The Chain is the acclaimed thriller by Adrian McKinty that won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel of the Year, as well as making the top Best Book of the Year lists. The cover is filled with praise from writers like Stephen King ("incredibly propulsive"), Lee Child, Tana French, Ian Rankin, and Linwood Barclay.
It takes off from page one and does not let up with one crazy twist to the next - exactly what thriller fans crave. Adrian McKinty has also won Edgar and Barry awards, and has a series of detective novels set in Northern Ireland during the troubles, which from reviews seem grounded in reality.
This is written to thrill, so leave logic and reality behind! for it becomes both exciting and rather ludicrous.
Rachel is a professor of modern philosophy and single mom in Boston, heading to her oncologist (the cancer has returned), when she gets a phone call. Her teenage daughter Kylie has been kidnapped, and they are now part of The Chain. The ransom to be paid is $15,000 - PLUS she must now pick a child to kidnap in place of Kylie, holding them until that child's parents pay the ransom, and they in turn kidnap the next child.
The next call is from a frantic couple: they are holding Kylie safe but can't release her until Rachel does her part, which will release their son who has been kidnapped by a completely different stranger. The Chain plays on your emotions to not only get rich with ransom, but force you into submission. Anyone who doesn't comply is killed. Within hours, Rachel has scrambled together the money, paid the ransom, and trolled Facebook for a child to kidnap! The only person she can turn to now is her ex-husband's brother Pete - an ex-Marine with a shed full of guns which is good - and a heroin addiction, which is not.
A location is scouted, the new child kidnapped, the next parents are told they must continue The Chain - when $25,000 more in ransom is demanded from Rachel. Things only ratchet up from there, as both Rachel and daughter Kylie are plagued with trauma from the event. The only solution is to enter the Dark Web and track down who is behind this insidious organization to break The Chain.
Easy when you are undergoing chemotherapy, and your team is a heroin addict and a twelve year old girl!
McKinty said he wanted to write an 'American' novel, and has succeeded in the current style of short two page chapters that propel the story, at the expense of logic or memorable prose (Rachel turns from suburban mom into a kidnapping criminal in about 3 hours). Fans of his previous Sean Duffy novels were disappointed but I did enjoy this! It was propulsive and twisted, I actually could not put it down, reading it straight through. It is very easy to see how this is ripe for a movie or limited series.
2019 / Tradeback / 357 pages
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