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Summary: First time Iles reader
Review: This is the first book from Greg Iles I have read and I am very impressed. The story line, and characters were some of the most original I have seen or read in a long time! This book is packed with suspense and what's-going-to-happen-next page turning excitement. A great read, I am definitely going to check out some of his other titles.
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Summary: I could not put the book down
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this suspensful novel. It gripped my attention as few books have before. I know it's a cliche but I really could not put this book down. Despite it's length, I think I read it all in one day. I recommend it highly.
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Summary: 24 Hours a real page turner...
Review: This is my first Greg Iles book but it certainly won't be my last. From the first page to the last he keeps the tension at high pitch. As a parent I felt the plot was plausable. It's easy to comprehend a parent doing and promising anything to keep their child from harm. The ending was my only quibble point, it was just a hair over the top. But, still, all in all a reccommended read.
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Summary: Action Packed
Review: This is the first Greg Isles book that I have read. I had noticed him mentioned at various times in my online bookclubs and am very glad that I decided to give him a try.For those of you who love the suspense/thriller genre this book is a must. The perfect crime has been committed time and time again until Joe Hickey picks a family willing to fight back. I was immediately drawn into the lives of Will and Karen Jennings and the terror they felt throughout their ordeal. The reader is kept on the edge right up to the last page. I'm sure I will be reading more of Greg Iles work in the near future. Excellent!
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Summary: Gripping Suspense Thriller
Review: This is one of the fastest reads you will ever have. I put the world aside for one day as I read through this taut story of three people who kidnap a little girl. The parents refuse to play the game of victim by the kidnappers rules and it might backfire. Iles writes suspense as well as anyone in the world. His meticulous research into kidnappers minds, strippers (did Greg get a write off for that?) and the field of medicine makes the read completely believable and intensely heart pounding. This book rates with Spandau Phoenix as one of Iles finest and ranks as one of the best suspense thrillers you and I will ever read.
Kevin Hogan, ...
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Summary: Highly entertaining...
Review: Greg Iles is an excellent author even though this is not his best book. With 24 Hours, he takes the theme of kidnapping and applies a unique twist to it. Then he makes that twist about as entertaining as possible. This book doesn't have the deep plot or character development of Mortal Fear or Spandeau Phoenix, the other two Iles books I've read, but in does entertain you with non stop action and suspense.
The kidnappers Joe, Cheryl and Huey each pair up with a member of their target family. Iles develops three different story lines. The evil Joe is with the wife, Karen. Cheryl is with husband Will. And Huey is with Abbey. The first part of the book is carried by sexual tension between the characters. The kidnappers know sex can be a powerful weapon, and they attempt to use it to their advantage. The last half of the book devolves into a race for Will and Karen to get to their daughter before the kidnappers get their ransom money. While there isn't a lot of charcterization, I felt for Will and Karen as they struggled to find a way to live through the kidnapping with their family intact. All readers can relate in someway to the plight of possibly losing a loved one.
This book is being made into a movie and some reviewers gripe that the author wrote this book specifically to be made into a movie. That may be true, but I don't think that is a bad thing. As long as it is entertaining, then I don't really care what format the story is in.
Iles is an excellent author who is able to write entertaining stories without rehashing characters from previous novels. As far as I can tell, he is one of the few authors that does this.
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Summary: A book I couldn't put down
Review: This book is fantastic. The premise is original and the story line was well thought out. I really enjoyed this book, and couldn't put it down once I started. No many books grab my attention this way, but this book is a must read. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the mystery/suspense genre.
