_The Mall_ is the story of a complex plot to take over a shopping mall with 40,000 people in it for $11 million in ransom. The main characters, one of whom owns the mall and the other of whom is the leader of the take-over team, get locked in the Security office together to negotiate a way for everybody to leave alive and happy. There are all sorts of side characters that have various plot functions as well. In short, there's a great book possible here, but this isn't it. The writing is, well, hokey at times. One chapter starts, "Willie White wasn't." Quippish, but not nearly as clever as the author thinks it is.

This is a novel worth reading for the plot-line; the characters and the dialogue are so cheesy that they become jokes after a while. If you can keep a straight face as you read it, it's worth seeing what happens at the end.