The First Hostage by Joel C. Rosenberg

This book is the second in Rosenberg's J. B. Collins series. Collins is a Middle East reporter for The New York Times. I have not read the first book in the series yet.

The hostage mentioned in the title is the President of the United States. He was kidnapped at a peace conference in Amman, Jordan. ISIS is the perpetrator of a large-scale attack on world leaders attending the conference. The Jordanians, along with an American special operations team, head up an effort to find and rescue the president. Collins is caught in the action and becomes eye-witness to the planning and execution of the rescue. But, will it be successful.

As usual, Rosenberg brings the drama and action to life with believable characters and almost constant suspense. The author's knowledge of Middle Eastern politics and the people involved make his stories feel like they came from front-page news rather than a fictional novel. While being entertained, the reader learns more about the dynamics of Middle Eastern politics.

I have read and reviewed Rosenberg's Twelfth Imam series on this blog. Check them out at this link.

Note: For some of my reviews, the publisher sent me the book at no charge in exchange for a review. This is not one of them.

Image source: http://www.joelrosenberg.com/books-dvd/