content: When a busload of deaf girls are kidnapped and forced into an old building by murderous convicts within the first pages of this novel, I felt as if this book was doomed to go downhill. The police have surrounded the building, there is little or no chance for escape,and how can the police hope to coordinate a succesful rescue when they cannot communicate with the hostages?Jeffrey Deaver manages to take what seems like a dead end, and turn it into an entertaining roller coaster ride. We watch as the hostage negotiator dances verbally with the head of the convicts to keep him from killing the hostages and as the eldest hostage uses subtle sign language to calm the others.But just as the seige seems to comes to an end, we learn that surrender isn't always a permanent thing.