Robert Crais: Hostage (USA 2020)

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. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 9781984818737 (May, 2020), 482 p., $9.99.

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.

'A brilliantly engineered thriller... Allocate time for reading; you won't want to leave the book alone for long' -- Literary Review

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:
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...

"A brilliantly engineered thriller... Allocate time for reading; you won't want to leave the book alone for long' -- Literary Review
"If you're new to Crais Hostage is a brilliant intro. Read this, then read all his others' -- Daily Mirror

Robert Crais: Hostage. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752847872 (September, 2002), 383 p., £5.99.

Robert Crais: Hostage (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
"CRIMINALLY ENTERTAINING... THE TENSION BUILDS AS THE CHAOS ESCALATES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE HOUSE." -- The New York Times Book Review
In a sleepy suburb north of Los Angeles, a convenience-store robbery turns violent. With the police on their tail, three criminals flee the scene and invade a home in an exclusive gated community, taking captive a panicked father and his two children.

Police chief Jeff Talley, a former hostage negotiator with the LAPD's SWAT unit, is now thrown back into the high-pressure world that he has so desperately tried to leave behind. But Talley's nightmare has barely begun, because this isn't just any house; it holds the dirty secrets of L.A.'s biggest crime lord. And the people inside aren't the only ones being held hostage... .

"CAPTIVATING... A BLOCKBUSTER-READY TALE SO VIVID, YOU DON'T READ, YOU WATCH." -- People
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM MIRAMAX FILMS

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

Robert Crais: Hostage (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
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 unbearable toll. After he fails to prevent a despondent father from killing his wife and son and then himself, Talley hits bottom. His own marriage ends, he resigns from SWAT, and takes the chief-of-police job in a sleepy, affluent commuter district far from the chaos and crime of Los Angeles. Maybe here he can escape his former life.

But Talley's pursuit of a peaceful small-town existence is interrupted when three young men, fleeing the robbery of a mini-mart, burst into a 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 just isn't any house. It belongs to a brilliant, white-collar criminal who launders money for L.A.'s renegade Mafia family.

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 for life. 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 fate and the only one capable of diffusing the crisis is the least stable of them all.

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.