24 Hours
by Greg Iles
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Book Summary Information
Author: Greg IlesEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-06-01
ISBN: 0451203593
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Signet
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451203595
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of 24 Hours
Book Review: 24 HOURS will kidnap you.
Summary: 4 Stars
When I'm in a bookstore, one of the determining factors that often influence my choice as to whether or not to buy a certain book is to read the opening lines. If the book has a good enough "hook", then I'll take a chance on it, considering that the concept hasn't already grabbed me. Iles did a masterful job in setting up a cinematic prologue that details the safe return of a kidnapped child to his frantic mother. It's an anticlimax that works to the story's advantage. Joe Hickey, his cousin Huey and a woman have perfected an ingenious system for kidnapping children of prominent Mississippi physicians and for not only eluding capture but to even make their existence unknown to the authorities. But when they kidnap Abby Jennings, the small daughter of Will and Karen Jennings, Joe Hickey and his accomplices have picked on the wrong family.
Impeccable research into the intimate details of families like the Jennings make their master plan foolproof and not knowing that Abby Jennings had juvenile diabetes strikes me as something that a criminal genius like Hickey would've known. When they spirit the child out of the house only to subsequently discover that she's been separated from her life-saving insulin, Hickey is forced to alter The Plan.
But the family's will and resourcefulness make the carefully laid plan spiral more and more off course until both sides are adlibbing in a deadly game of chess, with Abby being the most important piece.
The Jennings, however, are targeted for reasons other than money and Hickey's motive for revenge is rather generic and uninspired. What *is* inspired and unique is the thrilling climax that takes place in the interstate, a denouement that has cinema written all over it.
24 HOURS has pacing and suspense that's as smooth and sharp as a scalpel on flesh and the characterization is as topnotch as Dean Koontz's. The relationship between the ringleader Joe Hickey and his giant cousin Huey has a feel reminiscent of OF MICE AND MEN, a dynamic used by other authors such as Scott Smith and John Gilstrap but without as much skill. Iles, however, pulls it off and one of threads of tension that runs throughout the book is the question of which force has more control over the gentle giant, the one who's watching Abby- Hickey or Huey's own conscience. Cheryl, a cynical, hard-assed former stripper, comes across as a solid, living woman and the reader can't help but sympathize with her as well as Huey.
Iles is indeed a master storyteller at the top of his game and, if he isn't, it's only because he has yet to peak.
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