's Best of 2001
Robert Crais is the real thing: a writer who keeps topping himself. Last year, after eight popular books featuring private eye Elvis Cole (including L.A. Requiem and Voodoo River), he produced Demolition Angel, his first standalone suspense novel. Its complex, multidimensional hero was a damaged cop haunted by her past failures. It worked in that book, and it works even better in this one.

Jeff Talley, the police chief in a small Southern California town, still has nightmares about the young hostage who died when he made the wrong call in his previous job as a negotiator for an LAPD SWAT team. Now, three smalltime punks go on the run after a grocery store robbery and killing in Talley's town. Soon his deputies have surrounded the house where the inept robbers have taken Walter Smith and his two children hostage, and Talley's back in his worst dream again: until the county sheriff's full-fledged SWAT team arrives and takes over, he has to negotiate for their lives.

Crais keeps the point of view moving from Talley to the punks to the hostages as the situation unfolds in the house and on the ground. Then he ratchets up the dramatic tension: there's something in Walter Smith's house that a ruthless Mob boss wants, and he'll sacrifice anyone to get it--which puts Talley's own family in danger. The action speeds to its climax with the velocity of a heat-seeking missile, which makes it almost criminal to slow down long enough to savor the great writing. Take this passage, from a scene when Talley's face-to-face with the man who's holding his own wife and daughter hostage: Talley ... had stepped into the Zone. It was a place of white noise where emotions reigned and reason was meager. Anger and rage were nonstop tickets; panic was an express. He had been all day coming to this, and here he was: the SWAT guys used to talk about it. You went to the Zone, you lost your edge. You'd lose your career; you'd get yourself killed, or, worse, somebody else. Crais belongs in that tier of writers whose novelistic gifts transcend the thriller category--writers like Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, and James Lee Burke. Hostage is a breakout. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
The title of Crais's fiery third thriller (after L.A. Requiem and Demolition Angel) can refer not just to the two sets of innocents held at gunpoint in the story but to the reader, who will be wired tight to the book. The novel launches with a familiar (as familiar as Demolition Angel) premise: a soul-scarred cop here, former L.A. SWAT hostage negotiator Jeff Talley, now chief of police of smalltown Bristo Bay, Calif. plunges into an assignment that forces him to confront his demons. The devil clawing Talley's brain is the dying gaze of a young hostage he failed to save in L.A. Now three outlaws two lowlife brothers and a homicidal maniac have, after botching a robbery-homicide, taken refuge in a swank house in Bristo Bay. At their mercy are the family's dad, whom they've knocked unconscious, and his teen daughter and preteen son. The whopper of a complication is that the dad serves as bookkeeper for Sonny Benza, West Coast mob kingpin, and Benza will do whatever's necessary to retrieve the incriminatory records secreted in the house before the cops storm the place. The narrative ticks with suspense as Talley negotiates with the three outlaws, and as they and the kids they're holding respond with panic, fear and courage to the escalating tension. It snaps into overdrive as Benza and his goons snatch Talley's wife and daughter, holding them ransom for the records; the flow is marred only by a couple of cheap turns obviously devised for the silver screen. Thriller vets will have seen a lot of this before, but every virtuoso is allowed variations on a theme, and Crais, with his record and with the smart suspense offered here, has proven himself nothing less. (On-sale date: Aug. 7)Forecast: Crais sells more with each title, and this will prove no exception. A 15-city author tour will enhance his visibility, as will forthcoming film versions of Demolition Angel and of Hostage, which has already been bought for Bruce Willis and MGM; Crais is writing the screenplays for both films.