Synopsis
from Goodreads:
TV
reporter Tiel McCoy is driving to New Mexico for a well-earned
vacation when she hears the news on the radio: The teenage daughter
of Fort Worth tycoon Russell Dendy has been kidnapped. Immediately,
she abandons her holiday plans to chase down what could be the scoop
of a lifetime. But in a town called Rojo Flats an innocuous stop at a
convenience store thrusts her directly into the dramatic story--and a
dangerous drama. For inside the shop two desperate young lovers are
holding a half dozen frightened hostages ... and a powder keg of a
standoff is about to test Tiel's courage, journalistic objectivity,
and everything she has ever believed.
Stats
for my copy:
Mass market paperback, published by Warner Books, Inc., , 2001.
How
acquired:
Given to me by my mom in 2008.
My
thoughts: Sandra
Brown
is one of those authors whose books I generally buy new, sometimes
even in hardback because I can't wait for the cheaper paperback to
come out. My introduction to her was through her romance novels,
starting with HIDDEN FIRES, but THE WITNESS, a mystery/suspense, put
her on my list of favorite authors (and it's still my favorite of her
books).
STANDOFF
is more the length of the quick romance books at 261 pages, and not
as deep or involved as some of her other suspense books. The story
moves along pretty much in real time, though it takes less time to
read it than the time that passes for the characters.
Tiel
is a successful and popular reporter in a local market, with dreams
of hitting the big time. She's on her way to a vacation destination
when she hears a radio report of the kidnapping of a millionaire's
daughter, and she immediately calls her boss, wanting to be in on the
reporting. He's already got it covered for the most part, but
suggests she interview the kidnapper's father, a drive that takes her
several hours out of her way and into the middle of nowhere. She
stops at a convenience store to call him for directions (this was
before everybody had cell phones and GPS), and while there, who walks
in but the kidnapper and his “victim”, who is actually his very
pregnant girlfriend. Tiel suddenly finds herself in the middle of a
hold up and taken hostage by the two young lovers, along with the
store cashier, an elderly couple on their honeymoon, two Mexican men
who speak no English, and Doc.
Doc
is a mystery himself. He never provides his name, just says everyone
calls him Doc. He's a rancher, but when Sabra, the young girl, goes
into labor, he leaps in to help her and it's obvious he has some
medical knowledge. I thought maybe he was a veterinarian, or just had
lots of experience from birthing baby cows.
I
was a little put off at first by Tiel's attitude toward the whole
experience in the beginning, seeing it as an opportunity to further
her career. She has a small audio recorder hidden in her pocket, and
she surreptitiously sets up the elderly couple's video recorder so
that it's taping unobtrusively from a shelf. Doc puzzles her at
first, but then she finally recognizes him, as he'd been in the
middle of a huge media frenzy before disappearing from the limelight.
So she thinks she's going to be the reporter that announces to the
world where he's been all this time. Fortunately, while helping
deliver the baby and mediating between the kids and the feds by
phone, her priorities slowly shift.
And
Doc. He stayed a mystery to the very end. In fact, he's so much of a
mystery that in my head I couldn't picture him, he's just a
featureless face. While the story isn't told exclusively from Tiel's
point of view, the events inside the store are, with occasional cuts
to the parking lot and the point of view of the FBI agent in charge.
So we don't get to know Doc, or get any insight into his personality,
or really learn much about him at all beyond why he was such a hot
story in the past.
A
character study this is not. But a fast paced, attention keeping and
quite enjoyable read – it is.
