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Book Review of Standoff

Standoff
Standoff
Author: Sandra Brown
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Hardcover
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Tiel McCoy is driven beyond ambition to the point where her television journalism career is her whole life, meant to compensate for loneliness and guilt about a failed marriage to a husband who died before they could get things straight. A long-postponed vacation is sidetracked when Tiel stops at a convenience store in a desolate part of Texas and gets caught up in a robbery attempt. The robbers are teenage runaways. Ronnie Davison is being sought on charges that he kidnapped his pregnant girlfriend, Sabra Dendy, daughter of a ruthless millionaire who will stop at nothing to separate the pair. Tiel sees the situation as a sure-fire ticket to the anchor position on the Dallas station's proposed prime-time news show. But Tiel finds herself gradually and genuinely engaged with the cast of characters at the store when the attempted robbery turns into a hostage drama. Tiel helps negotiate with the FBI agents who eventually converge on the scene. She gradually becomes just as focused on positioning a good story as on saving lives and keeping the young couple from honoring a desperate suicide pact. A fellow hostage is a ruggedly handsome rancher named Doc, who helps keep tempers calm and delivers Sabra's baby under tense and dangerous circumstances. Tiel recognizes Doc from a story she'd done several years earlier. As the hostage drama draws them closer, Tiel struggles with her ambitions and Doc with his visceral distrust of the media.