The Siege by Stephen White, a Mysterious Review.

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.

Compound Fractures
Dutton (Hardcover), August 2013
ISBN-13: 9780525952602; ISBN-10: 0525952608

The Siege

An Alan Gregory Mystery by Stephen White