The Siege
Non-series
Stephen
White
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
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.
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
Have you read The Siege? How would you rate it?
Non-series thrillers by this author ...
The Siege
Dutton (Hardcover), August 2009
ISBN-10: 0-525-95122-9 (0525951229)
ISBN-13: 978-0-525-95122-3 (9780525951223)
Omnimystery keywords for The Siege ...
Location(s) referenced: New Haven, Connecticut.
