Held Hostage by Dennis Flynn

Held Hostage by Dennis Flynn ISBN-13: 9781947290075 ebook: 287 pages Publisher: WildBlue Press Released: Aug. 22, 2017

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from NetGalley:
What do you say to prevent someone from committing ‘suicide-by-cop’? Or has a gun pointed at a hostage? Or an armed man who has barricaded himself in a hotel room? Or a despondent woman who is threatening to kill herself?

Veteran police negotiator Lieutenant Dennis Flynn spent nearly two decades responding to more than a thousand of these and other high-intensity incidents with the Crisis Negotiations Team in Las Vegas, Nevada. His goal? Bring ‘em out alive!

A behind-the-scenes view of life-and-death situations that police negotiators face and how they were resolved one way or the other under the bright lights and glitter of Sin City.


My Review:
Held Hostage is about how hostage negotiators (now called Crisis Negotiations Teams) work in Las Vegas. Lieutenant Dennis Flynn worked as a part of the negotiator teams in Las Vegas from 1998 to 2015. He responded to over a thousand incidents, including suicide attempts, barricade situations, pseudo-hostage and hostage situations.

He started by briefly explaining about how he got interested in being a negotiator, the training he took, and the different positions/jobs on the team. He then provided details about ten incidents that he worked. He described the situation that the police responded to, what the scene was like when the CNT arrived, what they did, and why. He also analyzed what could have been done better and any changes they made to their procedures based on what they learned. He included pictures of the places these incidents took place so you can see what they were dealing with.

The author wrote in a way that a person unfamiliar with police, SWAT, or negotiator tools and terminology can easily understand what was going on. I better understand the challenging situations they face and how they deal with them. I'm amazed that they will spend hours talking people out of committing suicide, but horrified that passersby will call out to these hurting people to jump. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those interested in what negotiators do.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.