Haunting and thorough, We Want to Negotiate gives a full-bodied look at the issue of kidnapping, ransom, and the management of hostages. This novel is incredibly well-written and researched, providing excellent narratives and compelling stories that challenge to reader to face the sometimes harsh realities of this terribly complex issue. Very, very well done.

An interesting book on hostage-taking and negotiating. It shows the complexities involved from dealing with the government and their needs, the hostage and their family, and the terrorist cell and the terrorist organisation. I did find the book a bit jumpy at times. I'm not too keep on the book cover either as a personal preference. Overall a good short read.

I thought this was a very interesting read. I have seen the high profile kidnappings on tv but there are many more than we realize. Joel goes into the stories behind some of the interesting kidnappings and what countries pay the ransom and what do not. How families have gotten involved and how kidnapped victims returned have gotten involved post-return. Well worth the read.

This was an interesting read. I didn't know anything about kidnapping and ransom prior to reading this book, so I found it quite informative, especially with how different countries react to kidnapping situations. At first, I thought that the book would address each nation's policy for kidnapping since he started with a focus on France and moved into Spain, but then he discussed a particular situation and the organization of the book no longer made sense. The writing was a bit dry and I found the flow to be choppy in some parts. The content was interesting, but I think the writing and editing could be better.

I was curious about this book. Have you watched the TV Series "Ransom?" If you haven't, well, google it after you're done reading this because with that in mind, reading this was insightful. Over the years, I've watched on international news outlets calls for the release of journalists or Aid workers who were kidnapped in turbulent areas and I never fully grasped the stress, anxiety, negotiations and trauma that surrounds it.
In this book, the author explores the roles of governments and media houses in such cases and not all the stories have happy endings which ultimately broke my heart.
I liked how he presented the stories on both sides. Thanks for the eARC Netgalley, this book would be a great conversation on policies that affect international news coverage and politics whilst protecting reporters.