Jen J. Danna Boeken

"After her mother's death during a bank robbery when she was a child, Gemma Capello grew up to become one of the NYPD's elite hostage negotiators. In a family of cops, there's rarely a day when a Capello isn't facing down some form of threat. Still, despite their unpredictable schedules, they always find time for their annual family summer picnic. But this year, a sudden phone call changes everything. A heavily armed gunman has taken hostages at City Hall. Gemma races downtown to join the rest of the Hostage Negotiation Team as they scramble to identify the captives, fearing the mayor may be among them. But as they search for answers and struggle to gain control of the circumstances, it becomes clear that the mayor is at the center of it all, just not in the way they initially believed. With several lives on the line and a criminal who always seems to be one step ahead, Gemma is the only one able to connect with the suspect. Soon, she finds herself engaging in a battle of wits while enduring a battle of egos in the command center. With time running out and a mastermind who has proven he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants, Gemma risks it all - her career and her life - in a last-ditch effort to save the hostages. Now, she needs to figure out how to save herself ..." --Provided by publisher

In the second installment of Jen J. Danna’s atmospheric crime fiction series featuring a hostage negotiator and her law enforcement family, NYPD detective Gemma Capello is called to Rikers Island, where a prison riot threatens to become a bloodbath... NYPD detective Gemma Capello is called to Rikers Island, where a prison riot threatens to become a bloodbath . . . On Rikers Island, tensions always run high, especially in the Enhanced Supervision Housing unit. The ESH is home to Rikers’ most dangerous offenders, many of them members of rival street gangs. When Gemma Capello and her team get word of an uprising at the ESH, they know how much is at stake. It’s also the first case she and Detective Sean Logan have worked together since a siege at City Hall. Built to prevent escape, prisons are also especially difficult to invade—a last resort for Gemma. She begins negotiating with Kill Switch, a young, aggressive member of the Filero Kings gang and the inmates’ spokesman. She can tell the stress level is escalating inside. That may give her team some advantages, but it soon leads to a brutal act of retribution—and threats of more to come. With the body count rising and her team arguing about how to proceed, the only certainty is that the next misstep may be a fatal one . . .