The Negotiator

Frequently wooden, occasionally terrible, prose; rather too much tell-not-show; an excess of cardboard characters; a big fat cliche involving a pretty FBI agent who wins the hero's heart; the road map of Europe described in excessive detail... this book is full of faults.

BUT! It's a cracking story! The pace, slow at first, builds to a fabulous crescendo. Forsyth's dialogue is crisp and on point, the way people actually talk. The twists keep you turning the pages until way past your bedtime. The research and detail that sometimes bog the book down also give it heft and substance, and you feel as if you've learned something from reading it. I ended up enjoying it far more than I thought I would at the start.