Van Zandt, an early FBI specialist in hostage negotiation, shuns the fireworks his fictional Hollywood counterparts can't seem to avoid, yet veteran ghostwriter Paisner (Citizen Koch) has successfully converted his reminiscences into a surprisingly entertaining series of anecdotes. Despite the absence of gunplay, these nuts-and-bolts descriptions of bank robberies, dramatic prison riots, grotesque scenarios in which the offender yearns to die and exotic hostage dramas in foreign lands make for gripping reading. A standout is 40 pages on the 1985 siege of the Covenant, an armed survivalist cult living on a heavily defended rural Arkansas farm. Few Americans remember the outcome: a hundred men, women and children peacefully surrendered. Van Zandt also relates his autobiography, beginning as a poor youth with divorced parents whose dream was to become a G-man, which required overcoming obstacles such as failing courses in college. He describes himself as a deeply religious born-again Christian who, unlike colleagues, never subordinated family to career but who loves the FBI and America and holds a low opinion of criminals, America's enemies and liberals. This turns out to be charming and does not diminish the value of his stories, which could appeal to readers not normally drawn to such macho adventures. (Sept. 7)
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Before retiring from the FBI in 1995, Van Zandt, one of the key figures in the formation of the agency's Hostage Negotiation Program in the 1970s, brought the strategies of negotiation to a host of white-knuckle and high-profile hostage standoffs. In this gripping memoir, he brings readers in on the secrets behind his ability to defuse hostage situations. In casebook format, Van Zandt reviews the great standoffs of his career, including a bank robbery gone sour in Rochester, New York; a weeks-long confrontation with a white supremacist group in Arkansas; a Cuban prisoner rebellion, with staffers held hostage, in Alabama; the kidnapping of corporate executive Michael Barry in Manila; and (briefly) a run-in with the Unabomber and the tragedies of Waco and Oklahoma City. The writing (with the help of coauthor Paisner) is crisp and fast-paced, and Van Zandt's revelations about hostage negotiation tactics and actual encounters are fascinating. David Pitt
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