The Negotiator

The Negotiator is a crime thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth. First published in 1989, the book was an international bestseller. Set in 1989, when an American oil tycoon, Cyrus Miller and a shipping tycoon, Melvin Scanlon, plan to conspire and surreptitiously bring the oil wealth of the Middle East under American and their, control. But with the American president’s stand threatening their scheme, Miller and Scanlon decide to eliminate the president and hire three mercenaries to do the job. As the first part of the plan, the president’s son, Simon, gets kidnapped. Anticipating a hostage situation, the CIA bring back Green Beret, aka Quinn, a retired CIA negotiator, for the job. Reluctant at first, Quinn agrees to do it but only if he is allowed to go about the situation his way. As Quinn studies the situation, assisted against his consent by Sam Somerville, a female FBI agent and Duncan McCrea, a CIA official, the kidnappers finally make contact with a demand for 2 million dollars’ worth of diamonds. All of Quinn’s effort seems to go to waste when fake news about the authorities getting close to kidnappers is released. With the situation getting out of hand, Quinn decides take matters into his own hands, stealing the diamonds and depositing them at the drop point. The kidnappers, on receiving the ransom, let Simon go but as he approaches Quinn, an explosion kills him as Quinn stands by, helpless. The devastated president now faces removal from his post. Quinn decides to deal with the situation himself and uncover the truth behind the strange actions. He must now somehow find out the truth behind this elaborately devious plan in time to save the president and thwart the schemes of the brains behind the scene. This edition of The Negotiator was published in paperback in 1990 by RHUK.