Bounded Rationality the Encounter

The saga continues, as human irrationality unfolds after discovering the presence of an unidentified starship orbiting Earth, with man's fate descending into uncharted and dangerous territory.
The alien Gorgass civilization monitors mankind closely, providing demands submitted to Earth via the return of select human hostages, but struggles to communicate efficiently -with Earth's response to any overtures, being aggressively negative.
The remaining hostages, trapped within their extraneous cells, are at their wits' end. An attempt to reason with the indifferent extraterrestrials is made - not only on sparing their own lives- but in sparing mankind altogether.
As the prisoners attempt to devise a way of relaying their requests, does the incompatibility of mindsets between life forms become clear? Hence the battle between the Rational v Irrational, Methodical v Spontaneous, and Emotionless v Expressiveness begin, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
Does the threat truly come from extraterrestrial activity, or instead inadvertently from within humans' own inability to listen rationally?
The author maintains the realistic technical aspects and dynamics woven throughout the fabric of this book, superbly constructing a plausible yet compelling science fiction story.