Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The First Hostage
    The First Hostage
    The First Hostage
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    The First Hostage

    Written by Joel C. Rosenberg

    Narrated by David de Vries

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    “The president of the United States…is missing.”

    Three years before Clinton and Patterson, another New York Times bestselling author of thirteen international thrillers, Joel C. Rosenberg, posed this chilling scenario: What if the Islamic State captured the most valuable hostage in history?

    Award-winning journalist J. B. Collins, reporting from the scene of a devastating attack by ISIS terrorists in Amman, Jordan, puts the entire world on high alert—the U.S. president is missing and presumed captured. With Israeli and Palestinian leaders critically injured and Jordan’s king fighting for his life, the allies are reeling and hopes for the peace process are dashed. As the U.S. government faces a constitutional crisis and Jordan battles for its very existence, Collins must do his best to keep the world informed while working to convince the FBI that his stories are not responsible for the terror attack on the Jordanian capital. And ISIS still has chemical weapons.

    Struggling to clear his name, Collins works frantically with the Secret Service to locate and rescue the leader of the free world before ISIS’s threats become a catastrophic reality.

    “One of the most entertaining and intriguing authors of international political thrillers in the country… His novels are un-put-downable!” —Steve Forbes, editor in chief, Forbes magazine

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateDec 29, 2015
    ISBN9781491587584
    The First Hostage
    Author

    Joel C. Rosenberg

    Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of 16 novels—The Last Jihad, The Last Days, The Ezekiel Option, The Copper Scroll, Dead Heat, The Twelfth Imam, The Tehran Initiative, Damascus Countdown, The Auschwitz Escape, The Third Target, The First Hostage, Without Warning, The Kremlin Conspiracy, The Persian Gamble, The Jerusalem Assassin, and The Beirut Protocol—and five works of nonfiction. Joel's titles have sold nearly 5 million copies. Visit www.joelrosenberg.com.

    More audiobooks from Joel C. Rosenberg

    Related to The First Hostage

    Titles in the series (5)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Lange’s Dangerous Gamble

      Mar 8, 2020

      Lange’s Dangerous Gamble
      6 min read

    • Article

      Adam LeBor on Television

      Sep 30, 2021

      Adam LeBor on Television
      3 min read

    • Article

      ‘Don’t Ever Tell Law Enforcement to Shoot to Kill Your Own People’

      May 31, 2020

      As outrage in response to police killings grows across the country, President Donald Trump has suggested that active-duty military forces are “ready, willing and able” to deploy to Minnesota. Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to

      6 min read

    • Article

      Winston Churchill:

      May 3, 2021

      Winston Churchill:
      9 min read

    • Article

      Exit Plans

      Mar 15, 2024

      Exit Plans
      7 min read

    • Article

      Exit Plans

      Mar 15, 2024

      Exit Plans
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Pajama Pilot

      Oct 5, 2021

      The Pajama Pilot
      8 min read

    • Article

      Risinger raid

      Aug 9, 2022

      Risinger raid
      8 min read

    • Article

      Destination Tehran

      Aug 4, 2020

      Destination Tehran
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Unfriendly Skies

      Aug 9, 2022

      The Unfriendly Skies
      8 min read

    • Article

      On the Brink

      Jan 10, 2020

      On the Brink
      9 min read

    • Article

      On the Brink

      Jan 10, 2020

      On the Brink
      9 min read

    • Article

      Baghdad Memories

      Mar 3, 2023

      Baghdad Memories
      14 min read

    • Article

      Terror In The Sky

      Nov 6, 2018

      Terror In The Sky
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Unfriendly Skies

      Mar 20, 2020

      The Unfriendly Skies
      8 min read

    • Article

      In 1980, A Police Constable Hit The Headlines After A Close Encounter With A ‘UFO’. But Is There A Logical Explanation For What He Saw? BBC Radio’s Danny Robins Investigates...

      Dec 29, 2021

      It’s the night of 28 November 1980. Margaret Thatcher is prime minister, the Cold War’s in full effect, and police constable Alan Godfrey is out on patrol in his hometown, Todmorden, in West Yorkshire, on the trail of some cows spotted roaming a loca

      2 min read

    • Article

      Over The Top

      Nov 7, 2017

      Over The Top
      7 min read

    • Article

      Escape From Afghanistan

      Aug 23, 2021

      Escape From Afghanistan
      13 min read

    • Article

      Lucky Bastards’ Club

      Oct 20, 2020

      Lucky Bastards’ Club
      3 min read

    • Article

      Principles of Haste Management

      Feb 11, 2020

      Jim Davis has a passion for instructing. He has been training civil and military pilots, in the air and on the ground for 50 years. His other passion is writing, which he studied at Curtin University in Perth. You can see, and buy, his two pilot text

      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The First Hostage

    4.5/5

    86 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Riveting as usual. Great storyline, albeit a little unrealistic. However, I love it. Great story with a smidge of almost romance along with plenty of action and suspense.
    • 3/5
      Because everyone that returned this book to the library was very excited about the book, I had mixed emotions when I started reading it. In the past I have found that the more people that say, " You have to read this," the less I enjoy the story. Overall, the book proved to be a good read. There were parts of the story that I really found hard to believe, like when Yael told everyone that the only way she would assist in-person at Alqosh was if J.B. was allowed to tag along. I also found the scene where J. B. was shooting at the invading ISIS army to be unbelievable. The author packed a lot of adventure into the 429 pages. Will I read this author again, yes, but not right away. I am still processing this story
    • 4/5
      Another intense story by Rosenberg.

