The Last Hostage - Hardcover

Nance, John J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385490550 ISBN 13: 9780385490559

Publisher: Doubleday, 1998

Synopsis

Be prepared to be held hostage to the nail-biting suspense of a world-class thriller.  High above the Rocky Mountains, a routine airline flight becomes a midair standoff as 130 passengers listen to their captain relate the unprecedented demands of an unseen hijacker.  Federal and state officials must hunt down, arrest, and indict the murderer of a young girl, and do it all in eight hours--or the airplane will be blown out of the sky.

With the airline in confusion, the media pursuing, and the hijacker forcing the aircraft into wild maneuvers as they head toward Salt Lake City, the FBI reluctantly fields its closest hostage negotiator, a rookie female agent and psychologist named Katherine Bronsky.  Immediately, Bronsky finds herself sucked into the vortex of an impossible war of wills between a volatile, unstable hijacker holding the trigger to a bomb and stonewalling Justice Department officials who have no real intention of meeting the lone gunman's demands.

When the hijacker suddenly refuses to land at Salt Lake City, Kat commandeers a business jet and races after the low-flying 737.  As the jetliner runs low on fuel, she's stunned to discover that the man with the gun is none other than the murdered girl's father, and that one of his hostages is a front-runner to become the new Attorney General of the United States.

Successful at last in getting him to land in a remote Colorado airport, Bronsky's brave and desperate attempts to reason with the hijacker backfire, and she becomes a hostage herself.  Now discounted and ignored by her superiors in Washington for losing control, Bronsky's only hope to save the passengers and crew of AirBridge Flight 90 is to solve the wrenching mystery of who killed an eleven-year-old girl in a dark Connecticut forest two years before.  And for that, all she has is an airborne phone and precious few hours before the bomb detonates.

Nance ratchets up the tension with expertly crafted twists and turns that converge into an unforgettably wrenching dilemma.  But one thing finally becomes clear.  The only person who can safely land AirBridge Flight 90 and save its 130 passengers is dangerously close to death.  And if the clock runs out, The Last Hostage will never see the light of day.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"Nance is a champ at dreaming up spellbinding premises."
--Publishers Weekly

Praise for the national bestseller Pandora's Clock:

"The Hot Zone in the ozone."
--The Wall Street Journal

"A combination of The Hot Zone and Speed."
--USA Today

"A ticking time bomb of suspense."
--Chicago Tribune

Praise for the national bestseller Medusa's Child:

"So compelling, it's tough to look away."
--People

"Barrels along at juggernaut speed."
--Indianapolis Star

"Fast-paced and exciting."
--Detroit Free Press

From the Back Cover:

A master of aviation suspense, author John J. Nance thrilled the country with his explosive bestsellers, Pandora's Clock and Medusa's Child. Now, as only he can do, Nance soars with a gripping new novel about one man in the air and on the brink, and the one woman who can bring him--and a plane full of passengers--down safely...

Fugitive pilot Ken Wolfe holds a 737 hostage high above the Rocky Mountains. As the lives of his passengers hang in the balance, Wolfe demands the apprehension and indictment of an unprosecuted killer--within twenty-four hours. Rookie FBI agent Kat Bronsky must tend to his fragile psyche while talking the pilot down and into the hands of the law. But as Wolfe's motives unfold, Kat begins to question who is actually the villain and who is the victim--and time continues to run out on a plane headed for disaster.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0385490550
• ISBN 13: 9780385490559
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384