Our Review
24 Hours to Live -- or Die
24 Hours is Greg Iles's fifth novel in a little over seven years. Not surprisingly, it represents a sharp departure from everything that has come before. Iles's first two novels, Spandau Phoenix and Black Cross were big, ambitious historical thrillers set against the backdrop of World War II. They were followed, in turn, by Mortal Fear a sophisticated, high-tech serial killer story, and by 1999's The Quiet Game a contemporary Southern Gothic rooted in the recent history of race relations in Mississippi. In deliberate contrast to these earlier novels, each of which operates on a grand, almost epic scale, 24 Hours is a spare, tightly compressed account of kidnapping and revenge that takes place, as the title implies, within a single, dramatic, 24 hour period.

Two very different families dominate the new novel. The first of these is an oddly matched trio of serial kidnappers headed by Joe Hickey, embittered ex-con, sexual sadist, and designer of an elegant, very nearly foolproof kidnapping scheme. Aiding Hickey are Cheryl Tilly, his abused and beautiful wife, and Huey Cotton, a gentle, mentally deficient giant who will do almost anything to please his cousin Joe. Once a year for the last five years, these three have pulled off -- with absolute impunity -- a flawlessly orchestrated series of abductions, each of which targeted the son or daughter of a prominent Mississippi physician. As the novel opens, they are about to stage the sixth -- and final -- iteration of the same basic plan.

The intended victims, this time out, are the Jennings family. Will Jennings is a wealthy anesthesiologist currently approaching the peak of his profession. His wife, Karen, is a discontented housewife whose own medical career was cut short by an unplanned pregnancy. The product of that pregnancy was Abbie Jennings, who is now five years old, and who suffers from a chronic, potentially fatal case of juvenile diabetes. The violent conjunction of these two families will occupy one full day, and will alter the lives of everyone involved.

When Will Jennings leaves his family to attend a medical conference in Biloxi, Hickey and his cohorts abduct Will's daughter, setting in motion a complex plan whose success depends on speed, on the strict segregation of all participants, and on the prompt, unhindered delivery of a relatively modest ransom. The plan, which has worked so spectacularly in the past, begins, almost immediately, to go wrong. To start with, Abbie's medical condition introduces a number of unanticipated complications. Additionally, Will and Karen prove more resourceful -- and, when necessary, more ruthless -- than any of Hickey's earlier victims, two of whom -- James and Margaret McDill -- belatedly decide to reveal the details of their own son's abduction, one year before. Most significantly, Hickey himself reveals a previously undisclosed personal agenda, an agenda that separates this particular kidnapping from the five that went before.

24 Hours is not only Iles's shortest, most sharply focused novel to date, it is also his most cinematic. With an almost effortless facility, Iles moves the narrative along from scene to scene and location to location, cutting cleanly back and forth from the ostentatious luxury of a Biloxi casino to the sharecropper's cabin where Abbie Jennings lies hidden from view, and from the upscale elegance of the Jennings residence to the headquarters of the FBI, where a full scale manhunt gradually takes shape. The extended closing sequence, which involves an airborne pursuit, an emergency landing on a crowded Mississippi highway, and a climactic confrontation between kidnappers and victims, is rendered in colorful, highly visual prose that cries out to be filmed. Someday, it probably will be.

24 Hours may not be Iles's most ambitious novel, but it is nonetheless a first-rate entertainment: involving, expertly constructed, and, at its best, viscerally exciting. As always, Iles exhibits an uncommon combination of intelligence, ingenuity, and sheer narrative energy, reinforcing his position as one of the most consistently interesting popular novelists to emerge in America in recent years. If you haven't made his acquaintance yet, I urge you to do so soon. He's a good young writer who is steadily getting better, and he deserves the success he seems almost certain to achieve.

