A reformed drug dealer, a desperate widow, a bigtime crook and a compassionate cop are the players in this perfunctory kidnapping yarn set in San Francisco. Peter Morgan, a privileged young man, lost everything in a personal war with drugs, including his wife and two daughters. When he is released from prison, he is determined to go straight, but hard times force him to seek out Phillip Addison, a business mogul with many shady operations on the side. Addison makes Morgan an offer he can't refuse: either recruit some fellow ex-cons to kidnap the children of recently deceased dot-com multimillionaire Allan Barnes, or his own kids will suffer. Against his will, Morgan hatches a plan. Meanwhile, Allan's widow, Fernanda, is struggling to make ends meet, since unknown to nearly everyone, Allan lost all his money in bad investments before committing suicide. The San Francisco cops, led by Insp. Det. Ted Lee, find files suggesting that Addison is plotting something, but even heavy police protection can't prevent Fernanda's youngest son, Sam, from being snatched. Lee moves into the Barnes mansion to oversee the search for the kidnappers and watch over Fernanda, but in the end Morgan plays the crucial role in saving Sam. The novel begins slowly, with lengthy introductions to all the principal characters, and never picks up speed, with Steel narrating as if from a distance, glossing over critical scenes and skimping on dialogue. Reluctant villain Morgan is a sympathetic bad guy, and Steel engineers the requisite romance between Ted and Fernanda, but this is thin fare. (Mar. 2) Forecast: A New York Times review of Steel's previous novel, Safe Harbour, hits the nail on the head in pronouncing Steel's books "listless," but when it comes to sales, the author's name overrides all adverse press. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Smooth ex-con kidnaps son of bankrupt dot-com entrepreneur. No one knows that billionaire Allan Barnes lost all his money in the high-tech collapse--his widow, Fernanda, makes sure of that. A devoted mother and a simple soul at heart, she hopes to keep up appearances for the sake of her three darling children, Will, Ashley, and Sam. Fernanda never really wanted to be rich, anyway, or move from the family's modest Palo Alto home. Fame and fortune seem shallow and silly now, ever since shaky deals and staggering debt devoured Allan's empire. The whole truth may never be known--his body simply washed up in Mexico. His suspicious death is under investigation by his insurance company, and she wants to sell their last remaining asset, a palatial San Francisco mansion. Enter Peter Morgan, a socially connected, charming Harvard MBA just paroled after a conviction for cocaine dealing. Gosh, he can't even get a job as a dishwasher. A nefarious acquaintance, Philip Addison, offers Peter a deal of sorts: kidnap one of the Barnes children for an immense ransom. Addison is $30 million in debt, and the villainous Colombians whose money's he's been laundering for years are twirling their mustaches and making sinister noises. What's an ex-con to do? Why, accept Addison's deal, of course, and enlist the assistance of fellow former jailbirds. A lackluster chase unfolds at a snail's pace, complete with a kind but tough detective, Chinese-American Ted Lee, and mom Fernanda in a swiped police uniform at the finale to rescue brave little Sam. Show-and-tell suspenser from Steel, heavily freighted with clumsy exposition. An afterthought romance for Lee and Fernanda is chilly and utterly unconvincing. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Four seemingly unconnected people intersect during one completely heinous crime in Steel's latest. Peter and Carl are released from the same California prison on the same day. Morgan is a Harvard MBA convicted of drug dealing; Waters has been in prison for 24 years for murder. The two never spoke, but each knows the other. Morgan has a hard time adjusting to civilian life, and as a last resort seeks out a powerful business associate who sets him on the road to addiction, and back on the criminal path. He recruits Carl and two other men to pull off the allegedly lucrative kidnapping of Fernanda Barnes and her children. Her husband recently died, and she should be worth half a billion, but her husband actually left her broke. San Francisco detective Ted Lee is the man who pieces together the crime and tries to protect the family while hiding his interest in the noble Fernanda, to whom is he is attracted. Morgan is also attracted to Fernanda, seeing her as the embodiment of the life he could have had. This lackluster suspense novel and its plastic characters will have automatic appeal for Steel fans, but other readers may find it wanting. --Patty Engelmann Copyright 2004 Booklist

When a violent crime rocks her family, Fernanda Barnes finds her life irretrievably linked to stalwart detective Ted Lee, convicted murderer Carl Waters, and Peter Morgan, an ex-con trying to go straight. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.