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Summary: Won't Change Your Life, But It's Entertaining
Review: "24 Hours" by Greg Illes doesn't break any new ground, but it is a slam-bang, fast-paced thriller which I read in one sitting on a Sunday afternoon. While there weren't a lot of suprises in this classically-ploted thriller, Illes keeps you entertained throughout this action-packed book, even if you can practically see the author imagining who would play his characters in the inevitable movie version. (In fact, it almost seems to be written with movie rights in mind--more screenplay, than novel.) Will Jennings is a successful doctor with the almost-perfect family, a loving wife, Karen, who loves her home and husband even if she does have regrets about having to drop out of medical school to get them, and a five-year-old daughter, Abby. He's also just invented a new drug that would take him from comfortable to astronomically wealthy. (Even though, judging by the author's rather over-eager descriptions of the doctor's possessions, he would already have to be a millionare several times over to afford the perfect house--Illes even raves about the top-of-the-line appliances--on an exclusive golf course in suburban Maryland, a private "$300,000" jet Jennings "paid cash for," a high-dollar art collection and the cash reserves this book details. Doctors do well, no question, but few have private jets and can toss away $350,000 grand "without even noticing," as the fictional Dr. Jennings claims he can.) While Will is at an annual medical convention, introducing his new wonder drug, Karen and Abby find themselves the victim of a ruthless kidnapper. Soon all three family members, all in seperate locales, are trapped in a nightmare with an experienced kidnapper who has already gotten away with this same crime on five previous occasions. But this time there's a few twists (of course): Abby has juvenille diabetes so the 24 hour plan the kidnapper insists they stick to could kill her and you soon learn that this time the kidnapper is after more than money. (Yep, "this time it's personal.") And, of course, smart, but not TOO smart, kidnapper Joe Hickey didn't depend on the resoursefulness of the Jennings family (Abby is the most literate and self-composed five year old in history) who go on a rampage (leaving a wreckage of vehicles and other possessions, as well as a body count, in their wake) in order to avoid what has been the inevitable for all of Hickey's previous victims. This book won't change your life, or throw you many curves (Hmm, whom do you think will triumph, the good guy or the bad guy?) and offers the obligatory over-the-top chase sequence (involving that plane I mentioned earlier) and last-second vanquishing of the bad guy via an unexpected source, but there are worse ways you can spend a Sunday afternoon.
Rating: 
Summary: A good place for me to start...
Review: I've been intrigued by the way Greg Iles keeps popping up in my peripheral vision, mostly on the Amazon site, but also forcing his way into my subconscious in bookstores and airports. So I decided to try his writing style with a book not as beloved as some of his earlier material, and go from there. I give "24 Hours" 3 stars, although for action and intensity, and the inability to put the book down, it probably deserves more. An intriguing and complex kidnapping plot by a group of grifters who have perpetrated the crime before sets the stage in three locations as the race to save a child's life unfolds. Joey, Cheryl & Huey, the band of kidnappers, realistically portray the number and type and psychology of most of those involved with acts of targeted violence for financial gain. Iles correctly captures the fear and willingness to take risk that all parents must feel when trying to save the life of their child. Will and Karen Jennings are accurately drawn as a wealthy physician couple , losing interest and faith in each other and staying together for their young daughter. Karen Jennings survives the novel as the most believable; facing the most dangerous of the kidnappers and willing to take risks she needs to take not only for her daughter but for her own soul. Iles increases the tension and keeps the reader stimulated throughout his novel. Drawbacks include the larger than life rescue scene, the thought left that there will be a happier ever after for the Jennings' and the needless twist that ties Joey to this kidnapping for stakes larger than any of his previous crimes. To understand and believe in the character of Joey, it is important that the author would have kept the storyline to the thought that "one crime is pretty much the same as another" for a band of casual criminals. That said, I really enjoyed the pace & characterization of the novel and hope to read more by Iles in coming weeks!
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Summary: My first, but not my last, Iles book
Review: "24 hours" might well describe the span of time in which I read this fast-paced, surprise-at-every-turn book. It is the first novel I have read by Greg Iles and I intend to read all of them. Iles portrays the Jennings family as resourceful, smart, determined and quick-thinking. They are the perfect foils for the organized and psycopathic kidnapper, Joe Hickey, who has completed five successful child-kidnappings and looks forward to another, that of Abby Jennings. A parallel story of a family whose child had previously been kidnapped by Hickey keeps the reader guessing as to what will happen, since this family has gone to the FBI on the anniversary of their son's kidnapping and the day of Abby's. Iles builds the heart-pounding suspense, one layer at a time. His character development is very good--you feel that you KNOW these people by the end of the book. My only complaint is that I did think that Iles was a little tough on the FBI-- it seemed that some personal animosity exists.
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