Billion-dollar ransom

Five people vanish at the same moment, in different places. Two children are lifted from a private school bus, a film producer and a movie star are seized at a secluded resort, and a wife is snatched from a Beverly Hills street. The demand is a billion dollars, and the billionaire who wants his family back has the cash, gold, jewels and crypto lined up and waiting.

Then FBI agent Nicky Gordon steps in with a plan of her own, and paying the kidnappers is no part of it. Stubborn and brilliant, she sets her nerve against a scheme designed to be perfect, with five lives hanging on who blinks first. James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski deliver a glossy, high-stakes thriller for anyone who likes their suspense fast, glamorous and tightly wound.