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A Maiden's Grave
Alternate cover version of ISBN 9780340653753/0340653752
The New York Times bestselling master of ticking-bomb suspense.
Eight vulnerable girls and their helpless teachers are forced off a school bus and held hostage. The madman who has them at gunpoint has a simple plan: one hostage an hour will die unless the demands are met. Called to the scene is Arthur Potter, the FBI's best hostage negotiator. He has a plan. But so does one of the hostages-a beautiful teacher who's willing to do anything to save the lives of her students. Now, the clock is ticking as a chilling game of cat and mouse begins.
The New York Times bestselling master of ticking-bomb suspense.
Eight vulnerable girls and their helpless teachers are forced off a school bus and held hostage. The madman who has them at gunpoint has a simple plan: one hostage an hour will die unless the demands are met. Called to the scene is Arthur Potter, the FBI's best hostage negotiator. He has a plan. But so does one of the hostages-a beautiful teacher who's willing to do anything to save the lives of her students. Now, the clock is ticking as a chilling game of cat and mouse begins.
422 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1995
692 people are currently reading
3344 people want to read
About the author
Jeffery Deaver
389 books11.8k followers#1 international bestselling author of over thirty novels and three collections of short stories. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. His first novel featuring Lincoln Rhyme, The Bone Collector, was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 459 reviews
November 12, 2011
This is one terrific thriller, children. It is not a cozy, or a whozie. There are no Uzis, international terrorists, or high-tech missiles. This novel takes a whole six pages of the first chapter to rear up from the page and grab you by the throat. And it doesn't let go until well after page 422.
You're in Kansas, rolling across fields of amber-waving grain. On a school bus with a group of deaf children, aged seven or eight to seventeen. You are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Three escaped convicts hijack the bus, take the two teachers, only one of whom can hear, hostage.
With a lone patrol car on their tail, the hostage takers hole up in an abandoned slaughterhouse. Now, think about that as a macabre locale. Deaver makes the most of it. Even if you've never been in a slaughterhouse, by the time Deaver is through with you, you'll know you've have experienced one. A senior FBI hostage negotiation team, led by tired, overweight, experienced, Arthur Potter, arrives to try to find a way to contain the brutal convicts and (perhaps) save the hostage children. It becomes a twelve-hour siege.
Deaver's intimate exploration of the interplay between hostage takers, hostages, and between those two groups and the hostage negotiation team is fascinating, appalling and interesting all at the same time. Layered in many levels, the book is full of action with many surprises, but I view it primarily as a close-up look at the psychological makeup of the characters and their rivals, and the mental shifts many of them are forced to endure during the struggle. In addition, we are privy to internal maneuvering between sections of the FBI, inter-agency rivalry, and between federal and local authorities and local politicians. One also learns a good deal about the world and about attitudes of the deaf, the Deaf and the near-deaf.
Thievery, murder and arson mount to ever increasing tension and suspense. I mark this as one of the best novels in the suspense/mystery genre I've read in many a year. About the ending. No, this isn't a spoiler. You'll read this book and think you have it all figured out. A major, perplexing, event that happens early on is abruptly resolved. Or is it?
I'll say it again, except for one or two lapses, this is one terrific novel.
You're in Kansas, rolling across fields of amber-waving grain. On a school bus with a group of deaf children, aged seven or eight to seventeen. You are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Three escaped convicts hijack the bus, take the two teachers, only one of whom can hear, hostage.
With a lone patrol car on their tail, the hostage takers hole up in an abandoned slaughterhouse. Now, think about that as a macabre locale. Deaver makes the most of it. Even if you've never been in a slaughterhouse, by the time Deaver is through with you, you'll know you've have experienced one. A senior FBI hostage negotiation team, led by tired, overweight, experienced, Arthur Potter, arrives to try to find a way to contain the brutal convicts and (perhaps) save the hostage children. It becomes a twelve-hour siege.
Deaver's intimate exploration of the interplay between hostage takers, hostages, and between those two groups and the hostage negotiation team is fascinating, appalling and interesting all at the same time. Layered in many levels, the book is full of action with many surprises, but I view it primarily as a close-up look at the psychological makeup of the characters and their rivals, and the mental shifts many of them are forced to endure during the struggle. In addition, we are privy to internal maneuvering between sections of the FBI, inter-agency rivalry, and between federal and local authorities and local politicians. One also learns a good deal about the world and about attitudes of the deaf, the Deaf and the near-deaf.
Thievery, murder and arson mount to ever increasing tension and suspense. I mark this as one of the best novels in the suspense/mystery genre I've read in many a year. About the ending. No, this isn't a spoiler. You'll read this book and think you have it all figured out. A major, perplexing, event that happens early on is abruptly resolved. Or is it?
I'll say it again, except for one or two lapses, this is one terrific novel.
December 5, 2014
Three convicts escape from a state prison in Kansas and the horror begins when they intersect with a school bus carrying deaf students and two teachers on a lonely road. They're trapped in an abandoned slaughterhouse while federal and state law enforcement surround them and hostage negotiations ensue.
This was a harrowing story and a psychological thriller as the main leader for the felons isn't your typical escapee. The tangle between federal and state officials complicate the situation as dueling agendas emerge. Even the hostages are at odds as some of the issues that divide the deaf community are a factor.
It's a tough story with some unique surprises throughout. I'm still mulling over the implications of the very complicated ending. Fascinating book offering an education about the details of hostage negotiations and the issues within the world of the deaf.
This was a harrowing story and a psychological thriller as the main leader for the felons isn't your typical escapee. The tangle between federal and state officials complicate the situation as dueling agendas emerge. Even the hostages are at odds as some of the issues that divide the deaf community are a factor.
It's a tough story with some unique surprises throughout. I'm still mulling over the implications of the very complicated ending. Fascinating book offering an education about the details of hostage negotiations and the issues within the world of the deaf.