      What would happen if ISIS took advantage of a gathering of Middle Eastern leaders in Jordan that included the President of the United States? This book develops a plot that takes this question to its nth degree of plausibility. There are times in the story win which I thought, "That's unlikely," but overall, this story was chilling. The story takes into consideration vile, documented types of barbarism that ISIS perpetrates on those who are not "true believers" in Islam (the Islamic State caliphate) and on those who are gentile infidels.

      Joel Roseberg's knowledge of the Middle East, it's leaders, and ISIS create a mixture of believability that will keep you nervous from the first chapter on.
    • 5/5
      Couldn't put it down
    • 5/5
      I never read a book by Joel C. Rosenberg before but this will not be my last. He made this type of thriller very intense and understandable. I was able to understand the whole book. I loved the J.B. Collins character. I look forward to the next book in this series. The author did a great job as to what might happen if the president of the United States would be kidnapped. I received a copy of this book from bookfun.org for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own will.
    • 4/5
      I love reading fast moving action packed books like the one the author has written. The story could be ripped from the front page news with believable threats to our nation. I loved the details that the author provides that keep you on the edge of your seat. J. B. Collins is a top notch journalist and finds himself embroiled in the disappearance of the president. The intensity of the story is bone chilling and the race is on to find out who is involved. ISIS has wormed their way into endangering many dignitaries across the world . The author has a vast array of knowledge about the military that makes the story so intriguing. Collins is dedicated to reporting the news without being biased. I can't imagine what it would be like to be a journalist dodging bullets and grenades. The story is a race against time as the president is in imminent danger and the country is in turmoil. Is there someone feeding information to ISIS? Collins will have to depend on his instincts as the stakes are raised in this thrilling espionage story. The author does not disappoint readers as he takes us on a roller coaster ride of surprises and twist that lead to an explosive end. I received a copy of this book from The BookClub Network. The review is my own opinion.
    • 5/5
      This is the first book I have read by Rosenberg, but it will not be the last. A riveting story about the capture of the US President by ISIS. Well written and paced. Lots of bloodshed and a little over the top with regard to some of the feats of the characters .. yet still a gripping tale. My first 5-star in a while.
    • 5/5
      After scrambling for his life from a deadly scene in Jordan, New York Times journalist J.B. Collins is caught up in a mission to save the now missing U.S. president in The First Hostage by author Joel C. Rosenberg.I stepped into the action of this high-stakes thriller without any knowledge of what happened in the novel that precedes it, but the story didn't leave me feeling lost, and by a quarter of the way through, I was engrossed.The first-person narration is rather conversational, which I hadn't expected. The hero addresses the reader as "you" here and there, and his style keeps his story down to earth. I couldn't help but to feel claustrophobic and unnerved by heights along with him, and particular disturbing and devastating scenes he comes across aren't merely sensational, when seen through his eyes. Instead, the devastation can't help but to pull on one's compassion. Then, the story ends with enough of a conclusion to let you breathe (no jarring cliffhangers) but enough of an opening to leave you in anticipation for more.The genre is still fairly new territory for me, but I've little doubt that this novel has much that will keep other thriller fans on the edge of their seats--or on their toes, as I was.___________________Tyndale House provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      This book was action packed. I received it as an advanced reading copy (thanks LibraryThing), and when I found that the author listed the characters in the front of the book, I almost didn't read it, because the unfamiliarity of the names from another culture I was afraid it would be confusing and hard to keep up with. I am so glad, I gave this a read; it was awesome! The story like was exciting and keeps you hanging on the edge of your seat. I hated to finish it.
    • 5/5
      Title: The First Hostage (A J. B. Collins Novel #2)Author: Joel RosenbergPages: 448Year: 2015Publisher: TyndaleMy rating is 5 stars.What occurs in this novel I learned from Joel Rosenberg’s recent blog post happens six seconds after the close of the first book in the series, The Third Target. Before you begin either book plan on being glued to the action for hours because it is nonstop from start to finish. In some ways the evil that nations were fighting against defied description. The characters who fought to protect the innocent and leaders had actions, thoughts and decisions that were at times surprising.J. B. Collins is living through more experiences of hell than he ever has had on any major news assignments because every time he turns around his life is on the line. Whether it is due to ISIS or other unknown assailants, J. B.’s level of frustration grows as he can’t reconcile faith in Jesus or his access to report the danger he witnesses firsthand. Trying to identify those who are backing ISIS and seeing how far they had infiltrated our government was extremely thought-provoking and added tension to the tale.Israel is trying to help locate those who are guilty of causing mass destruction and those who have captured the President and hidden him. I read this novel in one sitting because I was very engrossed in the nail-biting tension and a possible romance for J. B. Plus the danger and loss of friends that J. B. had suffered was a high cost he never thought would be attached to his journalism career.There is so much to this book and the prior novel that isn’t revealed in the review, but I believe it is worthwhile for people to read and consider the picture though fictional that is being painted on the pages. As in Old Testament times, I see there is major spiritual warfare going on. Some of the various Muslim characters in the book are radical and others are peaceful, bringing the challenge to rightly identify the enemy.I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot along with those who come together regardless of differences to halt the killing some wished to unleash on people. I hope you take time to read both books as Joel Rosenberg is a well-informed Middle East columnist and author. Joel brings his understanding of current events into the world of fiction, which makes the stories more tantalizing and believable. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”