2009 # 40

Jeffery Deaver - A Maiden's Grave - Finished - 3/14/2009

PB -A school bus with deaf teachers and school children is driving thru the Kansas country side on the way to a performance. They pass an accident and the driver stops to see what help can be rendered, but they wind up being the ones in need of help. The occupants of one car are dead and the occupants of the other, 3 escaped federal convicts are anything but. The teachers and the children (all Girls of various ages) are taken hostages by the escapes and driven to a near by abandoned slaughter house along side a river. They are spotted by a lone state trouper but he wisely backs off and calls for help which arrives over a period of hours in the form of an FBI hostage team, local and state officers. They cordon off the area and secure positions to prevent escape, then begin negotiations. Arthur Potter is one of the top FBI negotiators and he has a handpicked team to back him up, but things do not go smoothly beginning with the shooting of one of the hostages after she has been released and is walking to meet an advancing trooper. So begins a long stand off as both side jockey for advantage and upper hand further complicated by political meddling and jurisdictional friction. A good suspenseful read with surprises at the end that you donÕt see coming.

ISBN - 978-0-451-20429-5, Suspense, Pages - 419, Print Size - R, Rating - 4.75