December 15, 2017
I did not expect that!
This book reads like a runaway juggernaut travelling at 150 kph. Look out it's about to crash.
I have read quite a lot of Jeffery Deaver over the years but they have always been one of his serial books, Lincoln Rhyme or Kathryn Dance. This is the first time reading one of his stand alone novels.
What pace, what tension, what a great read.
I've had this book for years and always thought, "ye one day I might". How wrong can you be?
A school bus with mixed age students and two teachers on board, all deaf except for one teacher, are travelling to a school theatre outing for the deaf in a nearby town. The bus stops when they come across, what appears to be, a car accident. The teachers get out to have a look. Whilst investigating the accident that are set upon by three escaped prisoners who kidnap the bus and all its occupants. In the distance there is blue and red lights flashing and sirens going. the police are in pursuit. The convicts take the bus to an abandoned slaughterhouse and barricade themselves in with the kids and teachers as hostages.
FBI special agent Arthur Potter arrives on the scene as head negotiators. As if Arthur doesn't have enough to contend with he also has to deal with the state police, the assistant state Attorney and an over zealous hostage rescue captain, who all want the lion share of the action. The tension that all this generates is almost unbearable. Just when you think things can't get any worse, it does.
Can't recommend highly enough.
This book reads like a runaway juggernaut travelling at 150 kph. Look out it's about to crash.
I have read quite a lot of Jeffery Deaver over the years but they have always been one of his serial books, Lincoln Rhyme or Kathryn Dance. This is the first time reading one of his stand alone novels.
What pace, what tension, what a great read.
I've had this book for years and always thought, "ye one day I might". How wrong can you be?
A school bus with mixed age students and two teachers on board, all deaf except for one teacher, are travelling to a school theatre outing for the deaf in a nearby town. The bus stops when they come across, what appears to be, a car accident. The teachers get out to have a look. Whilst investigating the accident that are set upon by three escaped prisoners who kidnap the bus and all its occupants. In the distance there is blue and red lights flashing and sirens going. the police are in pursuit. The convicts take the bus to an abandoned slaughterhouse and barricade themselves in with the kids and teachers as hostages.
FBI special agent Arthur Potter arrives on the scene as head negotiators. As if Arthur doesn't have enough to contend with he also has to deal with the state police, the assistant state Attorney and an over zealous hostage rescue captain, who all want the lion share of the action. The tension that all this generates is almost unbearable. Just when you think things can't get any worse, it does.
Can't recommend highly enough.
March 5, 2015
I picked this book because I had been having dry spell with anything with even a touch of romance in it, and I was desperate. I thought I need to read non-romance to get my mojo back. And boy, did I choose the right book to do the job.
This book was TOP NOTCH suspense! I was on the edge of my seat and bed all the frickin' time ... from the moment where Lou Handy and two of his friends took hostage of eight deaf girls along with their teachers ... to that very end (and god damn that ending!). The whole hours of negotiation was excruciating, because I totally had no idea what the bad guys were planning, what kind of plans that Arthur Potter would execute, and what kind of bad things that would happen to the girls. MAN, this book was not for the weak heart, me thinks. Even until the end, Deaver didn't really slow down, kept giving us surprises. Seriously, TOP NOTCH!
I did have quite a trouble of remembering the characters though... there were so many here, coming and staying or going. Except for the main characters like Potter, Handy, and Melanie, I kept trying to remember who was who and supposedly doing what! *lol*
Pheww, I guess I'm ready to get back to my 'easy' life and romance.
This book was TOP NOTCH suspense! I was on the edge of my seat and bed all the frickin' time ... from the moment where Lou Handy and two of his friends took hostage of eight deaf girls along with their teachers ... to that very end (and god damn that ending!). The whole hours of negotiation was excruciating, because I totally had no idea what the bad guys were planning, what kind of plans that Arthur Potter would execute, and what kind of bad things that would happen to the girls. MAN, this book was not for the weak heart, me thinks. Even until the end, Deaver didn't really slow down, kept giving us surprises. Seriously, TOP NOTCH!
I did have quite a trouble of remembering the characters though... there were so many here, coming and staying or going. Except for the main characters like Potter, Handy, and Melanie, I kept trying to remember who was who and supposedly doing what! *lol*
Pheww, I guess I'm ready to get back to my 'easy' life and romance.
October 31, 2025
I enjoyed the story although the dynamic between Art and Melanie was a bit weird and creepy. Handy the crazy hostage taker was a cruel character. The setting in Kansas at a derelict slaughterhouse was inspired. The build up to the final pages was excellent.
The use of deaf hostages and the background to essentially a class system of those born deaf and refused to learn lip reading versus those that went deaf was intriguing. Deaver writes a good thriller and the hostage negotiators between Art and the escaped convicts made sense.
A good thriller aside from the weird inappropriate relationship of Arthur the older FBI negotiator and Melanie one of the young hostages.
The use of deaf hostages and the background to essentially a class system of those born deaf and refused to learn lip reading versus those that went deaf was intriguing. Deaver writes a good thriller and the hostage negotiators between Art and the escaped convicts made sense.
A good thriller aside from the weird inappropriate relationship of Arthur the older FBI negotiator and Melanie one of the young hostages.
January 15, 2015
This having been my first experience reading Deaver, I was just a little apprehensive. I did not know if I would like his work or not. I know I kept basing my thoughts on the movie The Bone Collector, and I loved that one. So I figured I would plunge in and get started with A Maiden's Grave. I was not disappointed, but I must say, I was frustrated from time to time.
This was a nicely flowing, unpredictable tale. It had me pretty much hooked from the first page. It wasn't necessarily fast paced, but it was very intriguing to me, the whole "negotiating" aspect of the story. I could not help myself though from continually asking "Why not just shoot the *beep beep*? That was the frustrating part of the book. But it also made me realize that this is exactly the way the Author hooks his readers!
