A school bus carrying 8 deaf girls, ages 8 to about 18, is traveling through rural Nebraska on its way to a performance for the hard of hearing in a distant city. There’s a wreck on the road. The bus stops to investigate. It turns out the wreck was caused by three escaped convicts. The convicts pounce on the girls (and chaperone) and hold them hostage in a nearby slaughterhouse.
Arthur Potter is a retired hostage negotiator. He’s one of the best. He’s flown in from the east coast to work his magic. The story begins. The story is a good one. Not great. But good. One of the goals of the author is to educate the reader on what it takes to be a hostage rescuer/negotiator. In many ways, you could argue this novel could serve as a “What To Do” book, or, “Hostage Negotiating For Dummies”. Or something like that. We’re exposed to all of the drama from the front lines. Including the media, the governor, the local yokels. etc. etc.
I confess that I’m not really familiar with what a slaughterhouse looks like. Based on the descriptions here, it sounds pretty gruesome. This would probably make a very effective setting for a movie. Especially as the day/negotiation wears on through the night. Inside the slaughterhouse, we meet the unfortunate young girls. The focus is on Melanie. She’s one of the older ones (about 16), and much of the story is told through her eyes (and ears). It seems she wasn’t born deaf, but suffered through an infection at a young age. So Jeffery Deaver also educates the reader on many aspects of the life of the hard of hearing. He’s definitely done his homework.
So the day, and night, go on. There are several unnecessary distractions in this book that seem a bit silly. Plus, it does get a little wearisome to hear Arthur constantly lecturing everyone and anyone in his vicinity about how clueless they are about such a situation. He’s rather condescending - but in a somewhat nice way. The convicts? They’re pretty ruthless. I won’t go into details here, but let’s just say that their crimes are far more serious than petty larceny.
So a lot of the book seems to drag on a bit. Fortunately, as I’ve discovered about Deaver, he does an outstanding job in the department of plot twists and story endings. He doesn’t disappoint here. Sadly, many authors I read can be just the opposite. They tell a great story, but can’t seem to wrap things up satisfactorily. So my advice for this one is to stick with it, and don’t let the disturbing, macabre scenes force you to give up. Not one of his best, but better then a lot of what’s out there.
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