Library Journal
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Reporter Frank Corso is back, landing in the midst of a desperate hostage situation. Ford, author of the Leo Waterman mysteries, lives in Seattle. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

When Timothy Driver, who's serving life without parole in Meza Azul, America's most escape-proof prison, seizes control of the place and demands that Seattle true-crime writer Frank Corso come to Arizona to negotiate for the lives of 163 hostages, most sensible people would see it as an offer they can refuse-but not Corso, who's written a book about Driver. Ford seems so intent on separating his suspense novels about Corso (this is the fifth, after 2004's Red Tide) from his lighter series about Seattle PI Leo Waterman that he darkens the environment and ups the danger ante to a grippingly readable but somewhat less-than-reasonable level. True, Corso does make a point of reassuring a doubtful Coast Guard officer sent to tell him about the demand, "Driver doesn't want to kill me. He wants to make sure his story gets told," but the officer (and the reader) don't believe that for a minute-especially when we know that Driver's accomplice in the takeover is a brutal biker, Cutter Kehoe. Driver and Kehoe are frighteningly fascinating in their actions and thoughts, and there's also a touchingly believable reality-show TV star, Melanie Harris, who sees the story as a way to boost her sagging ratings. Agent, Lisa Erbach Vance at Aaron M. Priest. (July 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A prison inmate has taken hostages, 163 of them, and he'll kill one every six hours until he is granted a meeting with crime writer Frank Corso. It's not easy to bring Corso (protagonist of A Blind Eye, 2003, etc.) to the scene of the crime. He's on the Saltheart, his boat, in Seattle's Garrison Bay when the Coast Guard finally tracks him down to inform him of his command performance. Though Corso likes thumbing his nose at command performances, his inner Galahad wins out. Soon, he's on his way to Meza Azul, the Arizona maximum security facility where former Navy Captain Timothy Driver holds his vigil, having already executed one prison guard. Corso and Driver have a history. Several years earlier, Corso, a true-crime writer of note, had published a sympathetic bestseller about Driver. Though it's true Driver had shot his wife and her lover to death, Corso presented him as a decent man savaged by betrayal. Is more sympathy what's wanted here? Corso wonders. Before he can nail down the answer, he becomes a hostage himself as the prison break explodes. Now what Corso must decide—his life will depend on it—is how much of the decent man survives in the stone killer. Another seamless performance from the accomplished Ford, whose list of winners has grown long enough to place him among the first-stringers. Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.