Melanie one of our main characters, and my favorite, was so strong and built so well. You can't help but wish you had the strength and determination that she has in this story. She added a quality to the story that you can't help but love.
Arthur also was a fairly well built character with his own flaws, one being his weaknesses almost out weighing his strengths, as in wanting to be the winner despite the sacrifices that would be made. I mean would he really give up lives just to be able to break down the HT? But then you realize that this is actually his strength, because it takes a lot of that to gamble with people's lives.
The twists in the book are really what made me take to Deaver's work. They were placed brilliantly throughout the story. And because of that I am rating this a 4 star. Overall a great new Author experience for me.
This was a nicely flowing, unpredictable tale. It had me pretty much hooked from the first page. It wasn't necessarily fast paced, but it was very intriguing to me, the whole "negotiating" aspect of the story. I could not help myself though from continually asking "Why not just shoot the *beep beep*? That was the frustrating part of the book. But it also made me realize that this is exactly the way the Author hooks his readers!
Melanie one of our main characters, and my favorite, was so strong and built so well. You can't help but wish you had the strength and determination that she has in this story. She added a quality to the story that you can't help but love.
Arthur also was a fairly well built character with his own flaws, one being his weaknesses almost out weighing his strengths, as in wanting to be the winner despite the sacrifices that would be made. I mean would he really give up lives just to be able to break down the HT? But then you realize that this is actually his strength, because it takes a lot of that to gamble with people's lives.
The twists in the book are really what made me take to Deaver's work. They were placed brilliantly throughout the story. And because of that I am rating this a 4 star. Overall a great new Author experience for me.
March 10, 2017
Holy S***!! This was one intense nail-biter!! Supenseful, exciting, and unpredictable, I don't know how else to describe this book!
8 young girls and their teachers from a special school for the deaf are riding on a School Bus down a road in Kansas, and the bus is hijacked by 3 vicious criminals, and the girls and teachers are taken as Hostages and are brought to an abandoned slaughterhouse. FBI Hostage Negotiator Arthur Potter is called to the scene, and asks the criminals their demands. The leader of the Hostage takers, Lou Handy, is demanding a helicopter, and is promising to kill one hostage every hour until Potter complies. One of the hostages and teacher, Melanie, who is strong-willed, and feisty, a toughie, who is willing to do anything to protect the other hostages, while Potter is trying to talk Handy into surrendering.
I was on the edge of my seat up until the very end. A very realistic plot, with the horrors of a Hostage Situation, and unaware of what the takers are capable of. When I read like the first 10 pages and found out that all the Hostages were deaf, I was kind of having second thoughts, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did, and in the text the dialogue from the Hostages is through sign language which I thought was very interesting.
Arthur Potter is a great protagonist, and an awesome take-charge type of character, Melanie was a great heroine, who goes above and beyond to keep everyone safe, and Handy is an unpredictable, serial killer, (almost like the Joker from Batman, only without the makeup, HAHA), who will say and do anything to achieve his goals!
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good scary/suspenseful read!
8 young girls and their teachers from a special school for the deaf are riding on a School Bus down a road in Kansas, and the bus is hijacked by 3 vicious criminals, and the girls and teachers are taken as Hostages and are brought to an abandoned slaughterhouse. FBI Hostage Negotiator Arthur Potter is called to the scene, and asks the criminals their demands. The leader of the Hostage takers, Lou Handy, is demanding a helicopter, and is promising to kill one hostage every hour until Potter complies. One of the hostages and teacher, Melanie, who is strong-willed, and feisty, a toughie, who is willing to do anything to protect the other hostages, while Potter is trying to talk Handy into surrendering.
I was on the edge of my seat up until the very end. A very realistic plot, with the horrors of a Hostage Situation, and unaware of what the takers are capable of. When I read like the first 10 pages and found out that all the Hostages were deaf, I was kind of having second thoughts, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did, and in the text the dialogue from the Hostages is through sign language which I thought was very interesting.
Arthur Potter is a great protagonist, and an awesome take-charge type of character, Melanie was a great heroine, who goes above and beyond to keep everyone safe, and Handy is an unpredictable, serial killer, (almost like the Joker from Batman, only without the makeup, HAHA), who will say and do anything to achieve his goals!
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good scary/suspenseful read!
October 8, 2019
This is the sort of over the top American crime thriller that I simply don't read these days. Multiple plot lines that are highly unbelievable and groups of (largely) guys brandishing their weapons in a hostage situation. Not something I'd read...
However ☺️I did find it very hard to put down! It is crazy stuff and some aspects of it are frankly silly. However the major characters are well worked and the pace is very well maintained. I really did get into this. The end in part took me by surprise and in part was not good - but I enjoyed reading this. It will be a while before I read another Deever but he does write a good tale.
However ☺️I did find it very hard to put down! It is crazy stuff and some aspects of it are frankly silly. However the major characters are well worked and the pace is very well maintained. I really did get into this. The end in part took me by surprise and in part was not good - but I enjoyed reading this. It will be a while before I read another Deever but he does write a good tale.
November 25, 2023
Auteur prolixe que je n'avais jamais lu. Choisi un roman au hasard. Et pas déçu. Ça démarre bien, tout de suite, et ça tient le rythme jusqu'au dernier mot. Passionnant. Ecrire simple, incisive, personnages multiples et attachants, même les grands méchants. L'horreur d'une prise d'otages qui sont toutes des jeunes femmes, des gamines pout certaines, point commun: sourdes muettes, sauf une, la prof en chef. Et le thriller intense nous emmène de façon fort étudiée dans le monde du silence, deux sources d'intérêt toutes deux intenses.
July 3, 2017
Holy smokes! This is one of those books that was slow for about 15 pages and then the reader began a roller coaster of a wild ride.
