A deadly war of nerves between perfectly matched opponents. The law descends in force as local police officials, Montana State Troopers, National Guard helicopters, a United States Marshals Special Operations Group, and the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team converge on Paradise Ridge. When state-of-the-art surveillance technology fails to prevent the murder of a federal marshal, the FBI recalls from operational exile its ranking veteran crisis manager: a brilliant but unstable negotiator named John T. Banish. As casualties mount on both sides, Paradise Ridge becomes a tinderbox. Banish must pry a heavily armed, ruthlessly cunning criminal out of hiding while, at the foot of the mountain, a massive gathering of Ables’s outraged supporters threatens to turn into a full-scale riot. More than a high-stokes face-off between a lawbreaker and the law, what takes place over the course of nine agonizing days in Montana is a contest of wills and wits as intensely personal as The Fugitive or The Hunt for Red October. One of this year’s most talked-about novels, soon to be a major motion picture, THE STANDOFF grabs you on page one and simply cannot be put down. This is a remarkable fiction debut — a bottle that no one dares win; a tactical and psychological duel more harrowing than anything you have ever experienced