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Hostage negotiator Jim Talley, traumatized by a crisis gone bad, has left not only his SWAT job but his family as well, hiding out as chief of police in a small town. When a robbery gets out of control and three would-be thieves become killers, they hide in a house in Talley's jurisdiction, taking a family of three hostage. Worse, one of the hostages is the bookkeeper for a mob boss who, rightly worried that his secrets and $1.2 million in cash are at risk, tracks down Talley's wife and daughter for hostages of his own. Sound a little, well, unlikely? Oh, and one of the robbers is a psycho serial killer who keeps his mother's head in the freezer. Crais ratchets up the suspense about as far as it will go here but, sadly, declines to invest his characters with any attributes deeper than a name and a role (born loser, stressed cop, mob boss, psycho killer, spoiled teen). There are some nice insights into hostage negotiation, though, in the end, it all seems to come down to shouting the obvious. Reader James Daniels does his best with these stereotypes, while suffusing the story with real urgency. Had Crais made us care about any of his characters, this would easily have risen above the level of an optional purchase.John Hiett, Iowa City P.L.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with the abridged production of HOSTAGE.]--Relentlessly fast-paced, Crais's newest stand-alone novel tells the story of former frontline crisis negotiator Jeff Talley as his quiet suburban life is taken hostage. The author reads the abridged version with expressive professionalism and a believable intimacy as he follows three delinquents who kill a convenience store clerk and a police officer and then hole up in a suburban home--a house that turns out to belong to an important accountant for the Mob. James Daniels--who also co-wrote the abridged script for Hostage together with his wife, Aasne--uses his vocal talents to bring the unabridged version to life. He effectively matches Crais's style and gives flesh to Jeff Talley, the family taken hostage, and the sociopathic ringleader of the convenience store robbers. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Jeff Talley is a burned-out former LAPD SWAT team hostage negotiator trying unsuccessfully to hide from his demons in the tiny community of Bristo Camino. When three toughs rob a convenience store, kill the owner, and take refuge in the home of an accountant, Talley quickly finds himself in the middle of a double hostage situation. The toughs are threatening to kill Smith and his children, but what they don't know is that the accountant works for the Mob and happens to have in his possession what amounts to an annual report on Mob activity. The Mob bosses kidnap Talley's wife and daughter and make it clear to him that they will kill his loved ones if he doesn't get his hands on the damning computer discs before the cops do. Talley finds himself in the unenviable position of helping to free Smith while executing a clandestine plan to save his own family. Crais, author of the critically acclaimed Elvis Cole series and the recent best-seller Demolition Angel [BKL Mr 15 00], probably couldn't write a bad book if he tried, but this novel is not among his best work. It's already been sold to MGM Studios as a "starring vehicle" for Bruce Willis, which may account for the preponderance of action-movie cliches, especially the bombs-bursting conclusion. As a way to pass the time on a sunny beach, this isn't a bad thriller, but Crais aficionados are likely to be disappointed. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The author of L.A. Requiem and Demolition Angels deals a setup that possesses the escalating intensity of a ticking time bomb: Still nursing psychic wounds from his years as an LAPD hostage negotiator, small-town police chief Jeff Talley is unexpectedly forced to negotiate with three hostage takers, one of whom is certifiably insane. As Talley struggles to guide the situation to a peaceful solution, the unthinkable happens: The hostages are kidnapped!