A group of deaf girls and their teachers are traveling to a special program when they see an accident at the side of a road. Naturally the stop and attempt to help the two victims but they quickly see that they aren't alive and weren't killed in an accident but murdered and now they have become kidnap victims, held as hostages by three escaped convicts. Convicts that begin a cat and mouse game of psychological one-upmanship and cunning, a FBI hostage negotiator Arthur Potter matches his experience and his guts with a cold blooded killer.
And it that is not enough, the state police, the governor, a assistant district attorney and no-brain, all ego reporters involve themselves, adding to the challenges, the pressure and the drama.
Buckle in, hold on as the story gets intense in this edge of the seat thriller that doesn't stop until the very last page.
A group of deaf girls and their teachers are traveling to a special program when they see an accident at the side of a road. Naturally the stop and attempt to help the two victims but they quickly see that they aren't alive and weren't killed in an accident but murdered and now they have become kidnap victims, held as hostages by three escaped convicts. Convicts that begin a cat and mouse game of psychological one-upmanship and cunning, a FBI hostage negotiator Arthur Potter matches his experience and his guts with a cold blooded killer.
And it that is not enough, the state police, the governor, a assistant district attorney and no-brain, all ego reporters involve themselves, adding to the challenges, the pressure and the drama.
Buckle in, hold on as the story gets intense in this edge of the seat thriller that doesn't stop until the very last page.
October 23, 2020
An action packed psychological thriller full of devious twists and despicable characters. Highly recommend this book and am eager to read more by this author.
April 15, 2017
(Audiobook)
I found this a hard book to rate - tossing up between a 3 or a 4. It was well paced and well read but just felt a bit too rough around the edges. In looking, it is one of Deaver's earlier works and perhaps he just didn't have the experience to be able to provide the polish that his later books have.
That said, I still was drawn through the story and wanted to finish it.
I found this a hard book to rate - tossing up between a 3 or a 4. It was well paced and well read but just felt a bit too rough around the edges. In looking, it is one of Deaver's earlier works and perhaps he just didn't have the experience to be able to provide the polish that his later books have.
That said, I still was drawn through the story and wanted to finish it.
February 20, 2016
Edge of your seat, horrific, bloody thriller! When you reach midnight and you only have 140 more pages to go, you might as well change your alarm now. You will not be able to put this one down....and you shouldn't. Deaver keeps the plot twisting and turning until the last page!
Read
June 14, 2020Non fa per me, non mi prende per niente, ho pure pulito casa invece che leggere tanta era la noia 😆 direi che va bene così, non posso diventare tutto insieme una casalinga perfetta!
January 12, 2018
This is the most disturbing Jeffery Deaver novel I've read so far... Edge of the seat stuff.
December 5, 2014
Hostage barricade dramas are very interesting. How the negotiator plays the hostage takers has always been very interesting to me. In this case Deaver creates a very interesting cast of characters dealing with such a situation. The behind the scenes of hostage negotiators was very interesting and I don't know how much of it is a result of Deaver's imagination and how much real intelligence has. In fact, I would be concerned, if I was a negotiator, of some of the tricks used becoming common knowledge.
With that said, the novel turns into one of those typical conflicts between State and federal officials-- with news reporters adding to the problem of a troublesome hostage taker.
Deaver is never afraid of strong language and most of the time it fits the story when and where it is used. This book is no exception. There is a semi-graphic rape scene described that was a bit bothersome for me-- but it was MEANT to be a disturbing scene-- and it accomplished that unsettling feeling.
This author is also good about providing twists and turns-- but this time the twist in his plot road was as well marked as the signs on a freeway off-ramp-- in other words-- I saw one of the twists coming very, very easily.. and I don't consider myself that clever. Then, he throws another twist into the story that tries to make it more than a hostage tale, and to me, that puts a limp in the novel's pacing for the last twenty pages or so.
I also thought the deaf girl and the negotiator having "feelings" of attraction and love for one another was absolutely absurd. It is one thing for a man to be concerned about a woman being held hostage, but it certainly seemed out of character for this negotiator to begin having feelings for one of the hostages and vice versa. This also severely hampered the story.
Still, overall, a decent enough read with some brilliant insights into the barricade and its operations.
With that said, the novel turns into one of those typical conflicts between State and federal officials-- with news reporters adding to the problem of a troublesome hostage taker.
Deaver is never afraid of strong language and most of the time it fits the story when and where it is used. This book is no exception. There is a semi-graphic rape scene described that was a bit bothersome for me-- but it was MEANT to be a disturbing scene-- and it accomplished that unsettling feeling.
This author is also good about providing twists and turns-- but this time the twist in his plot road was as well marked as the signs on a freeway off-ramp-- in other words-- I saw one of the twists coming very, very easily.. and I don't consider myself that clever. Then, he throws another twist into the story that tries to make it more than a hostage tale, and to me, that puts a limp in the novel's pacing for the last twenty pages or so.
I also thought the deaf girl and the negotiator having "feelings" of attraction and love for one another was absolutely absurd. It is one thing for a man to be concerned about a woman being held hostage, but it certainly seemed out of character for this negotiator to begin having feelings for one of the hostages and vice versa. This also severely hampered the story.
Still, overall, a decent enough read with some brilliant insights into the barricade and its operations.
February 21, 2013
The man is good. That was my first thought after finishing A MAIDEN’S GRAVE. If you want to learn how to plot a novel, then you’d be hard pressed to find a better author to learn from than the master himself. And he knows how to tackle damaged characters, not just emotionally damaged, but physically damaged, scarred to the point that you’re only left with pieces, and the pieces don’t seem to fit together the way that they should.
This novel is filled with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, taking what could have been just a classic negotiation story and flipping it on its head. It takes a frightful, horrific situation and turns it up a notch by having a group of deaf hostages, and the three hostage takers that are unwilling to communicate with them. And then it adds local politics and multiple task forces for good measure, with each group having its own agenda.
