What do You think about The Wrong Hostage (2007)?
SPOILER ALERT!Ms. Lowell' s descriptive monologue rendered through Judge Grace Silva, as she drove through Mexico to see her smartaleck son, Lane, who was being held hostage at All Saints' Catholic School, had you gripped with a foreshadowing of 'things' to come. Throughout the novel, she cleverly embeds some realistic facts on the true nature of the USA / Mexico's political-economic relationship, and why our nation's 'war on drugs' has been such a horrendous failure, despite the billions of dollars thrown at it, since the Reagan Era.This novel was a blend of the movies, 'A-Team' and 'Taken', in book form. Joe F., who was truly Lane' s biological dad, unbeknowst to the both of them,, had to rescue Lane from Hector, the butcher, leader of the largest Mexican drug cartel. The St. Kilda' s security team, headed by Ambassador Steele, was able to formulate a plan within the forty-eight hour deadline, which not only rescued Lane, but had the Judge executing Hector after she tendered her resignation from the federal bench.The novel was well written, with an amazing plot, and great character development, so much that I truly despised Ted Franklin, the ex-husband /legal father of Lane, and the person who gave him, as collateral to Hector. I was slightly perplexed, as to how easily the judge tendered her position to the federal bench, but I realized she would not have desired it once she realized how tainted it was achieved. The ending I was a tad disappointing, as I would have preferred. Joe and Grace to finally enjoy each other after all these years apart, and not be associated with St. Kilda even in a managerial aspect. Joe needs to go to his TAZ with Grace and 'get it on' . I highly recommend this novel.
—Gwen
#2 in the St. Kilda Consulting mystery series. It is a for hire company which operates behind the scenes and gets things done that governments and real world justice agencies aren't able to accomplish. This story takes place in north western Mexico involves Mexican drug lords and an American high powered businessman who appears to be swindling the drug lord out of multimillions. The business man has placed his son as a hostage to the drug lord who is threatening to kill the boy if the business man doesn't come up with the money and other things. The mother hires St. Kilda to rescue her son.The story moves quite quickly and is action packed with macho people, plots, counter plots, and U.S. government agencies. The story is pretty standard for this genre in that there's a good guy who operates outside the law who can pretty much accomplish anything, romance between the lead female and male characters, stumbling bumbling bad guys, and U.S. government agencies. One can pretty much predict the conclusion, but it was still an enjoyable read.
—George
Elizabeth Lowell has been one of my favorite writers for years even though I've not read anything of hers in a while. I was in the right mood and this was in my queue...I'm a little peeved that this is the second in a series (I hate reading out of order), but I really don't feel that I missed that much. Joe and Grace were good characters, better than I thought they'd be at first. In fact, I have no complaints on that end. The story made sense to me and it was chock full of realistic details...too full at times. I'd get so caught up in the background of the world that going back into the plot was a little jarring at times.That being said I can't wait to read more about St. Kilda.
—Alice
