Robert Crais: Hostage (UK 2012)

From the Publisher:
Jeff Talley left his high-stress job as a frontline negotiator with the LAPD's SWAT unit when he failed to prevent a man from killing his family and then himself. Talley takes the chief-of-police job in a sleepy, affluent suburb, but he is soon plunged back into the high-pressure world he left behind when three young men, fleeing a robbery, burst into a home and take the family hostage.

For Talley, the nightmare has barely begun. Because this isn't just any house. It belongs to an accountant who launders money for LA's renegade Mafia family - and they don't want the police involved.

Robert Crais: Hostage. Would you sacrifice another family to save your own? Orion Books, ISBN: 9781409138242 (August, 2012), 400 p., £7.99.

Robert Crais: Hostage (UK 2002)

From the Publisher:
A robbery goes wrong and leads to an unplanned kidnapping - from the bestselling author of THE WATCHMAN.
When a convenience store robbery goes horribly wrong the three young men who perpetrated the crime make a run for it. Hotly pursued by the police they crash into the suburban home of an accountant and take the family hostage, and before they know it, an armed siege ensues.

This is the last thing the local sheriff wanted - after all, he left the force in L.A. because of the stress, and this is about as stressful as it gets.

To make matters worse, the gang have chosen the wrong accountant to hold hostage. He works for the Mafia and he holds all the local family's financial records. Soon the mob are on the scene and a nightmarish, high-tension three way stand off develops.

Robert Crais: Hostage. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752847872 (September, 2002), 383 p., £6.99.

Robert Crais: Hostage (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
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.

Robert Crais: Hostage. Fawcett Books, ISBN: 0345434498 (June, 2002), 371 p., $7.99.

Robert Crais: Hostage (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
When a convenience store robbery goes horribly wrong the teenage gang who perpetrated the crime make a run for it. Hotly pursued by the police they crash into the suburban home of an accountant and take the family hostage. An armed seige ensues. It's the last thing the local sheriff wanted - after all he left the force in L.A. because of the stress. But the gang have chosen the wrong accountant to hold hostage. He works for the mafia and he holds all the local family's financial records. Soon the mob are on the scene. A nightmarish, high-tension three way stand off develops.

Robert Crais: Hostage. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752841823 (September, 2001), 373 p., £12.99.

Robert Crais: Hostage (USA 2001)

From the Publisher:
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.

Robert Crais: Hostage. A Novel. Doubleday, ISBN: 0385495854 (August, 2001), 373 p., $24.95.