A long time back I read an action-adventure story with a super-powered main character. The hero’s wife and children were kidnapped by the villain who wanted the hero to murder one of the villain’s rivals and he boasted that he had manuevered the hero into a situation in which he was helpless to resist the villain. The hero replied that the villain had actually manuevered him into a situation in which he, the hero, had no choice but to murder the villain on the spot since if he allowed himself to be blackmailed like this his family would never be safe again but if he killed the villain right then no one would dare follow his order anyway and when the villain realized the hero was not bluffing he immediately released the hero’s family. Does anyone recognize this story? Thanks.
Not sure If I’ve read that story, but it sounds like something Larry Niven might have had Gil Hamilton do.
I’m also not sure if Gil Hamilton stories ever featured him with family members.
Gil had no close relatives mentioned in the stories, as I recall. He had some close friends in law enforcement, and some close friends he hadn’t seen for a while (from the Belt) but that was it.
Did he have a love interest? I am not sure I remember properly about the relationship of the hostages to the hero.
“Shoot the hostage!”
Gil the ARM? Yes, a girl named Taffy he met in the first story.
I only know of four Gil the ARM stories. The twist doesn’t fit any of them, iirc.
I agree.