When comedian Koo Davis is kidnapped by The People’s Revolutionary Army, a terrorist group, he’s forced to re-evaluate his life and achievements. Is there anybody who cares enough about Koo to pay his ransom? With a mixture of sadness and bitterness he realises there isn’t. His family have long since got used to life without him. The politicians and army brass liked his act but weren’t friends, and besides there can be no negotiating with terrorists. His studio bosses, so concerned with profit and loss, will take a cold hard look at the numbers and write him off. But his captors don’t want money, they want to reignite a cause, and are demanding the release of political prisoners. It is up to Mike Wiskiel of the FBI and Lynsey Rayne, Koo’s agent, to save him.

This book has surprising depth and is a fitting testament to the late, great author. It’s as much about fathers and sons, about success and failure, and about making an account, as it is about the good guys catching the bad guys. Westlake handles these themes as deftly as any writer of literary fiction could, and the book is never a struggle to read.