If you're a security expert, what do you do if your fiancée suddenly goes missing, presumably kidnapped? If you're Daniel Trent, a highly trained specialist in hostage negotiation, the answer is You find out who took her and you make them talk. But what if your chief suspect is taken as well? How do you get him back quickly―and alive―so you can find out what really happened to your fiancée? Set in Marseille, Chris Ewan's Dead Line is a fast-paced stand-alone thriller that pitches the reader into Daniel's world, as he tries desperately to secure the release of Jérôme Moreau from a ruthless gang in order to interrogate him on the whereabouts of his fiancée. When things don't go according to plan, Daniel must use all his skills and instincts to find the answers he's looking for, but will he be in time?
Dead Line, Chris Ewan
Daniel Trent is a hostage negotiator, working alongside fiancée Aimee, but he could not have expected Aimee to go missing, or his chief suspect to be kidnapped as well. All of which is setup with breathtaking speed in DEAD LINE, dragging the reader into the story from the very first page, and not letting up until the end. Every now and again I did find myself rechecking the opening pages though - the sense of pace, the tension and the sheer wild ride of DEAD LINE didn't seem like THE DEAD THIEF'S GUIDE series at all. And I really liked those books from this author.
There's something deeply satisfying about Trent's single-minded pursuit of Aimee. Anybody who gets in his road, anything that prevents him from finding where she is, who has her, swept aside with extreme prejudice. He's thinking all the time and whilst the reader might not always be in on the innermost logic of what he's up to, there's never a moment of doubt about his commitment to the cause.
What's really interesting is that there's a sneaking suspicion of an unreliable narrator as well. Trent obviously has a plan, and even the suspect's family aren't going to be allowed to get in the road, but just sometimes, there was the disquieting feeling that nobody is exactly who they seem to be - even Trent. At one point I was even starting to wonder what on earth Aimee's story was. Cleverly done, the reader can both like and not be sure about Trent at the same time as not really know who to trust.
Charging headfirst to a cliff hanger of an ending that really works in this context, DEAD LINE is a book that made this reader pay attention.