Dennis Flynn

Held Hostage is a unique book, providing readers with intimate insight into hostage negotiations. The author takes us through a variety of cases he worked. With each case, we start with an overview of the situation, including the area, the people involved, and events leading up the the Crisis Negotiation Team being called in. The author then shares a fairly thorough step-by-step process of what he and his team did in the situation. And, finally, the author offers a "Lessons Learned" section, where he sums up what the team did right, what they could have done better, and what was learned by the experience.

These stories are a fascinating study in human nature, as well as in police response to deadly situations. Learning how the police handle these things behind the scenes is enlightening.

The writing has some problems. There is a lot more telling than showing, so, while interesting, this isn't the strong emotional read it could have been. Sentence structure is, at times, awkward. Also, there are quite a lot of editing issues, creating stumbling points for readers throughout. This book would benefit from a good editor.

Overall, this reads more like a training manual than a compelling narrative. In fact, I think this book should be read by law enforcement personnel who are training in this particular field.

*I was provided with an ebook copy by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*… (mehr)