as it was when they first met. Their brief affair ended when Joe was arrested and sent to federal prison. After an ugly scene Grace leaves and goes on with her life only to find out later that Joe was innocent. Now as a federal judge, she has the means and know-how to get him a presidential pardon. And she hopes that this will be enough to have Joe help her. Joe takes the job because he can't seem not to.

The pair sets out to rescue Lane, find Ted and uncover the stolen money. And they need all the help they can get from the St. Kilda group. The story moves quickly, delving into all of the connections of the Mexican drug trade, the Catholic Church, and the intrigue of international politics and organized crime. This intricate tapestry unravels as all of the characters progress on their journeys. Grace and Joe, who seem to operate from different points of view on laws, governments and humanity, are tested in their encounter with Hector and his connections. And what about their relationship?

THE WRONG HOSTAGE is a fast-paced story with smart repartee and edge-of-your-chair suspense. As one character puts it, "the only way to untie a knot is with a sword." Or, as in the case of this story, the only way to untangle the many plot threads is to see it all the way through to the end. Elizabeth Lowell knows exactly what she is doing as she winds her way to a happy ending for Joe, Grace and Lane.

--- Reviewed by Jennifer McCord

As a longtime Elizabeth Lowell fan, this book was a big disappointment. Ever since the end of the Donovan family books, I have not enjoyed her writing. In this book, the characters are hard to relate to, and the plot is confusing. The reader receives very little background on the characters, and Lowell jumps right into the action. The beginning plot of the story shows promise, when the reader learns that the main character, Grace, discovers that her son is being held hostage in Mexico and she must consult someone from her past (Joe) to help her save her son. There is no "spark" between Grace and Joe. The great flirty sexy banter and sexual tension that Lowell does so well is absent in this book. I just never bought into their relationship, and I couldn't feel myself in the book. The plot is also very complicated. Grace and Joe make many trips between the U.S. and Mexico, negotiating with various Mexican gangs and leaders. Often, I couldn't even tell which country they were in, or who they were negotiating with. They were many Spanish phrases and customs thrown in, which really threw me for a loop. If you're not familiar with the story's location and third world politics, you'll probably also get confused. I found it difficult to even finish the book. At about the halfway point, it could have ended. All of sudden, Lowell throws in various twists and loops that drags the story through 100 more pages - most are predictable, the rest are confusing and/or unnecessary. I hope Lowell will soon return to what she does best - romantic suspense set in the jewelry world, with indentifiable characters and sensical plots.

it was just so, so. i've gotten really upset with this author. she just doesn't finish what she starts. she started this problem with the silhouette catagory books. she starts a series and doesn't finish it. you get all excited about the characters that she's created and suddenly, she's gone from their stories to something else completely. she didn't finish the donovans nor any of the other series. she's decided to make her money by adding small bits and pieces to her other books, changing the names of said books and not writing but one new book per year. i stopped buying linda howards book, because she completely changed her writing style and her books just suck. i guess ms. lowell will be next.

This is the first mystery/thriller I've read by Elizabeth Lowell and I can guarantee that it will be the last. In The Wrong Hostage, Lowell brings us the story of Grace Silva, a law abiding and optimistic judge in Southern California. Silva's son Lane has been taken hostage by a group of Mexican criminals who are holding him at a Catholic school across the border until her ex-husband returns the money he stole from them. With 48 hours to save Lane's life, Silva turns to the only person she can, kidnap specialist Joe Faroe--who incidentally happens to be Lane's biological father.

Judge Silva puts up the appearance of being so completely against doing anything criminal in one moment, but then changes her mind when she thinks of her son and is willing to kill for him the next. Her character is overly optimistic about her son's chances when she really just needs a reality check or a wake-up call. I got so sick of her hypocritical comments that I frequently just found myself skimming her lines until something better came along. Joe Faroe was a nice counterpoint for that, but even his realistic nature and hard-faught realism couldn't save this boring storyline.

This novel moved along at a snail's pace with barely enough action to keep me interested. I was tempted several times to just put it down, but I wanted to believe that Lowell had something better coming along the way. I was so wrong. The only thing this book is good for is cliched Mexican slang, hard to decipher metaphors and detective jargon you could learn watching repeats of NYPD Blue. Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere for a little drama.

I should start by saying that I LOVE Elizabeth Lowell. I have all of her books, and some of them I've read 5 or 6 times. Maybe my expectations were too high, then, for this latest novel - but I found it boring, uninvolving, and just plain bad. Before even finishing the first chapter, I found myself checking the publication date to see if maybe this was one of those instances where the publishing house had re-released something from the author's earliest days under a new title. Sadly, no - it's just a boring book, no excuses. The characters are unlikable, poorly developed, and you have no idea why they would even want each other (except for the supposedly hot sex). The background of the Mexican drug trade takes over the book, and it becomes a lesson in political science more than a romance novel. If you're looking for a good Lowell contemporary romance, pick up any of her Donovan series, where she keeps the characters and their relationship in the forefront and hooks you in until you can't put the book down.

I believe I have read all that Ann Maxwell has written. After meeting her and her husband, Evan Maxwell, many years ago, I got a better insight into her and her writing (as well as when she and her husband write together.) Although this book does not get into all the romance of many of her other books written under Elizabeth Lowell, it does give us insight into another aspect of our society, as did her "jewelry" stories. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was researched thoroughly, well written, the pace good. If I was anticipating more romance, that was on me, not the writer (after all, it is her book!) It wasn't a fluff story, but a realistic portrayal of what is going on in our world today. Although I hope Ann Maxwell (who writes as A.E. Maxwell with her husband and also Annalisa Sun) again writes an enthralling romantic novel like the Donovan series, I also hopes she will eventually finish the sci-fi set she wrote more years ago than she wants to remember!

While entertaining, I found several times that the story slowed down and got a little preachy about the politics of drug money. While probably true it distracted from the story by being repeated and heavy handed. I also found the timeline hard to believe. Maybe because I have lived in the area and understand the distances (and traffic) travelled in short periods of time. I am a big Elizabeth Lowell fan (as well as Ann Maxwell) but this was not one of her better books.

First, I have to say that I normally love any book written by Ms. Lowell...except this one! Reading the book, I felt that several authors wrote this book without consulting each other! The story line was weak, and hard to follow. Also, I found it very hard to believe that a CA judge would not know about the drug trade with Mexico! There is NO way she would be that naive! Also, she knows how to access CIA files....but doesn't about drug king pins-hmmm. I was actually going to not finish the book, but kept hoping that it would get better...it didn't! Do not judge Ms. Lowells book by this one. If this was your first and you didn't like it, try her earlier works!

Lowell seems to be slipping into medicore charcters and bizarre story lines on a regular basis now. The characters in this one were just a little to off the mark for reality. Grace never totally freaks that her son was taken - not very mom-like. The Mexican drug running/people smugling/killers are hard to follow and just seem unbelievable. I have been a fan for years, but have stopped buying her books and shifted to just using the library because they no longer hold my attention and aren't very memerable anymore.