Shelley Civkin Richmond Public Library

Thriller is a lot like fast food

Okay, so a leopard doesn’t change its spots - I’m back to reading suspense thrillers. It’s sort of like an obsession with me. Unless I get my “fix” of mystery and suspense, I feel bland, invisible, and ineffectual. So I’m at it again. Hostage by Robert Crais is my latest such “fix” and it’s a book worth borrowing. I read this one in two nights and couldn’t put it down. I’m not saying that it’s the thriller to beat all thrillers, but it’s fast moving, engaging, has a manageable cast of characters, and an easily digestible plot.

The story goes like this: small town Chief of Police Jeff Talley left the LAPD SWAT team as a hostage negotiator because of a botched assignment that still haunts him. His most rattling encounters now, in Bristo Bay, are jaywalking violations and petty theft. But when the hold-up of a convenience store clerk by three loser convicts goes sour, Talley finds himself smack in the middle of a hostage situation again.

The criminals are a group of bumbling idiots who screw up a robbery, run out of gas and take refuge in the ritzy home of Walter Smith. Trouble is, Smith is a more complicated man than his name would suggest. Turns out he’s the personal accountant for a huge and powerful West Coast mob family and his house is his office. Hmmm…the plot thickens.

To complicate matters, Smith and his kids are home when the criminals take over the house. So, what started as a small time stick-up turns into a full-blown hostage taking. Naturally the media gets wind of the situation and the next thing you know, the mob gets involved, realizing that if the cops storm the house, they’re going to find all sorts of incriminating evidence that could shut down their criminal activity for good.

The story finds Talley front and center in this high voltage confrontation, using negotiation tactics he hasn’t used in a while. The stress mounts, as does the body count, and soon Talley’s estranged wife and daughter become inextricably tied up the whole ugly mess. Anybody with an ounce of foresight could see this one coming a mile away, but even so, it adds to the suspense.

The drama unfolds with author Crais devoting each chapter to one character’s perspective and showing the action from that angle alone. And the fact that the chapters are quite short adds to the firecracker pace. On the minus side, some of the plotting is predictable but I can forgive that because overall, the story is pretty darn good. Word has it that Hostage is going to be made into a movie with Bruce Willis, so that pretty much says it all.

Bottom line: Hostage is the fast food equivalent of the suspense thriller, so if you like your stories hot, fast, and full of tasty but empty calories, then you’ll gobble this one up.

Shelley J. Civkin is the head of the Readers' Advisory Department at the Richmond Public Library. For other popular reading suggestions, check out Richmond Public Library's Web site at www.yourlibrary.ca/goodbooks .