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Hostage
By: Robert Crais , Per WahlooeBook Publisher: Random House
Imprint: Random House Publishing Group
Format: ePub Encrypted (DRM)
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Reader Review: Dennis Rooney and his brother, Kevin, decide at the spur of the moment to rob a convenience store in Bristo Camino, California, with a new friend who was recently released from prison. What was supposed to be a simple robbery goes terribly wrong and is compounded when they take refuge in a suburban home with the residents on premises. Jeff Talley, the chief of police in this quiet community, is a former LAPD SWAT negotiator who took this job as an escape from his stressful past. Now, he's faced with a deadly situation that calls for him to use all of his former training to get the hostages released unharmed. There were quite a few twists and turns in this story that kept me off balance and completely riveted. So many were not as they appeared and the robbers were unpredictable. Tally is a pretty flawed guy who ends up having a personal stake in the outcome. The dynamics between the robbers add another layer of suspense as each has a separate agenda. I normally am attempting to figure out who the real villains are while reading a mystery/suspense but this time I was just trying to keep up with all the emotional and plot shifts. I couldn't put this audiobook down and looked for excuses to drive so I could listen. This is my first book by Crais and it won't be my last. His writing style works really well with the genre, using an economy of words that effectively tells the story, defines the characters and moves the plot along at a pace that left me breathless. If that's appealing to you, add this book to your shelf.
The bestselling author of Demolition Angel and L.A. Requiem returns with his most intense and intricate thriller yet.
As the Los Angeles Times said, Robert Crais is “a crime writer operating at the top of his game.” His complex heroes and heroines, his mastery of noir atmosphere, and his brilliant, taut plots have catapulted him into the front rank of a new breed of thriller writers. Hostage proves his earlier success was no fluke. It’s an unstoppable read.
An ex-con with delusions of grandeur and his tagalong brother unwittingly team up with a psychopath one wrong word away from meltdown. When their late afternoon joyride turns into a random act of violence, they take a family hostage in the affluent bedroom community of Bristo Camino. Enter Chief of Police Jeff Talley, a stressed-out former LAPD SWAT negotiator who is hiding from his past. Plunged back into the high-pressure world that he desperately wants to forget, Talley soon learns that his nightmare has only begun.
The hostages are not who they seem, and the home contains secrets that even L.A.’s most lethal and volatile crime lord, Sonny Benza, fears. As Talley tries to hold himself together and save the people inside, the full weight of Benza’s wrath descends on him, putting the police chief and his own family at risk. Soon, all involved are held hostage by the exigencies of fate and the only one capable of diffusing the standoff is the least stable of them all.
Hostage is a blistering stand-alone thriller with superb characters in crisis, multistranded plotting, and pitch-perfect Southern California sensibility.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Title of eBook: Hostage | |
| Release Date: 07-22-2009 | |
| Allowed Countries (hover) | |
| Publisher: Random House Publishing Group |
This eBook download is available in the following formats:
| Parent title | Hostage |
|---|---|
| Encrypted (DRM) | Yes |
| SKU | 9780307567697 |
| File size | |
| Internet Security | n/a |
| Printing | Not allowed |
| Copying | Not allowed |
| Read aloud | No Sys requirements Download reader |
| Devices | Samsung Tablet, Apple Ipad & Iphone, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo eReader, Aluratek Libre, Iliad, Nokia, Blackberry, Hanlin |
| Note | ePub, short for electronic publication is one of our favorites and should be yours for a couple of reasons. ePub offers reflowable text giving you flexibility to manipulate how the content is presented. Moreover, lots of cool features are now being developed for the reader like advanced video and audio. ePub is now an industry standard, so all of the "non-propreitary" hardware manufacturers are now supporting it. |
Hostage
Chapter One
PROLOGUE
*† *† *
The man in the house was going to kill himself. When the man threw his phone into the yard, Talley knew that he had accepted his own death. After six years as a crisis negotiator with the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT team, Sergeant Jeff Talley knew that people in crisis often spoke in symbols. This symbol was clear: Talk was over. Talley feared that the man would die by his own hand, or do something to force the police to kill him. It was called suicide by cop. Talley believed it to be his fault.
"Did they find his wife yet?"
"Not yet. They're still looking."
"Looking doesn't help, Murray. I gotta have something to give this guy after what happened."
"That's not your fault."
"It is my fault. I blew it, and now this guy is circling the drain."
Talley crouched behind an armored command vehicle with the SWAT commander, a lieutenant named Murray Leifitz, who was also his negotiating team supervisor. From this position, Talley had spoken to George Donald Malik through a dedicated crisis phone that had been cut into the house line. Now that Malik had thrown his phone into the yard, Talley could use the public address megaphone or do it face-to-face. He hated the megaphone, which made his voice harsh and depersonalized the contact. The illusion of a personal relationship was important; the illusion of trust was everything. Talley strapped on a kevlar vest.
Malik shouted through the broken window, his voice high and strained.
"I'm going to kill this dog! I'm going to kill it!"
Leifitz leaned past Talley to peek at the house. This was the first time Mali
Title: Hostage December 30, 2012 Dennis Rooney and his brother, Kevin, decide at the spur of the moment to rob a convenience store in Bristo Camino, California, with a new friend who was recently released from prison. What was supposed to be a simple robbery goes terribly wrong and is compounded when they take refuge in a suburban home with the residents on premises. Jeff Talley, the chief of police in this quiet community, is a former LAPD SWAT negotiator who took this job as an escape from his stressful past. Now, he's faced with a deadly situation that calls for him to use all of his former training to get the hostages released unharmed.
Average Customer Review:
Number of Comments: 1 Rating(s) 1 Review(s)
Absolutely riveting!
Reviewer:
There were quite a few twists and turns in this story that kept me off balance and completely riveted. So many were not as they appeared and the robbers were unpredictable. Tally is a pretty flawed guy who ends up having a personal stake in the outcome. The dynamics between the robbers add another layer of suspense as each has a separate agenda. I normally am attempting to figure out who the real villains are while reading a mystery/suspense but this time I was just trying to keep up with all the emotional and plot shifts. I couldn't put this audiobook down and looked for excuses to drive so I could listen.
This is my first book by Crais and it won't be my last. His writing style works really well with the genre, using an economy of words that effectively tells the story, defines the characters and moves the plot along at a pace that left me breathless. If that's appealing to you, add this book to your shelf.
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