Hostage by Robert Crais

 

Jeff Talley was a LAPD crime negotiator.  He gave up that stressful job after years of it etching bitterly into his soul and after a negotiation went dreadfully wrong.  His marriage is in tatters as he went into a depression.  Finally, separated from his wife and daughter, Talley takes a job as police chief in a small bedroom suburb where crime is almost non-existent.

But crime is everywhere.  An ex-con meets up with another and they decide to knock off a small grocery.  They are accompanied by the leader's younger brother.  Things go wrong and they end up killing the grocery clerk.  Trying to get away, they break into a house and take the family hostage.

But they have picked the wrong family to terrorize.  The father is an accountant for the Mob and has hundreds of thousands of their cash in his safe.  The cons are determined to escape and take the money but it's not like the Mob is going to just sit back and let that happen.  Now Jeff must use his former skills to try to navigate between all the players and get the family out safe while capturing the criminals.  Can he do it?

Robert Crais is best known for his series about Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.  This novel is a standalone but is written with the suspense and twists that Crais knows how to deliver.  Talley is a tortured soul but has this one last chance to redeem himself to his family and the job.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.