The Siege

Starred review from June 8, 2009
The Yale campus becomes the site of an increasingly tense siege in this stunning novel from bestseller White (Dead Time
). After unidentified attackers quietly take over a building belonging to one of Yale's secret societies, they transform it into a virtual fortress holding an unknown number of students hostage. As officials become aware of what has happened, the response escalates in predictable fashion, but these hostage takers are completely unpredictable. They make no demands, agree to no negotiations and execute or release hostages as they choose. Suspended Boulder, Colo., policeman Sam Purdy eventually teams with maverick FBI agent Christopher Poe and CIA terror expert Deirdre Drake in an effort outside official channels to figure out what's going on. Brilliantly conceived and executed, this intellectually challenging and provocative thriller brings home the lesson that 9/11 might have been a mere prelude to more sophisticated assaults.

Starred review from August 15, 2009
It takes White fewer than ten pages to completely draw the reader into this tautly written suspense thriller, perhaps his best to date. He introduces suspended Colorado police detective Sam Purdy, a friend of Alan Gregory (from the best-selling series that includes "Dead Time"). The action centers on a building at Yale where students held hostage by unknown individuals are being released at intervals, some relatively unharmed and others killed in horrible ways. Along with Purdy, those trying to figure out who is responsible include a federal agent still dealing with the effects of the Oklahoma City bombing and so many police that it's a challenge to keep them in order. There isn't a great deal of shoot-'em-up action, with White choosing instead to string the reader along in trying to unravel the puzzle he creates. The characters are well developed and suffer from frailties that readers don't always get from their heroes. After such a suspenseful ride, White thankfully doesn't wrap things up too neatly. VERDICT This is an outstanding book that should prove popular and may increase demand for White's previous titles. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 4/1/09; previewed under the title "The Man in the Tomb".]Craig Shufelt, Fort McMurray P.L., A.B.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2009
White, a clinical psychologist himself, usually features Boulder, Colorado, shrink Alan Gregory in his Rocky Mountainsbased thrillers. This time, though, he switches gears twice: the protagonist is Gregorys cop pal Sam Purdy, who is on suspension from the Boulder force, and the setting is New Haven, Connecticut, on the Yale campus. The story opens with a hostage situation inside a mysterious stone edifice on the prestigious universitys grounds; it ends badly and thus begins the backstory, as White unravels the details by flashing back to two days prior. A note that vaguely threatens a wealthy family is given to Purdy, who would like to dismiss it as meaningless, but his instincts tell him otherwise. When a child of that family and other prominent Yale students go missing, the note becomes key, so Sam makes his way to New Haven and teams up with FBI agent Christopher Poe and CIA analyst Deidre Drake. The threat appears to be a new kind of terrorism, one that is buried in the inner workings of an old secret society at Yale. White cranks up the pace to full-throttle in this outing, providing a welcome diversion to the more psychological thrills that are his stock-in-trade in the Gregory novels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)