#BookReview-‘The Chain’ by Adrian McKinty

About the book…

Hugest of thanks to Netgalley and Orion for my ebook copy of ‘The Chain’ by Adrian McKinty to review-I had be lucky enough to get to read the sampler earlier this year and there is not truth to the rumour that I bit all my nails to the bone waiting for approval to read the whole book,not at all. 

‘The Chain’ is available now in hardback,ebook and audiobook editions wherever good books are sold.

You are not the first and you will ceratinly not be the last.

Victim
Survivor
Abductor
Criminal

You will become each one.

Your phone rings

A stranger has kidnapped your child.

To free them you muct abduct someone else’s child.

Your child will be released when your victim’s parents kidnap another child.

If any of these things don’t happen, your child will be killed.

You are now part of the chain.

The premise behind the book is so simple, so fiendish and so diabolical that it is mindblowing.

It starts with Rachel and Kylie;single parent Rachel is on her way to find out just how bad her cancer diagnosis is when she gets an unknown phonecall. Kylie has been snatched from a bus stop and both are now part of The Chain.

In order to get Kylie back, first Rachel must pay a set figure ransom, and then choose her own target to kidnap. No police, no one else is to be involved, as soon as the ransom is paid and the next child is kidnapped, the original caller will get her child back and Rachel is one step closer to getting Kylie. As soon as her target is set and they complete their ends of the bargain, Kylie will be released.

Ominous warnings are given about a family who refused to do what they were told, a warning shot across Rachel’s bow is given in the form of an assault as well as a reminder that if someone tries to break the chain, it doesn’t just affect you. It can back as far as 7 levels before restarting again.

Absolutely fiendish, covering all their tracks, lying, cheating and casting aside all moral codes, this makes monsters out of the people we are meant to see as heroes-the people who would and will and have done anything to secure the release of their child are exposing their weak spot,their Achilles Heel, the very reason that people like James Bond and Bruce Wayne avoid romantic entanglements and reproducing.

It’s a diabolical notion-the one thing you’d do to save your child is risk another’s life.

But what happens when the person you pick has a terminal illness and quite literally nothing to lose?

Rachel is a person you immediately side with, she has been dealt a particularly shitty hand from life but then she does something so awful that you find it hard to be empathic. She engages her ex-vet brother in law to help her-with The Chain’s permission-in placing another set of parents in exactly the same predicament that she is in.

The name of the book is perfect,it is up to the reader to decide whether a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link or whether combined strength outsrips the reason it was made. Can a chain hold you tight in position and trap you or possibly save a life?

Who started The Chain and why?

And what happens when as Rachel is building her link, Kylie is quite literally, dismantling hers in the place where she is being held captive?

What will be the repercussions if she manages to escape before Rachel fulfils her end of the bargain?

Every player in the game is chosen at random which on the one hand makes it hard to track the other links down, but on the other means you are dealing with very unpredictable players…

Full of morally dubious decision making that leaves you on the edge of your seat, totally believable and best consumed solo-no cheating on this one with any side books!-‘The Chain’ is deservedly being shouted about for very, very good reasons.

And if you get through it without playing some Fleetwood Mac I would be very surpised.

About the author…

Adrian McKinty is a crime novelist from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

His books have won the Edgar Award, the Anthony Award, the Ned Kelly Award and the Barry Award. Adrian is also a two time Dagger nominee and shortlistee for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year.

He studied law at Warwick University and philosophy at Oxford University before emigrating to New York City in the mid 90s.

Links-http://adrianmckinty.blogspot.com/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/08/adrian-mckinty-interview-crime-novelist-the-chain

Twitter @adrianmckinty

@OrionBooks