The characters sometimes take a backseat to the story, but I still felt emotionally invested in what would happen next. This proved to be a good read, along with having a certain amount of unpredictability to keep things interesting.
This novel is filled with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, taking what could have been just a classic negotiation story and flipping it on its head. It takes a frightful, horrific situation and turns it up a notch by having a group of deaf hostages, and the three hostage takers that are unwilling to communicate with them. And then it adds local politics and multiple task forces for good measure, with each group having its own agenda.
The characters sometimes take a backseat to the story, but I still felt emotionally invested in what would happen next. This proved to be a good read, along with having a certain amount of unpredictability to keep things interesting.
July 5, 2018
DNF. I don’t know why but I found this book a real struggle...the whole story just seemed so slow and dull, a repetition of what had occurred before. Maybe hostage thrillers just aren’t my thing but it got to a certain point and I asked myself, do you care what happens at the end of this? The answer was unfortunately a no so I stopped.
December 25, 2022
A real page-turner!
April 16, 2012
I don't know why I don't read Deaver more often. Although he, by far, isn't my favorite author he is amoung the, oh, say, top 5 and I've yet to be disappointed by anything of his that I've read. When I picked up A Maiden's Grave for a few dollars I fully expected to have a 'meh' attitude about it, going on the synopsis-but I figured, hey, it should be entertaining enough and if not I'm only out a few dollars. I was pleasantly surprised to often find myself unwilling to put it down because it was, 'getting to the good part'.
Imagine being Deaf, responsible for a small gaggle of Deaf girls and being taken hostage. Now, imagine trying to hold it together and protect those girls while you wait in terror for what fate has in store for you. Welcome to Melanie's world. Melanie, who considers herself weak and ineffective. Now, I have to say here that I hate weak women in literature. They make me just want to slap them and yell, "Grow a pair of balls, already!" In the beginning I thought Mrs. Hawstrawn was going to be the tough one, so I was surprised when she broke so easily. Timid little Melanie turns out to be one 'kick ass chick', risking her life over and over again to save the lives of the girls all the while enduring the hostage takers' rage, which was often centered on her.
Deaver weaves a suspenseful tale; one full of characters you really grow to like, even finding yourself a bit disgusted with yourself because you find one of the hostage takers to be quite charasmatic. There are more than a few surprise 'whammies' tucked in here, tucked in there that I was bonking myself in the forehead for not seeing coming. Then again, some of them were whammies right out of the blue that I don't think anyone would see coming. Then there were the times that I just knew what the next twist would be only to be surprised to be proven wrong. Them thar' be the makin's of a good story.
A school bus carrying eight deaf school-girls and their teachers brakes suddenly on a flat Kansas highway. They should never have stopped. Waiting for them are three heartless men just escaped from prison--each with nothing to lose. And now, with the girls as their hostages, they have everything to gain.
They make their stand in an abandoned slaughterhouse, and it is there that Lou Handy, a murderer and the convicts' ringleader, announces his terms; to kill one captive an hour unless his demands are met. What follows is a twelve-hour siege of noose-tight tension--and a war of nerves between Handy and the FBI's senior hostage negotiator, Arthur Potter.
Bespectacled and quiet, Potter may not look like a match for the vicious Handy. But behind his world-weary eyes is a steely nerve sharpened over a lifetime of tough stands at the barricades. Trying to beat the inexorable clock, Potter struggles to grow close to Lou Handy, to become him, and finds himself walking the dangerous line between good and evil, cop and criminal. Is Handy a desperate escapee? Or a wild-card psychopath killing for kicks? Or is he simply a brilliant poker player, upping the bloody ante for reasons of his own? All Potter knows for sure is that Handy will gamble those girls' lives away in a hertbeat if it suits him.
While Potter negotiates from a hundred yards away, inside the macabre slaughterhouse one of the hostages--a deaf teacher named Melanie Charrol--vows that Handy won't win his sadistic game of cat-and-mouse. Together, Potter, a man of words, and Melanie, a woman of silence, will fight to keep the convicts from murdering the innocent girls one by one.
With riveting realism, Jeffery Deaver portrays the perverse blood brothership that develops between Potter and Handy, the inner workings of the FBI's hostange rescue team, and the would-be Rambos' turf wars that threaten to undermine Potter's exquisitely orchestrated strategy.
The clock never stops ticking and anything could happen in A Maiden's Grave, which builds to a heart-stopping climax that will literally take your breath away.
Imagine being Deaf, responsible for a small gaggle of Deaf girls and being taken hostage. Now, imagine trying to hold it together and protect those girls while you wait in terror for what fate has in store for you. Welcome to Melanie's world. Melanie, who considers herself weak and ineffective. Now, I have to say here that I hate weak women in literature. They make me just want to slap them and yell, "Grow a pair of balls, already!" In the beginning I thought Mrs. Hawstrawn was going to be the tough one, so I was surprised when she broke so easily. Timid little Melanie turns out to be one 'kick ass chick', risking her life over and over again to save the lives of the girls all the while enduring the hostage takers' rage, which was often centered on her.
Deaver weaves a suspenseful tale; one full of characters you really grow to like, even finding yourself a bit disgusted with yourself because you find one of the hostage takers to be quite charasmatic. There are more than a few surprise 'whammies' tucked in here, tucked in there that I was bonking myself in the forehead for not seeing coming. Then again, some of them were whammies right out of the blue that I don't think anyone would see coming. Then there were the times that I just knew what the next twist would be only to be surprised to be proven wrong. Them thar' be the makin's of a good story.
A school bus carrying eight deaf school-girls and their teachers brakes suddenly on a flat Kansas highway. They should never have stopped. Waiting for them are three heartless men just escaped from prison--each with nothing to lose. And now, with the girls as their hostages, they have everything to gain.
They make their stand in an abandoned slaughterhouse, and it is there that Lou Handy, a murderer and the convicts' ringleader, announces his terms; to kill one captive an hour unless his demands are met. What follows is a twelve-hour siege of noose-tight tension--and a war of nerves between Handy and the FBI's senior hostage negotiator, Arthur Potter.
Bespectacled and quiet, Potter may not look like a match for the vicious Handy. But behind his world-weary eyes is a steely nerve sharpened over a lifetime of tough stands at the barricades. Trying to beat the inexorable clock, Potter struggles to grow close to Lou Handy, to become him, and finds himself walking the dangerous line between good and evil, cop and criminal. Is Handy a desperate escapee? Or a wild-card psychopath killing for kicks? Or is he simply a brilliant poker player, upping the bloody ante for reasons of his own? All Potter knows for sure is that Handy will gamble those girls' lives away in a hertbeat if it suits him.
While Potter negotiates from a hundred yards away, inside the macabre slaughterhouse one of the hostages--a deaf teacher named Melanie Charrol--vows that Handy won't win his sadistic game of cat-and-mouse. Together, Potter, a man of words, and Melanie, a woman of silence, will fight to keep the convicts from murdering the innocent girls one by one.
With riveting realism, Jeffery Deaver portrays the perverse blood brothership that develops between Potter and Handy, the inner workings of the FBI's hostange rescue team, and the would-be Rambos' turf wars that threaten to undermine Potter's exquisitely orchestrated strategy.
The clock never stops ticking and anything could happen in A Maiden's Grave, which builds to a heart-stopping climax that will literally take your breath away.
December 24, 2023
Di Jeffery Deaver avevo letto soltanto (e quasi vent'anni fa) Il collezionista di ossa: mi era piaciuto ma senza appassionarmi più di tanto e, perciò, decisi di lasciar perdere Deaver. Ad inizio 2013, approfittando (almeno così mi sembra di ricordare) di un'offerta su alcuni libri esposti su una bancarella, comprai Il silenzio dei rapiti… e da allora, visto che comunque non mi andava di leggerlo, è sempre rimasto parcheggiato sulla mia mensolina!
Qualche giorno fa, in mancanza di altre letture, ho deciso che fosse il suo momento e, lo confesso, a lettura ultimata ho capito che avevo fatto un grosso sbaglio a non leggerlo prima. Che gran bel libro che ho lasciato per anni nel dimenticatoio!!! Storia davvero originale e ritmo serrato (non concede un attivo di tregua…) ne hanno fatto uno dei miei libri preferiti del 2016.
All'inizio sembra essere un romanzo semplice semplice: ti illudi di dover leggere di una banda di evasi che prende in ostaggio un gruppo di ragazzine sordomute capitate per caso sulla loro strada… e invece ti ritrovi invischiato in un vortice di azione, bugie e tradimenti; il tutto, ovviamente, in presenza dell'immancabile sangue che scorre a fiumi!
Sì, perché Arthur Potter, il negoziatore FBI che deve trattare con i sequestratori, si vedrà costretto a svolgere il suo compito circondato da colleghi doppiogiochisti, giornalisti senza scrupoli a caccia di scoop e varie autorità governative a cui interessa soltanto mettersi in mostra in vista di imminenti elezioni. Insomma, per il povero Potter niente è ciò che sembra… ma troverà un inatteso e sorprendente aiuto direttamente dall'interno del luogo del sequestro!
Discorso a parte merita poi il finale… che, aiutato da un ritmo narrativo sempre più alto, giunge davvero inatteso (ma leggermente frettoloso) e, per giunta, squarciando definitivamente il sottilissimo velo che divideva i buoni dai cattivi.
[https://lastanzadiantonio.blogspot.co...]
Qualche giorno fa, in mancanza di altre letture, ho deciso che fosse il suo momento e, lo confesso, a lettura ultimata ho capito che avevo fatto un grosso sbaglio a non leggerlo prima. Che gran bel libro che ho lasciato per anni nel dimenticatoio!!! Storia davvero originale e ritmo serrato (non concede un attivo di tregua…) ne hanno fatto uno dei miei libri preferiti del 2016.
All'inizio sembra essere un romanzo semplice semplice: ti illudi di dover leggere di una banda di evasi che prende in ostaggio un gruppo di ragazzine sordomute capitate per caso sulla loro strada… e invece ti ritrovi invischiato in un vortice di azione, bugie e tradimenti; il tutto, ovviamente, in presenza dell'immancabile sangue che scorre a fiumi!
Sì, perché Arthur Potter, il negoziatore FBI che deve trattare con i sequestratori, si vedrà costretto a svolgere il suo compito circondato da colleghi doppiogiochisti, giornalisti senza scrupoli a caccia di scoop e varie autorità governative a cui interessa soltanto mettersi in mostra in vista di imminenti elezioni. Insomma, per il povero Potter niente è ciò che sembra… ma troverà un inatteso e sorprendente aiuto direttamente dall'interno del luogo del sequestro!
Discorso a parte merita poi il finale… che, aiutato da un ritmo narrativo sempre più alto, giunge davvero inatteso (ma leggermente frettoloso) e, per giunta, squarciando definitivamente il sottilissimo velo che divideva i buoni dai cattivi.
[https://lastanzadiantonio.blogspot.co...]
December 29, 2024
Ein irrer Ritt - lange nicht mehr so ein spannendes Buch gelesen!
"Schule des Schweigens" ist ein Blick zurück zu den Anfängen des "Meisters des psychologischen Thrillers", Jeffery Deaver, der einem aktuellen Publikum vor allem durch seine Lincoln-Rhyme- und Colter-Shaw-Reihen bekannt sein dürfte. Allein die Prämisse könnte packender nicht sein: In Kansas entführen drei entflohene Schwerverbrecher einen Schulbus mit acht taubstummen Mädchen. Sie flüchten mit ihnen in einen abgelegenen ehemaligen Schlachthof - und das nervenaufreibende Feilschen um ihr Leben nimmt seinen Lauf ...
Ganz großes Kino, wie der Autor die Psychologie der Geiselverhandlung entwickelt und uns an seiner reichen Recherche Anteil nehmen lässt. Die Verhandlung zwischen FBI-Agent Potter und den drei Kriminellen liest sich wie ein Schachspiel, in dem mentale Finten geschlagen und gewagte Züge unternommen werden müssen - und das alles unter dem größten vorstellbaren Druck, denn jede falsche Entscheidung kann Menschenleben kosten. Auch interessant fand ich den Blick in die Taubstummen-Community, der sich der Autor mit großer Sorgsamkeit nähert.
Das Ende ist mir persönlich in eine etwas falsche Richtung abgebogen, und auch aus dem Setting des Schlachthauses hätte man für mein Gefühl noch mehr grauenhaftes Potenzial schlagen können; aber das ist letztlich Kritik auf ganz hohem Niveau.
Ausgewählte Werke von Jeffery Deaver erscheinen ab Oktober 2024 neu bei Saga Egmont und dotbooks.
"Schule des Schweigens" ist ein Blick zurück zu den Anfängen des "Meisters des psychologischen Thrillers", Jeffery Deaver, der einem aktuellen Publikum vor allem durch seine Lincoln-Rhyme- und Colter-Shaw-Reihen bekannt sein dürfte. Allein die Prämisse könnte packender nicht sein: In Kansas entführen drei entflohene Schwerverbrecher einen Schulbus mit acht taubstummen Mädchen. Sie flüchten mit ihnen in einen abgelegenen ehemaligen Schlachthof - und das nervenaufreibende Feilschen um ihr Leben nimmt seinen Lauf ...
Ganz großes Kino, wie der Autor die Psychologie der Geiselverhandlung entwickelt und uns an seiner reichen Recherche Anteil nehmen lässt. Die Verhandlung zwischen FBI-Agent Potter und den drei Kriminellen liest sich wie ein Schachspiel, in dem mentale Finten geschlagen und gewagte Züge unternommen werden müssen - und das alles unter dem größten vorstellbaren Druck, denn jede falsche Entscheidung kann Menschenleben kosten. Auch interessant fand ich den Blick in die Taubstummen-Community, der sich der Autor mit großer Sorgsamkeit nähert.
Das Ende ist mir persönlich in eine etwas falsche Richtung abgebogen, und auch aus dem Setting des Schlachthauses hätte man für mein Gefühl noch mehr grauenhaftes Potenzial schlagen können; aber das ist letztlich Kritik auf ganz hohem Niveau.
Ausgewählte Werke von Jeffery Deaver erscheinen ab Oktober 2024 neu bei Saga Egmont und dotbooks.
June 6, 2013
Mr. Deaver spins a master plot with "A Maiden's Grave". It's not at all about his expertise in Forensic investigations. This story is about Hostage Negotiations. And what a ride it was. This is a book to be savored. Don't speed read or you may miss out on the exotic taste of the game of psychology interspersed with a steady battle of wits.
There is also a very mature romantic angle in the plot. Not too overt, not the stupid puppy passionate romance but more of a serene yet strong romance between two people who come together through a situation (no, not Stockholm Syndrome as well).
All the characters in the story have been very well defined and each one of them have been very sharply differentiated from each other. Everything about this book has been orchestrated as in a very exotic form of tribal dance. The violence, the ruthlessness, the romance, the plight, the evil hits you smoothly but hits you hard. The story builds, builds and builds up to an explosive climax.
This tale is a classic example of how good is always questioned while trying to bring down evil. Good is complicated, evil is simple.
As usual, I chose not to reveal anything because it's simply a sin to take away the pleasure of the journey from the next reader. Do read this book. It's an thriller in the true sense of the word.
There is also a very mature romantic angle in the plot. Not too overt, not the stupid puppy passionate romance but more of a serene yet strong romance between two people who come together through a situation (no, not Stockholm Syndrome as well).
All the characters in the story have been very well defined and each one of them have been very sharply differentiated from each other. Everything about this book has been orchestrated as in a very exotic form of tribal dance. The violence, the ruthlessness, the romance, the plight, the evil hits you smoothly but hits you hard. The story builds, builds and builds up to an explosive climax.
This tale is a classic example of how good is always questioned while trying to bring down evil. Good is complicated, evil is simple.
As usual, I chose not to reveal anything because it's simply a sin to take away the pleasure of the journey from the next reader. Do read this book. It's an thriller in the true sense of the word.
December 17, 2015
Rather disappointed in this. While it was a good story, some of the plotting was simply unbelievable. The criminals put their hostages in a room from where four of them escape without being seen. So how come the police couldn't have got in the same way and rescued them earlier? A rogue hostage rescue team finds a window into the building that the FBI and state police can't see, but a TV news camera can, alerting the hostage takers to their presence? A woman shows up claiming to be a police officer and talks the criminals out. Don't police officers have photos attached to their files? I'll stick to Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme books in future I think.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2018
Yeha!! Finally, bacaannya udah komplit.
Menurut saya, buku ini lumayan sih, lumayan buat bergidik. Bila diresapi lebih fokus pada proses penyanderaan mereka, bisa terasa ketegangannya.
Saya setuju dengan hubungan romansa yang cukup unik, aneh, dan instan antara agen Potter dan Melanie, walau ending-nya tidak jelas mereka akan bersama atau tidak. Namun... diam-diam... saya sebenarnya berharap Melanie dan Lou (si penjahat berdarah dingin) tiba-tiba jatuh cinta gituh, soalnya chemistry mereka cukup dapat (dalam pandangan saya).
Untuk karakter Melanie... dia bagaikan seekor rubah licik. Saya cukup senang... ternyata sifat kita tidak jauh beda... 11 12. hahaha *ketawajahat*
Menurut saya, buku ini lumayan sih, lumayan buat bergidik. Bila diresapi lebih fokus pada proses penyanderaan mereka, bisa terasa ketegangannya.
Saya setuju dengan hubungan romansa yang cukup unik, aneh, dan instan antara agen Potter dan Melanie, walau ending-nya tidak jelas mereka akan bersama atau tidak. Namun... diam-diam... saya sebenarnya berharap Melanie dan Lou (si penjahat berdarah dingin) tiba-tiba jatuh cinta gituh, soalnya chemistry mereka cukup dapat (dalam pandangan saya).
Untuk karakter Melanie... dia bagaikan seekor rubah licik. Saya cukup senang... ternyata sifat kita tidak jauh beda... 11 12. hahaha *ketawajahat*
September 16, 2021
The plot of this book is Hostage Rescue. So what would you expect? A thriller with 'Die-Hard' style action? But no, this book was all about negotiation, how to get into the HT(hostage taker)'s psyche, pre-empt his moves, offer the right bargain.... Like in all other Jeffrey Deaver's books, we learn a lot here- on negotiating skills, the world of hearing impaired, the different sign languages they use, the history of sign language...
The title is interesting, and so is the reason behind this title. I was amazed by how brilliantly Jeffrey Deaver names his novels. Truly novel !
The title is interesting, and so is the reason behind this title. I was amazed by how brilliantly Jeffrey Deaver names his novels. Truly novel !
January 4, 2021
I thought discovered this author whilst reading a collection of short stories by feted crime writers.
But I’d previously read Bone Collector so I’m ashamed I haven’t read more of his books.
It was an older book of his and it focused on the resolution of a very nasty hostage incident at an abandoned slaughter house.
Fantastic characters, evocative dark atmosphere and not your standard crime thriller.
I ripped through this one.
Loved it.
But I’d previously read Bone Collector so I’m ashamed I haven’t read more of his books.
It was an older book of his and it focused on the resolution of a very nasty hostage incident at an abandoned slaughter house.
Fantastic characters, evocative dark atmosphere and not your standard crime thriller.
I ripped through this one.
Loved it.
March 18, 2015
Jeffery Deaver is one of my favourite authors and this book does not disappoint either. As a plot it is very simple... 8 deaf girls are taken hostage in an old slaughterhouse in Kansas by three criminals who have escaped prison. Arthur Potter, the FBI's best hostage negotiator is called in. A what a fantastic job Deaver does in keeping the momentum taut and gripping. Definitely a good read!!
November 8, 2017
Un gran bel libro, fuori dalle serie di Lincoln Rhyme o degli altri sui investigatori. Deaver questa volta affronta una situazione dalle mille possibilità e dalle mille interpretazioni: tre fuggitivi rifugiatisi in un ex mattatoio con una decina di ostaggi, due adulti e altri bambini, tutte di sesso femminile e tutte, tranne una, sorde. La negoziazione è tesa, drammatica, comincia subito con un fatto terribile che condiziona tutto. Ma il signor Potter, il negoziatore sembra avere in pugno la situazione, nonostante tutti i suoi dubbi che Deaver ci fa presenti in continuazione, per tenere alta la tensione (ci riesce benissimo!). Una delle insegnanti non sarà di alcun aiuto, terrorizzata dai tre sequestratori, mentre Melanie, la seconda insegnante sordomuta, si rivelerà importantissima. Deaver è bravissimo a sottolineare ogni aspetto psicologico durante la negoziazione, ci inganna come vengono ingannati i protagonisti e poi ci colpisce con dei forti cambiamenti di scena che lasciano stupefatti. Vabbè, uno l'ho indovinato, e mi è piaciuto averlo capito in corso d'opera! Ottima la rappresentazione del mondo visto dai sordomuti, così come è incredibile l'empatia che riesce a far percepire, al limite della sindrome di Stoccolma, tra il negoziatore e uno dei sequestratori. Uno dei più bei libri di Deaver.
March 18, 2023
This is one of the most tense and intense books I’ve read in a great while. The eight students and their deaf teacher are on a school bus headed for a recital. But something’s horribly amiss ahead, and the bus stops. In retrospect, it probably shouldn’t have.
Now the eight deaf children and their teacher are hostages inside an abandoned slaughterhouse. Naturally, everyone wants in on the rescue. The politicians are among the most likely to interfere with the negotiations and gain the least positive results.
Hostage takers gun down a teenage deaf girl before the negotiations can start in earnest. As you read this, your mind’s eye will be on the clock waiting to see what happens when the next deadline set by the takers expires. You watch expert negotiator Arthur Potter weigh his options and try to decide how to best get inside the mind of the would-be killer.
State police factions, with encouragement from the governor, nearly inadvertently kill every hostage before this ends.
The writing style is beyond excellent as you move seamlessly among hostages, their captors, and the negotiators whose goal is to bring the children home alive if possible.
This includes a twisty end I hadn’t pictured, and that made it even more satisfactory.
Now the eight deaf children and their teacher are hostages inside an abandoned slaughterhouse. Naturally, everyone wants in on the rescue. The politicians are among the most likely to interfere with the negotiations and gain the least positive results.
Hostage takers gun down a teenage deaf girl before the negotiations can start in earnest. As you read this, your mind’s eye will be on the clock waiting to see what happens when the next deadline set by the takers expires. You watch expert negotiator Arthur Potter weigh his options and try to decide how to best get inside the mind of the would-be killer.
State police factions, with encouragement from the governor, nearly inadvertently kill every hostage before this ends.
The writing style is beyond excellent as you move seamlessly among hostages, their captors, and the negotiators whose goal is to bring the children home alive if possible.
This includes a twisty end I hadn’t pictured, and that made it even more satisfactory.
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