The Hostage Rescuer: The Return of a Child Into a Mother's Arms

by Darren Franklin, Martin H Phillips (Contributor)

This is the thrilling true story of the recovery of an abducted child against the odds. Two close encounters with death convince the author, Darren, that his career in the sometimes murky world of global private security is not the healthiest. Meanwhile Scottish nurse Diane is on a life-changing route of her own after a Shirley Valentine-style romance on a Greek holiday island. While she moves to Australia to marry her Greek lover and to start a family, Darren escapes a contract on his life and teams up with a former British special forces operative to get into the business of rescuing abducted children. Darren's and Diane's paths cross when Diane's marriage breaks down, her ex abducts their four-year-old son Theo back to the Greek islands and, when all attempts to get her son back via the courts have failed, Darren's company is called in to carry out a daring snatch raid. As Diane waits anxiously in the wings, Darren and his small team must contend with hostile locals, double-crossing police and dubious legal contacts to conduct surveillance on their target, formulate a plan and grab the boy before making their hazardous escape. They can trust no-one. A whole island community is ranged against them, they have their suspicions about their own lawyer and the charity go-between who completes their team is actively leaking details of their plans, putting the entire mission, and possibly their lives, in danger. Set against an all-too-real epidemic of parental abductions, and a background of frequent failed recovery attempts, the action swings from Britain to South America to Australia, to the USA and the Greek Islands on a roller-coaster of drama and emotion from start to finish.

208 pages, Hardcover

Published May 19, 2020

About the author

Hi readers! I am an ex-Australian Army soldier who entered the lucrative world, and sometimes dodgy, of private security conducting high risk missions around the world. I have now written my stories into books for a unique insider view to the workings of how these missions are conducted.

They are very tense true thrillers which will take you on a roller coaster ride of emotion.

I hope you enjoy reading them!

Darren Franklin.

Reviews

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be an excellent story with lots of tension along the way about a hostage kidnap situation that builds during surveillance. The author travels from Australia to the staging site in Greece early with the kidnap victim’s mother Diane, to scope things out and see if things will be possible at all or not. They become friends from the extra time spent together, and it’s difficult not to like her and feel for her difficult position It’s kind of bizarre that there are businesses like these available, but they have been made necessary unfortunately, and do have a decent rate of success, at least the good ones do.

The story is well written and stays suspenseful as you wait with Darren, the mother Diane, and the two others who show up to help try to get her son Theo back too. It’s right down to the wire as to whether they will have a chance to get him back, or will they be caught by the father’s family, who are all over the place, looking for anything out of the ordinary, to alert everyone to close ranks and get the boy safely inside until the danger passes. A very interesting look at the inside of a hostage rescue case, and many of stresses and concerns on both sides of it that you may not have realized before. Especially in the case of a split family, where the parents have divorced and even possibly remarried others, and one former spouse has failed to return the child after a visit of several weeks in his home country with him. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, authors Darren Franklin & Martin H. Phillips, and publisher Pen & Sword True Crime.

First published on my Word Press blog viewable here:
https://wordpress.com/post/bookblog20...

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My man! i'm proud to call him my friend...he impressed me with this book... It is an amazing book, well Written, It is absolutely worth reading.. It's an amazing Story.

Big hug from your man Dobbel D!!!

[Steven Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. A glimpse into the murky world of parental child abduction. Darren's story weaves you through the traguc circumstances that every parent would dread.

[Craig Brain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good yarn for anyone who enjoys thrillers. Better yet, this is based upon real-life experiences and written by somebody who was actually there. I will try not to spoil anything below.

As a security practitioner, I enjoyed the book, reading about their concerns regarding possible betrayal from an insider, bypassing security systems because of inherent flaws and dealing with corruption and incompetence amongst officials.

While the book is mainly about returning a child to a mother, it deals with issues such as confusion, stress and fear, without pulling punches. Things didn't go smoothly and entirely according to plan, and for a pleasant change in this genre, it wasn't glossed over.

An enjoyable read, from a relatable author.

[Donna Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a mother I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book which gives a great insight into parental child abductions. I couldn't put it down as it was an emotional rollercoaster ride and I could feel for the mother. Lots of action and it certainly tests the nerves of the author and his team. Well written as it was hard to put down wanting to know what happens next.

[Mr E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. A gripping read from the start. Franklin's got some story to tell. I can't believe this stuff goes on in this day and age. Definitely should be a movie. Highly recommend it.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a read!!
Just finished now & couldn't wait to share a review hoping to get this story out there.
Who knew this stuff really happens?
This is what movies are made of.
Can't wait for an Audio Book version as I find them so much easier to absorb!
"Do yourself a favour"

[MR A · Rating 5 out of 5]

From start to finish a book I couldn’t put down.

[Bruce Relph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling to say the least, the detail given shows what threats you face if you want to do this sort of thing, looking forward to the next book

[Jn68 · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing story recommend.

[YS F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this book from the recommended reading on my Kindle homepage. It turned out to be a great selection based on my reading habits. I enjoy my action/adventure fiction but this was nonfiction. Yet, it still contained all the elements I enjoy. The author takes you on a voyage far more realistic than the MFTM “Not without my daughter. “ (no disrespect to Sally Fields) He adeptly addresses the nuances and ethical questions around his role as a child recovery specialist. While a true story, there is no compromising on literary devices designed to keep the book moving along at a good clip.
The only comments I have for my fellow American readers is—be prepared for a fluid back and forth between metric and imperial as well as grammatical phrasing that may feel a little uncomfortable.

[Jacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book.

[Denai Piscopo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The true story of Darren and his life work as and his international hostage rescues. The story go into great detail of the situations face, which also makes the story a little bit long and it took me a while to finish, as I personally I am fan of fast paced books. But it is written well and the stories are intriguing enough that you don't put the book away and follow until the end.
I would give this a 3.5 if I could, but not an option. Thank you for the ARC.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The perils of the hostage rescuer. A true story of Darren Franklin, who specialized in personal protection, hostage rescue, surveillance, counter-terrorism and the training of military and government personnel. Along with his boss Stephen Mastalerz, who is also an expert and trusted friend, they are hired to extract a child from the non-custodial father who refused to return the child to the custodial mother after taking the child to Greece from Australia. Diane hires Darren via a suspicious and quite inept Peter from International child recovery organization after the Greece police fail at extracting the child. Having to rely on untrained or maybe even deceitful people who say they are working with you, puts a strain on everything they do. Even the Greek authorities are not to be trusted. Interesting story that I had to see how it played out. Since it’s a true story it doesn’t have the fast cloak and dagger of a made up story and so it goes slower and has more frustration and unresolved character development. However, it’s definitely a story you will finish just to see if it works or could it be a failure to extract that some cases end up to be. Thank you NetGalley, Darren Franklin, Martin Phillips and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

[Mhughessc · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Hostage Rescuer" is a real-life story of Darren Franklin, who helps to rescue abducted children. He gives a very detailed account of this rescue, but I felt that it could have been edited a bit to decrease the length of the book. There were times that the book gets bogged down in all the details, but I'm glad it has a happy ending!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.