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After finishing the book, I had a nightmare about a different hostage situation on a plane. The intense and propulsive storyline must have had a stronger effect on my emotions than I felt while reading it. With air travel beginning to open up again, this book and Falling may add to the reluctance to fly. Mina finds a letter that puts her in a difficult position. Should she comply? Or risk losing her daughter.
Once Mina's flight is underway, she receives a note informing her that if she does not comply and do as she is told, her daughter will pay the price. What is a mother to do? This is a thriller like none I’ve read before. To be fair that’s probably because this kind of novel wouldn’t be my usual fare but I’ve read everything Clare has written so I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed. For more than a month, Fung lived in that hole, which was barely tall enough to stand up in, nursing her injuries, praying and writing in a notebook. Under an Afghan Sky is the gripping tale of Fung’s… They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past. An honest negotiator gets but into a situation where his family kidnapped and taken hostage and the dirty accountant gets his family taken hostage by the three dimwitted hoods after they kill the convenience store clerk, freak out and break into the home of the dirty accountant and take the family hostage.
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Ann Patchett’s writing is always sublime but her characters in this book are unforgettable. She stages a hostage situation in an undisclosed South American country. Over time, the young terrorists and the group of international strangers find a way to live and even thrive together. But at least her daughter at home might be safe with her husband Adam. He’s police officer . He does anything he can to protect their child, doesn’t he? But what if he already screwed up and his big secret is about to blow up in his face! I've read and enjoyed every book by this author. No exception here. It's a dramatic thriller, full of moral dilemmas and danger - can't ask for more than that! Pacey read, interesting and complex characters, and a unique scenario. When three young thugs rob a convenience store, they hole up in a family home. Only it's not a normal family home. The owner is an accountant who works for the Mafia. When the Mob get wind of this, it's only a matter of time until the sparks fly and casualties are taken, with Talley at the forefront of the entire situation.
I absolutely hated this book and though I could list all the reasons why in this review, I'm afraid it would have too many spoilers that would anger fans and potential readers. Secondly, I found it exhausting to live inside Mina’s head with the same thoughts/fears/resolve. Honestly, there were times I wanted to kill her myself just to shut her up. But then I considered how I would feel if I were her, and decided I’d be even more annoying so I forgave her. But why do we readers have to hear about it incessantly? Mina's marriage to her husband, Adam, has been strained due to his secrets and lies. Their very bright adopted daughter has had attachment issues and a unique mindset. Both parents have felt inadequate and under strain caring for Sophia. Adam is at home caring for Sophia to the best of his ability with the help of a new, young babysitter. Is it me or did Sophia escape way too easily? When the fire started in the house I had no idea how Adam and Sophia would escape. But it turned out there was an easy way out?! Why on earth did they not get Sophia out earlier?!Loved speaking with @ danspapers about the first panel I’ll be moderating at @ HamptonsWhodun this year, featuring… https://t.co/hwrdV45fSz Apr 4, 2023, 11:48 AM Most people know that the Waco Siege ended badly, but your work there was one of the more successful parts of the operation. A claustrophobic thriller set over twenty hours on one airplane flight, with the heart-stopping tension of The Last Flight and the wrenching emotional intensity of Room, Hostage takes us on board the inaugural nonstop flight from London to Sydney. My great-grand aunt Blanche Ames was a co-founder of the Birth Control League of Massachusetts. My grandmother marched in birth control parades with Blanche. My mother stood in the Planned Parenthood booth at the Minnesota State Fair and responded calmly to those who shouted and spit at her. As the lead author and associate editor of the monumental reference work Women’s History Sources: A Guide to Archives and Manuscript Collections in the United States , which helped to launch the field of women’s history in the 1970s, I learned to love American women’s history, and I’ve always loved writing. Lemons in the Garden of Love is my third award-winning historical novel. Yes, Jim Botting is a very close friend of mine and a colleague in the FBI. Jim’s stories are based out of the Los Angeles office of the FBI, where he worked on a number of very interesting and high-profile cases. The book gives the reader a really good glimpse into a day in the life of an FBI agent working on the streets. He is very good at setting the stage and sharing with the reader what it is like to be an FBI agent.
We had been there for over 12 hours. The man was still 30 feet up a tree, balancing on a branch directly over one of the main railway lines out of one of the busiest train stations in the country. He refused to talk to us, threatening to jump if we came too close. To him, we were the enemy. My job was to preserve his life. I wasn't a fan of the author throwing in a few hot button social issues of the day, which did nothing to move the plot forward. I would really urge authors to show restraint and simply focus on telling a good story. Absolutely, and those adaptations that were made to law enforcement negotiators to be more successful in the most volatile situations obviously have a higher level of success when you are dealing with friends, children, colleagues and spouses. Listening is always the cheapest concession we can make to anyone. Taking the time to listen and understand is a powerful tool to create a trusting relationship that helps resolve conflict and gain cooperation. I love stories about everyday people ripped out of their normal lives and forced to face the craziest situations head-on. I mean, can you even imagine? Could you find a way to survive and win? To face down life-threatening danger and evil people and rise from the ashes stronger and smarter? I’m pretty sure I’d kill if it meant protecting my children…but strand me in the wilderness and I’d likely perish from eating the wrong berries. I hate to be hungry, but I love to bring edgy romantic suspense and twisty psychological suspense to readers. Enjoy!There isn’t a lot of room for character building in a story like this, but Talley works OK as the classic hero-haunted-by-a-tragedy. The hostage takers are well done as being a mixed bag of scared, stupid and crazy, and the various mob guys make serviceable villains. Audiobook: What do you get when you mix three men, two of them brothers and the other a psychopath, who decide to rob a convenience store in a sleepy suburban neighborhood; a local chief of police, Jeff Talley, ex-LAPD hostage negotiator trying to recover from a hostage situation that went horribly wrong; and a house where the robbers take refuge just happens to be where a mob accountant lives? A really good story.
Whew! What a roller coaster ride which had me holding on to my arm rest, anxiety riddled and fully entertained. This is the one and only book I have read by this author but based on this I'm not sure I would be prepared to offer a second chance. I found it took me a long time to read despite me usually finishing a book in a day or two. I just couldn't get into it at all! I found it boring, dragged out and a bit of an anti climax none of it really made a great deal of sense!I was in charge of the negotiations for the first 26 days and during that time it was a very vulnerable situation. It started when Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tried to exercise an arrest warrant and a search warrant and there was a big shoot-out that occurred between ATM agents and some of the followers of David Koresh, who were part of a Davidian religious sect. Four agents were killed and a number of them were wounded, and six of David Koresh’s followers were killed as well. In October 2008, Mellissa Fung, a reporter for CBC’s The National, was leaving a refugee camp outside of Kabul when she was kidnapped by armed men. She was forced to hike for several hours through the mountains until they reached a village; there, the kidnappers pushed her towards a hole in the ground. “No,” she said. “I am not going down there.” The narration is very good except that it's in one voice, other than a more childish voice for Sophia. The choice to make everyone in the story use the same voice meant that men sounded just like women and with so many characters in the story, I would get mixed up who was talking/thinking. I don't care for over acting when it comes to narration but I do think some distinction between the voices of main characters would be helpful. We spend a lot of time with both Adam and Mina and it would have been nice if Adam didn't sound just like Mina.
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