ANNOTATION

Hostage is a blistering stand-alone thriller with superb characters in crisis, multistranded plotting, and pitch-perfect Southern California sensibility.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jeff Talley was a good husband, a fine father, and a front line negotiator with LAPD's SWAT unit. But the high-stress, unforgiving job took an irreparable toll on his psyche. Unable to talk down a despondent father before he murders his wife and son and takes his own life, Talley plummets into a downward spiral. His marriage ends, he resigns from SWAT, and he struggles to escape from his former life by taking the chief-of-police job in a sleepy, affluent bedroom community far from the chaos and crime of Los Angeles.

But Talley￯﾿ﾽs pursuit of peaceful small town life is about to change when three young men, fleeing the robbery of a mini-mart, invade an expansive home, and take the family hostage. Plunged back into the high-pressure world that he has desperately been trying to put behind him, Talley's nightmare has only just begun. This just isn't any house--it belongs to a man who launders money for the modern equivalent of La Cosa Nostra, and the records contained in his home could put L.A.￯﾿ﾽs most dangerous crime lord, Sonny Benza, behind bars. As Talley desperately tries to save the innocents inside, the full weight of Benza￯﾿ﾽs power descends on him, putting Talley 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 crisis is the least stable of them all.

SYNOPSIS

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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The title of Crais's fiery third thriller (after L.A. Requiem and Demolition Angel) can refer not just to the two sets of innocents held at gunpoint in the story but to the reader, who will be wired tight to the book. The novel launches with a familiar (as familiar as Demolition Angel) premise: a soul-scarred cop here, former L.A. SWAT hostage negotiator Jeff Talley, now chief of police of smalltown Bristo Bay, Calif. plunges into an assignment that forces him to confront his demons. The devil clawing Talley's brain is the dying gaze of a young hostage he failed to save in L.A. Now three outlaws two lowlife brothers and a homicidal maniac have, after botching a robbery-homicide, taken refuge in a swank house in Bristo Bay. At their mercy are the family's dad, whom they've knocked unconscious, and his teen daughter and preteen son. The whopper of a complication is that the dad serves as bookkeeper for Sonny Benza, West Coast mob kingpin, and Benza will do whatever's necessary to retrieve the incriminatory records secreted in the house before the cops storm the place. The narrative ticks with suspense as Talley negotiates with the three outlaws, and as they and the kids they're holding respond with panic, fear and courage to the escalating tension. It snaps into overdrive as Benza and his goons snatch Talley's wife and daughter, holding them ransom for the records; the flow is marred only by a couple of cheap turns obviously devised for the silver screen. Thriller vets will have seen a lot of this before, but every virtuoso is allowed variations on a theme, and Crais, with his record and with the smart suspense offered here, has proven himself nothing less. (On-sale date: Aug. 7) Forecast:Crais sells more with each title, and this will prove no exception. A 15-city author tour will enhance his visibility, as will forthcoming film versions of Demolition Angel and of Hostage, which has already been bought for Bruce Willis and MGM; Crais is writing the screenplays for both films. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Hostage negotiator Jim Talley, traumatized by a crisis gone bad, has left not only his SWAT job but his family as well, hiding out as chief of police in a small town. When a robbery gets out of control and three would-be thieves become killers, they hide in a house in Talley's jurisdiction, taking a family of three hostage. Worse, one of the hostages is the bookkeeper for a mob boss who, rightly worried that his secrets and $1.2 million in cash are at risk, tracks down Talley's wife and daughter for hostages of his own. Sound a little, well, unlikely? Oh, and one of the robbers is a psycho serial killer who keeps his mother's head in the freezer. Crais ratchets up the suspense about as far as it will go here but, sadly, declines to invest his characters with any attributes deeper than a name and a role (born loser, stressed cop, mob boss, psycho killer, spoiled teen). There are some nice insights into hostage negotiation, though, in the end, it all seems to come down to shouting the obvious. Reader James Daniels does his best with these stereotypes, while suffusing the story with real urgency. Had Crais made us care about any of his characters, this would easily have risen above the level of an optional purchase.-John Hiett, Iowa City P.L. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with the unabridged production of HOSTAGE.]—Relentlessly fast-paced, Crais's newest stand-alone novel tells the story of former frontline crisis negotiator Jeff Talley as his quiet suburban life is taken hostage. The author reads the abridged version with expressive professionalism and a believable intimacy as he follows three delinquents who kill a convenience store clerk and a police officer and then hole up in a suburban home—a house that turns out to belong to an important accountant for the Mob. James Daniels—who also co-wrote the abridged script for Hostage together with his wife, Aasne—uses his vocal talents to bring the unabridged version to life. He effectively matches Crais's style and gives flesh to Jeff Talley, the family taken hostage, and the sociopathic ringleader of the convenience store robbers. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews