The Hostage

Starred review from November 7, 2005
Is Griffin our Homer or Tacitus? Those military experts wrote about real soldiers—and what the world needs now is a real-life Charley Castillo, Griffin's smart and efficient Department of Homeland Security agent, who works directly for the president on cases calling for more than routine skills. Introduced in By Order of the President
(2004), Castillo is an excellent alternative to the usual crew who make it to the headlines. Told in Griffin's trademark clean and compelling prose, studded with convincing insider details, Castillo's second outing starts with an American diplomat's murder in Argentina, the kidnapping of his wife, and threats to murder her children unless she reveals the whereabouts of her brother, a U.N. diplomat involved in the food-for-Iraqi-oil scandal. Castillo and his team of tough and shrewd experts are just the kind of believable people we want in these situations. And if it takes a novelist like Griffin, who has honed his skills and weapons in five previous series, to bring them to life, at least their real counterparts will have some fictional role models to live up to.

March 6, 2006
Prolific Griffin brings back Delta Force Maj. Charley Castillo (last seen in 2004's By Order of the President
) for a second outing in this fast-paced adventure. What begins with the kidnapping of an American diplomat's wife in Argentina soon escalates to murder with links to the international Iraqi oil-for-food scandal. This is Griffin's 36th novel and it is clear that he is writing at the top of his game as he manages to imbue this complex, timely thriller with plenty of action, steely-eyed heroes and ruthless villains. Dick Hill, no stranger to the thriller genre or Griffin's audiobooks, gives a solid, assured performance. He smoothly balances the book's numerous characters and accents with ease, and is able to keep the considerable expositional narrative simple and straightforward without ever lapsing into a monotonous reading. This is no easy feat given the intricacies of the book's story line, and its 18-hour running time. Hill is ably assisted by Brilliance's first-rate editing and production values, all of which combine to keep the story moving and the listener involved. Griffin has written a terrific story and hopefully it won't be the last to feature special ops agent Castillo. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 7).