Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
Review: Why did I put off reading Hostage until long after I had zipped through the rest of RC's books? Perhaps it was because I was delaying gratification, not wanting to read the last one...like saving the last peanut M&M. Wanting to savor it later on. Perhaps it was simply that "hostage" situations are probably my least favorite type of suspense. In either case, I just finished it. And while I feel slightly depressed that there are no Robert Crais left unread, I'm delighted that it's changed my attitude toward hostage stories.
The business of preserving and protecting takes its toll on those charged with the awesome task of policing. Case in point is Jeff Talley, former LAPD SWAT team negotiator. The price he paid was his heart... his emotions...his family, all the elements that give life short of the breath that keeps the body alive. The price was exacted from Talley the day he failed to talk down a perp in a hostage situation and witnessed the man put a bullet in his 9 year old son's neck.
After sitting on the couch for a year, Talley leaves his wife and daughter behind and takes a job as Police Chief in the small upscale community of Bristo Camino. A job that routinely involves little more than security work. Most of the local 14 man police force had never even had to draw their weapons. A peaceful little town where a man could heal and figure out his next move.
Then one day, all hell breaks loose and Talley is thrust into the middle of a high profile hostage situation. By page 40 the hostages have been taken, Talley's world had been rocked and you wonder, how can it take another 300 pages to resolve this? I can guarantee that there is never a wasted word as Crais reveals the complexities that makes this one of the best hostage stories ever. It seems the three young thugs who have taken a family hostage, have blundered into the middle of mob operation that includes some of the biggest crime families in the country. These modern day wise guys may have college educations but they are every bit as ruthless as their bentnose, monosyllabic predecessors.
And Talley gets his groove back, forced into reliving a situation similar to the one that took it away. "Talley wasn't acting like a has-been cop who had been broken by the job and come to nowhereland to hide; he was carrying on like a full-blown SWAT tactical streetmonster." I love it.
Sharp thinking, sharp writing, sharp shooting ...sharp sharp sharp! Can't wait to see it on the big screen, starring Bruce Willis!!!
Rating:
Summary: Why six stars?
Review: Why six stars to this book?1) It has to many people involved, but the book explain perfectly who are these people and you know exactly what are they doing and why. 2) It never goes out of the story and it has three different stories that will keep you very busy. 3) You will be interested in all the people of the book, not only Talley or the terrorists. 4) You won't be able to put down the book until you finish it. 5) It has no sex scenes that many writers write just to fill pages. 6) IT IS A GREAT BOOK, JUST FOR THAT.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book - true pageturner...but the end???
Review: You know that quest? The one where you're trying to find that book that will compel you to read just one more page before going to sleep, to push your lunch hour just another five minutes so you can finish the chapter? You look and get teased by this bestseller or that hot author but the object of your search is just out of reach?
Search no more - this is that book. It really is - the tension is not stretched thin by padding and endless descriptions of inner thoughts like Koontz's 'High Intensity' or filled with page upon page of techno-description like any of Clancy's books. Instead, this book lights the fuse in the first few pages and dares you to duck and cover. You will race through the book to find out what happens next.
As for others here who cry 'Cliche!' or 'Hackneyed!' or any other such silliness, well, yes - this is another book about a police officer who is good at his job and harbors a crippling secret that threatens to derail a successful resolution to his dilemma at any moment. There are moments where the character dialogue could be left out as we often know what the bad guys are going to say before it is said. There are also a host of coincidences in this book that threaten to darken the horizon with clouds of contrivance. However, it is possible to accept these as quibbles, payment for the thrill of being swept away by the plot.
I will say that the very end of the excitement that forms the core of the story is a bit puzzling. It has shades of simply ending because Crais has written himself into a corner. This too is mostly okay as the rest of the book is so exciting. I would have preferred a bit more solidness to the resolution but I have no idea how this could have been accomplished.
Get this for the plane ride or for something else where you will be able to read for awhile.
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