Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Siege by Stephen White. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
The Siege by Stephen White
Non-series
Dutton (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-525-95122-9 (0525951229)
ISBN-13: 978-0-525-95122-3 (9780525951223)
Publication Date: August 2009
List Price: $25.95
Review: Stephen White's stunning thriller The Siege features a secondary character from his Alan Gregory series, Sam Purdy, who is drawn into an "evolution of terror" on the campus of Yale University.
Purdy has been temporarily suspended from the Boulder (CO) police force so is available to travel to New Haven (CT) at the request, really a plea, of geophysicist Ann Calderon. Her daughter Jane is being held hostage in a fortress-like building at Yale by an unidentified number of people. The building is home to a secret society on campus, the Book and Snake, and the hostages, all students, are either members or tabbed for membership. But the situation is unlike any other, as it appears to be a new group with new goals employing a new strategy and new tactics. Hostages are allowed to leave, one at a time, but only after a request has been made to the student's family and response received. If the answer is satisfactory, the student leaves dressed in blue and is free; if not, the student leaves dressed in orange and is killed in front of the powerless police, FBI and CIA. The terrorists will only negotiate with the families of their hostages, and Ann Calderon isn't sure what they want, or what she has to give.
Purdy eventually joins forces with FBI Agent Christopher Poe and CIA analyst Deirdre Drake and together they throw out the rule book and look to determine what can be done to resolve the situation before any more students lose their lives, either as a the result of being killed by the terrorists or as a consequence of a rescue attempt by the authorities.
Meticulously plotted, unpredictable and unforgettable, The Siege is a gripping thriller that starts strong and never lets up. A must read novel, its story will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Siege and to Penguin Group for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
If you are interested in purchasing The Siege from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. The Siege (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.
Synopsis (from the publisher): As a lovely April weekend approaches on the Yale campus it appears that a number of students—including the sons of both the Secretary of the Army and newest Supreme Court Justice—may have suddenly gone missing. Kidnapping? Prank? Terrorism? The authorities aren't sure. No demands are made. But the high profile disappearances draw the attention of the CIA and the FBI's vaunted Hostage Rescue Team. Attention quickly focuses on the fortress-like tomb of one of Yale's secret societies.
Suspended Boulder police detective Sam Purdy is minding his own business in Miami, where he is attending the engagement party of his girlfriend's daughter. The wealthy mother-of-the-groom to-be, Ann Summers Calderon, pulls Sam aside to confide that she's received an ominous warning. When Ann's daughter, a Yale junior, fails to arrive in Florida for her brother's festivities, Sam soon finds himself on a private jet to New Haven, where he is quickly snared by an unlikely pair of Feds. FBI agent Christopher Poe and CIA analyst Deirdre Drake each have their own reasons to fear, and seek, whoever is behind the mystery. Sam, Poe, and Dee join together, desperately trying to solve the riddle of what is going on inside the windowless Ionic stone tomb on the edge of campus.
The clock is pounding in their ears. The unknown enemy is playing by no known rules ... Is making no demands ... Is refusing to communicate with the hostage negotiator ... Is somehow anticipating every FBI move ... Is completely unconcerned about getting away ...
And ... one by one, is sending students out the building's front door to die.
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