--Bill Sheehan

HAs close to family fare as a kidnapper-rapist-extortionist thriller can get, Iles's (The Quiet Game) latest brilliantly plotted tale walks the razor's edge between cinematic excess and bone-chilling suspense. Joe Hickey is a Southern redneck with an Ivy League talent for evil. He has trained his grossly huge, mentally challenged cousin, Huey, and his gorgeous, exotic-dancer, live-in lover, Cheryl, to work with him as part of a tightly controlled kidnap/extortion squad targeting Mississippi physicians' families while the doctors are off at conferences. But he hits a snag when Dr. Will Jennings, his wife, Karen, and their five-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Abby, prove as resourceful solo as they are formidable in tandem. Joe grabs Abby, turning her over to Huey, who drives her off to a remote forest cabin near Jackson; meanwhile, Joe stays behind to terrorize Karen in the Jennings home. Cheryl gets her hooks into the third family member by vamping her way into Will's hotel room in Biloxi, where Will receives a phone call and ransom demand from Joe, who stipulates delivery in 24 hours. It's a long, horrific night for all as Iles pits each of the captives against their captors in riveting battles of will. The well-rounded characters are trademark Iles, the plot runs speed-skating smooth and occasional near-gooey bits of dialogue are offset by nasty surprises and perfectly timed terror. The one-on-one conflicts punch up the pace, and a perfect Mississippi setting, a spot-on sendup of FBI assistance and a hair-raising finale complete the package. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and BOMC alternates. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

While Will Jennings is speaking at a medical conference in Biloxi, MS, his five-year-old daughter, Abby, is kidnapped and his wife, Karen, held hostage by psychopath Joe Hickey. With his wife, Cheryl, and cousin Huey, Joe has gotten away with five similar ransoms of doctors' children, but this one is different because he blames Will for the death of his mother. For those willing to overlook the unpleasantness of Abby's fear and Joe's sexual threat to Karen, this suspenseful tale is exciting, especially in the final chapters when Will must cope with the clumsy interference of the FBI. Just as Iles made computers central to the plot of Mortal Fear, he cleverly uses cellular phones and private planes here. By exaggerating some of the Southern accents, the normally excellent Dick Hill makes the events seem more melodramatic than the author intended. Recommended for thriller collections.--Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Six new releases by this publisher provide excellent, involving abridged readings which will attract audiobook fans. Greg Iles' 24 Hours is a highly recommended thriller spiced with twists and turns and veteran DickHill's reading. A 'perfect family' becomes trapped in the perfect crime which is a nightmare. Ridley Pearson's Middle Of Nowhere (893-1, $24.95) is read by the author and tells of a police district plagued by absences and a crime wave. One man must struggle with the entire department and his own marriage. T. Davis Bunn's Great Divide (928-8, $24.95) will appeal to listeners of courtroom dramas, with Buck Schirner's reading enhancing the story of a lawyer's new, distraught clients in a small town. Patricia Gaffney's Circle Of Three (930-X, $24.95) tells of three generations of women who struggle with grief and relationships. Dean Robertson's reading brings their stories to life. Elizabeth Lowell's Midnight In Ruby Bayou (902-4, $24.95) provides a mixed novel of adventure and suspense, with Laural Merlington at the helm reading of Faith Donovan, a jewelry maker who is drawn into a world of greed and corruption. Stewart O'Nan's Circus Fire (936-9, $24.95) re-creates the Great Hartford circus fire of 1944, telling of a huge fire which took the lives of 167 people in the town. All are outstanding audio listens.
—Internet Book Watch

A tepid thriller from bestselling Iles (The Quiet Game, 1999, etc.) in which an upscale family falls victim to a not-so-typical kidnapping masterminded by a psychopath with more than money on his mind.

Brilliantly plotted...perfectly-timed terror...and a hair-raising finale.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Iles displays all the well-honed chops that have made him a bestselling author...He Achieves a near perfect balance of high-tech inventiveness and characterization as the plot rushes to its grand—and violent—finale....Inventive and fast-paced.”—Times-Picayune

“A chilling tale...calculated to jangle the reader's every nerve...gut-wrenching.”—Library Journal

“A taut tale, terrifying in its intensity, compelling in its pace...A good, old-fashioned thriller, the likes of which are rare...A winner.”—Chattanooga Times