2007, ISBN: 9780312357894

Gebundene Ausgabe

Orion. Good. 18 x 11cm. Paperback. 2002. 383 pages.<br>Reviews Hostage negotiator Jim Talley, traumatized by a crisis gone bad, has left not only his SWAT job but his fam ily as w… Mehr…

Orion. Good. 18 x 11cm. Paperback. 2002. 383 pages.<br>Reviews Hostage negotiator Jim Talley, traumatized by a crisis gone bad, has left not only his SWAT job but his fam ily as well, hiding out as chief of police in a small town. When a robbery gets out of control and three would-be thieves become k illers, they hide in a house in Talley's jurisdiction, taking a f amily of three hostage. Worse, one of the hostages is the bookkee per for a mob boss who, rightly worried that his secrets and $1.2 million in cash are at risk, tracks down Talley's wife and daugh ter for hostages of his own. Sound a little, well, unlikely? Oh, and one of the robbers is a psycho serial killer who keeps his mo ther's head in the freezer. Crais ratchets up the suspense about as far as it will go here but, sadly, declines to invest his char acters with any attributes deeper than a name and a role (born lo ser, stressed cop, mob boss, psycho killer, spoiled teen). There are some nice insights into hostage negotiation, though, in the e nd, it all seems to come down to shouting the obvious. Reader Jam es Daniels does his best with these stereotypes, while suffusing the story with real urgency. Had Crais made us care about any of his characters, this would easily have risen above the level of a n optional purchase.-John Hiett, Iowa City P.L. Copyright 2002 Ca hners Business Information. The title of Crais's fiery third thr iller (after L.A. Requiem and Demolition Angel) can refer not jus t to the two sets of innocents held at gunpoint in the story but to the reader, who will be wired tight to the book. The novel lau nches with a familiar (as familiar as Demolition Angel) premise: a soul-scarred cop here, former L.A. SWAT hostage negotiator Jeff Talley, now chief of police of smalltown Bristo Bay, Calif. plun ges into an assignment that forces him to confront his demons. Th e devil clawing Talley's brain is the dying gaze of a young hosta ge he failed to save in L.A. Now three outlaws two lowlife brothe rs and a homicidal maniac have, after botching a robbery-homicide , taken refuge in a swank house in Bristo Bay. At their mercy are the family's dad, whom they've knocked unconscious, and his teen daughter and preteen son. The whopper of a complication is that the dad serves as bookkeeper for Sonny Benza, West Coast mob king pin, and Benza will do whatever's necessary to retrieve the incri minatory records secreted in the house before the cops storm the place. The narrative ticks with suspense as Talley negotiates wit h the three outlaws, and as they and the kids they're holding res pond with panic, fear and courage to the escalating tension. It s naps into overdrive as Benza and his goons snatch Talley's wife a nd daughter, holding them ransom for the records; the flow is mar red only by a couple of cheap turns obviously devised for the sil ver screen. Thriller vets will have seen a lot of this before, bu t every virtuoso is allowed variations on a theme, and Crais, wit h his record and with the smart suspense offered here, has proven himself nothing less. (On-sale date: Aug. 7) Forecast: Crais sel ls more with each title, and this will prove no exception. A 15-c ity author tour will enhance his visibility, as will forthcoming film versions of Demolition Angel and of Hostage, which has alrea dy been bought for Bruce Willis and MGM; Crais is writing the scr eenplays for both films. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Informat ion. ., Orion, 2002, 2.5, Random House. Fair. 177mm / 111mm. Paperback. 1997. 484 pages. Cover very worn. Text tanned<br>Based on the bestselle r by John Grisham, Runaway Jury is a slick thriller that's exciti ng enough to overcome the gaps in its plot. The ultimate target h as been changed: Grisham's legal assault on the tobacco industry was switched to the hot-button issue of gun control (no doubt to avoid comparison to The Insider) in a riveting exposé of jury-tam pering. Gene Hackman plays the ultra-cynical, utterly unscrupulou s pawn of the gun-makers, using an expert staff and advanced elec tronics to hand-pick a New Orleans jury that will return a favora ble verdict; Dustin Hoffman (making his first screen appearance w ith real-life former roommate Hackman) defends the grieving widow of a gun-shooting victim with idealistic zeal, while maverick ju ror John Cusack and accomplice Rachel Weisz play both ends agains t the middle in a personal quest to hold gun-makers accountable. It's riveting stuff, even when it's obvious that Grisham and dire ctor Gary Fleder have glossed over any details that would unravel the plot's intricate design. ., Random House, 1997, 2, Hardback. Very Good., 3, W. H. Allen. Hardback. 278pp. The story of Dickensian plays and players from 1836 to the TV era. Black and white frontis. Useful appendices of plays, players, theatres etc. Red cloth with gilt titles to spine. There is a medium sized air bubble between the cloth and the front board. Bumped to one corner. Text is clean and neat. Binding is sound. Dust wrapper is poor. Very good copy in Chipped and Torn dw. . Hardcover. First Edition. 1952., W. H. Allen, 1952, 0, Trade Paperback. St. Martins Press 2007. Unless Listed in this decription, VG or Better., 0<

2007, ISBN: 9780312357894

Taschenbuch

New York: St. Martin's Griffin/Published by St. Martin's Press, 2007. 1st Edition: June 2007 . Trade Paperback. Like New. 8vo or 8° (Medium Octavo): 7¾" x 9&frac… Mehr…

New York: St. Martin's Griffin/Published by St. Martin's Press, 2007. 1st Edition: June 2007 . Trade Paperback. Like New. 8vo or 8° (Medium Octavo): 7¾" x 9¾" tall. Philip Pascuzzo (Cover Design); The Kobal Collection (Cover Photo); Phil Mazzone (Design). 332 pp. An excellent, spotlessly clean copy! Clean, fresh, sharp, tight, essentially and virtually flawless copy with crisp pages, spotlessly clean text, and very light shelf wear., St. Martin's Griffin/Published by St. Martin's Press, 2007, 5<