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Hostage thriller addresses complex moral issues
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Published: August 9, 2009
"The Siege," by Stephen White (Dutton, $26)
This is the sort of book that, just a few pages in, becomes hard to read. It's like having some of your worst fears about the possibilities of terrorism ripped from your head and put on the page. It's gripping and realistic and terrifying.
The novel opens outside the Book and Snake "tomb" on the campus of Yale University. The building is home to a secret society, much like the more famous Skull and Crossbones. Outside, there's a crowd of police, media and onlookers. Inside, someone is holding students hostage, including the children of a Supreme Court justice and the secretary of the Army.
A hostage emerges from the front door. He delivers a demand. His captors know cell phone service into the building has been cut. They want it back on. Or? "I will die in four minutes," the kid says. He reveals a rectangular object attached to his waist with the word "bomb" written on it. "The device appears about as threatening as a burlesque prop," White writes.
Every minute thereafter, the kid - ID'd by police as Jonathan Simmons - checks his watch and announces his imminent death. At the last moment, realizing this might be for real, police scramble, moving everyone away from the building.
White writes: "He raises his eyes. He blinks rapidly. He mouths, 'Mom, I love you.'
"The explosion is loud and forceful enough, it seems, to stop the world."
From that extraordinary opening scene, White manages to do something beyond the skills of all but the most talented thriller writers - offer a page-turning tale that addresses moral issues many popular writers wouldn't touch.
The plot is driven by simple questions: Who is holding the students hostage? Why are some being released unharmed? Who will win the cat-and-mouse game between the kidnappers and law enforcement?
The bulk of the novel is told from the perspective of four people. On the ground in front of the Book and Snake is the primary hostage negotiator, Sgt. Christine Carmody. She's dealing not only with a deadly hostage situation, but also with an implacable bureaucracy and inept commander.
Also involved are troubled FBI agent Christopher Poe, still suffering post-traumatic stress from the Oklahoma City bombing, and his lover, CIA analyst Deirdre Drake, who is married to someone else. Their personal problems, particularly Poe's, continue to influence their approach to the case.
The fourth perspective comes from Sam Purdy, a detective White fans will recognize as a side character in White's popular Alan Gregory novels. Purdy's stepdaughter is getting married, and her fiance's sister is one of the hostages. When the parents enlist Purdy to help them, he discovers the kidnappers are in touch with hostages' parents and have given them a horrible choice to make.
To White's credit, the story does not unfold predictably, and by the end he has raised complex personal issues involving duty to country versus duty to family, but also macro issues about United States foreign policy. It's everything a thriller should be.
Kevin Walker edits the books pages and Friday Extra for The Tampa Tribune.
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