Hostage

A Novel

By: Robert Crais

Narrated by: James Daniels

Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Jeff Talley was a good husband, a fine father, and a frontline negotiator with LAPD's SWAT unit. But the high stress, unforgiving job took an irreparable toll on his psyche. After a despondent father murders his wife and son and takes his own life, Talley hits bottom. 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's pursuit of peaceful small-town life is about to change when three young men, fleeing the robbery of a mini-mart, invade a tightly secured home and take the family hostage.

Plunged back into the high-pressure world that he has desperately been trying to put behind him, Talley finds his nightmare has barely begun, because this isn't just any house. It belongs to a brilliant white-collar criminal who launders money for L.A.'s renegade franchise of La Cosa Nostra. And the accountant's records of the incriminating money trail that lie within will put L.A.'s most lethal and volatile crime lord, Sonny Benza, behind bars.

As Talley desperately tries to save the innocents inside, the full weight of Benza's wrath 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.

©2004 Robert Crais (P)2004 Brilliance Audio

Surprisingly great!

This book started with nail biting action and maintained that throughout the book. The narrator did an amazing job in keeping the listener on the edge of their seat.
Great book! Def a keep reading/listening story with plenty of action and suspense!

Weird name discrepancies

The story was good. Entertaining. But the dad's name changed from George to Walter to George. I ignored it as well as I could until it happened again. Dennis shouts to Kevin but the audio is approximately "Kevin rages 'KEVIN YOU ASSHOLE'". I don't understand how a theoretically high quality producing made it through editing as is.

Excellent book. Exciting throughout!

loved it. I will read more by this author and the people that read it on Audible.

Great Read!

On the edge of my seat! Good story line. It was very suspenseful. I’m glad I found this.

Butterfly Effect!

This book demonstrates the author’s master skills of weaving 3 or 4 stories into one central stories that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It shows how seemingly separate events can cause drastic changes in other events.

Well done and well played!

just plain good listening

the story line was good. character development good. narrator good. I'm a long time Crais fan.

Old book,still great story

A really enjoyable suspense novel. Three thuggish kids end up holed in the house of a mysterious accountant. They find a box of money and take the house’s residents as hostages to try to keep the money. Zip discs, which some readers might not remember, play a part in the conclusion and make you long for a time when data could be physically held in your hand. The solution for the main character is believable.The book was published in 2001 but stands the test of time. It is still suspenseful and the characters are either likable or horrid, nice and clean.
A shout out for the narration . Perfect pacing, tone, and inflection. He was a big part in the enhancement of the story.Altogether a great audiobook.

Continuous Excitement and Drama

A fast paced thriller. Continuously filled with unexpected twists and drama. One of the best crime dramas I’ve ever read. Highly recommended.

Entertaining

good listen, keeps you entertained.the story is a little fantastic but wanted to know what happened and listen to it in 2 sessions

miles away from Elvis

This book is tense, with a kind of sharp edge all the way through. If that makes any sense. The Elvis books include humor and some "tongue in cheek" attitude within stories that may be very tense and violent in places. For me this book was a lot like "Cujo" by Stephen King. Very often I would need to put the book down and walk around for a while before I went back to it. Not a book I would want to read (or listen to) at night before going to sleep.
In a way, it kind of feels like the book was written to become a movie.