© 2007 Joseph Finder
St. Martin's Paperbacks
Summary
Jake Landry is a last-minute replacement at a middle-of-nowhere corporate retreat for high-level execs. His ex-girlfriend is the new CEO's personal assistant. While trying to juggle the business world with his former relationship, Jake finds himself as the hostage of hunters who have barged into the lodge.
My Thoughts
The words flowed nicely and were well chosen. Sometimes I encountered a word I didn't know (or had never bothered to verify the definition), and I would take a moment to check it out. But on average, the level of reading was fairly easy for an adult.
The number of characters to keep track of was slightly higher than I normally like. On occasion I would have to search for that character in previous chapters to recall what his or her role was in the story. Luckily the main characters were easy enough to remember and the bad guys were generally described in a manner that indicated they were not the good guys. I didn't need to know their histories. The other characters were either the execs or the lodge workers. If they spoke about business, they were execs. Everyone else worked at the lodge and didn't need to be memorable.
The business industry terms used in the book were pretty well explained by the author. There was a lot of aircraft-specific wording, but I wasn't playing Sherlock Holmes and I didn't need an in-depth knowledge of the industry. I was satisfied with the explanations provided. They gave me enough details to understand the plot and they seemed well researched and thought out.
The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading to the end, although I found myself questioning where it was going, especially during the first half of the story. The first half was mostly back story and character histories. Since there wasn't a lot of conflict in those, it got somewhat tedious and I would check the book's blurb to see what I should expect to encounter when the excitement started. The second half of the book consisted entirely of one main event. While the action was sometimes fast-paced, it was mostly too real-life seeming. Why was Jake the only one who could save the group, as the situation was described in the blurb? I thought the other execs should have had more courage to at least fight a little, but they simply sat back and awaited whatever fate the hostage-takers decided. The business-side of the story was so true to form that I was most scared by that. The hostage-taking had its moments, but since that doesn't happen to most people, it was more difficult to believe. But the bantering between the execs was downright freaky. While they are all tied up and guarded by men with guns, they are quibbling over who caused this situation to happen. Rather than try to find a way to escape, they clamored over each other in an attempt to reach the top levels of the company. Having seen this happen in real life, although under less hostage-filled situations, I was awestruck with how Joseph Finder created these characters and their endless need to prove themselves in the business world.
Overall, I rate this book a 7 out of 10.
The number of characters to keep track of was slightly higher than I normally like. On occasion I would have to search for that character in previous chapters to recall what his or her role was in the story. Luckily the main characters were easy enough to remember and the bad guys were generally described in a manner that indicated they were not the good guys. I didn't need to know their histories. The other characters were either the execs or the lodge workers. If they spoke about business, they were execs. Everyone else worked at the lodge and didn't need to be memorable.
The business industry terms used in the book were pretty well explained by the author. There was a lot of aircraft-specific wording, but I wasn't playing Sherlock Holmes and I didn't need an in-depth knowledge of the industry. I was satisfied with the explanations provided. They gave me enough details to understand the plot and they seemed well researched and thought out.
The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading to the end, although I found myself questioning where it was going, especially during the first half of the story. The first half was mostly back story and character histories. Since there wasn't a lot of conflict in those, it got somewhat tedious and I would check the book's blurb to see what I should expect to encounter when the excitement started. The second half of the book consisted entirely of one main event. While the action was sometimes fast-paced, it was mostly too real-life seeming. Why was Jake the only one who could save the group, as the situation was described in the blurb? I thought the other execs should have had more courage to at least fight a little, but they simply sat back and awaited whatever fate the hostage-takers decided. The business-side of the story was so true to form that I was most scared by that. The hostage-taking had its moments, but since that doesn't happen to most people, it was more difficult to believe. But the bantering between the execs was downright freaky. While they are all tied up and guarded by men with guns, they are quibbling over who caused this situation to happen. Rather than try to find a way to escape, they clamored over each other in an attempt to reach the top levels of the company. Having seen this happen in real life, although under less hostage-filled situations, I was awestruck with how Joseph Finder created these characters and their endless need to prove themselves in the business world.
Overall, I rate this book a 7 out of 10.
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