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Sep 04, 2012JohnnyArch rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Hostage © 2012 – Fiction By Elie Wiesel (Jewish-American b-1928) – Terrorism Hostage is an excellent novel with the pleasure of utilizing only three characters for some deep drama. Human interaction and emotion rule the day without relying on graphic torture or Hollywood antics. Elie Wiesel is one of only a small handful of writers who could pull this off brilliantly. Being a holocaust survivor himself, as well as actually having endured Auschwitz’s death camp, Elie regrettably knows his material. Elie’s Jewish character in the novel held hostage ‘Shaltiel Fiegenberg’ is neither famous nor in any way more or less significant. The terrorists consist of an Islamic extremist and an intellectual Italian sympathizer. The bounty for Shatiel’s freedom is the freeing of three Palestinian prisoners. An American held captive by a couple of revolutionist is not by any means a fresh idea. Hollywood has trampled this idea to death however Elie’s version comes off way more worthy of note, considering the source. It reads like a Turner Classic Movie relying on content and quality to carry the day rather than Bruce Willis, explosions, shock & awe. At 214 pages it was taken in with one sitting. Well actually, I made it to 211 wherein my wife unyieldingly intervened with some domicile crisis, thereby causing a rather obtuse ‘book interrupted’ incident. We have talked it out and have since reconciled. Almost a full pull  A good read. By John Archibald, September 2012