Robert Crais: Hostage

By MICHELE HEWITSON

Best-known for his wonderful Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series, Crais, a former script-writer for LA Law and Hill Street Blues, knows a thing or two about penning a potential script posing as a thriller. In Hostage a good man, Jeff Talley, falls apart under the stress of his work as a frontline negotiator with the LAPD's Swat unit. His marriage looks to be over; his career is over.

He moves to a small suburb, takes a low-stress job as police chief and tries to heal himself from the recurring nightmare of a hostage situation gone horribly wrong.

Instead Talley finds himself in a hostage situation, which looks like it's going to go horribly wrong. His wife and daughter get involved, the Mafia are already involved and Talley's got some tough choices to make.

Crais knows his stuff and Hostage is a slick, smart read. You can't fault him for plot and he can write all right. But the obligatory, schmultzy, made-for-Hollywood ending would make the cynical Pike puke.

Hodder Moa Beckett

$37.95