A powerful and political thriller from the master of the genre. The scene is set for a huge funeral in St Patrick's Cathedral in New York. The rich and the famous from all over America -- and beyond -- have arrived to honour a former First Lady after her sudden, unexpected death. Then follows an attack that was three years in the planning. Hostages are taken -- the ex-President among them -- ransoms demanded, a couple of hostages shot to show the kidnappers mean business. It's all brilliantly and chillingly co-ordinated, and Michael Bennett, the detective in charge of the case, knows it will be his biggest ever challenge.
As much as I liked the Bennetts and all of their preciousness and would read another book with them in it, the rest of this book felt hollow and cliched to me. I couldn’t bring myself to feel connected to or care about any of the hostages except Eugenia, which is just as well since you don’t hear a bit about them as individuals after the hostage situation ends. And his wife’s sickness and eventual death seemed really contrived to me, like Patterson is trying to make you like Bennett because look! His wife is dying! Poor guy! I think it would have worked better if she was already dead before the story began.
