Novel about a woman who walks fearlessly into danger...but must draw on courage to let love into her life.

Taken hostage by a failed bank robber while attending an open house, eight anxiety-prone strangers--including a redemption-seeking bank director, two couples who would fix their marriages, and a plucky octogenarian--discover their unexpected common traits.

Former LAPD hostage negotiator Jeff Talley takes a job as chief of police in a small town far from the city, but his peaceful life is overturned when three young men, fleeing a robbery, invade a local home and take a family hostage.

Chicago hostage negotiator Kate O'Malley meets FBI agent Dave Richman while she's talking a bank gunman into releasing hostages. Impressed by her professionalism and attracted to her personally, Dave starts courting Kate, only to discover that she's not a Christian, a major stumbling block for him. He's also about to find out that falling in love with a hostage negotiator is one thing, but keeping her safe is another!

On his first day back from leave, hostage negotiator Michael struggles to end a tense standoff with Jesse, a bank robber. As the two men learn each other's identity, they realize they have a shared past, and angry scores yet to settle.

FBI special agent Julianna Jameson is a top-notch negotiator who has never lost a hostage. Surely she can manage to take care of her much younger sister, Dottie, who showed up unannounced to live with Julianna while she finished her senior year of high school. A former sniper with the 75th Ranger Regiment, Clay Fox left the army after a tragic incident that he can't get past. Now he's working as a high school resource officer until he can figure...

"As a child, Abby Mullen escaped the insidious Wilcox cult when it literally went down in flames. Years later, she's the NYPD's best hostage negotiator and a mother. She thought the worst part of her life was behind her. Until now. Armed conspiracy theorists called the Watchers have attacked the local high school--and taken her daughter hostage. With the delusional Watchers holding her child at gunpoint, the unflappable Abby might be at her breaking...

"The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center--a women's reproductive health services clinic--its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage. After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with...

"The definitive account of the bizarre hostage drama that gave rise to the term "Stockholm Syndrome." On the morning of August 23, 1973, a man wearing a wig, makeup, and a pair of sunglasses walked into the main branch of Sveriges Kreditbank, a prominent bank in central Stockholm. He ripped out a submachine gun, fired it into the ceiling, and shouted, "The party starts!" This was the beginning of a six-day hostage crisis-and media circus-that would...

"Twas the night before Christmas, and dozens of rich, influential hostages are trapped inside a sprawling lakefront mansion in New Orleans. The perp? Detective Reed Ware, model cop turned outlaw. After receiving a panicked call from Hollis "Holly" Bayard, a teenage street tough with a penchant for amateur sleuthing who stumbles upon the scene of a drug-deal-turned- murder, Ware finds his and his friend's lives in dire danger. The crime Holly witnessed...