Adrian McKINTY : The chain

You just dropped off your child at the bus stop. A panicked stranger calls your phone. Your child has been kidnapped and the stranger explains that their child has also been kidnapped, by a completely different stranger. The only way to get your child back is to kidnap another child within 24 hours. Your child will be released only when the next victim's parents kidnap yet another child, and most importantly, the stranger explains, if you don't kidnap a child, or if the next parents don't kidnap a child, your child will be murdered. You are now part of The Chain.

 

I picked this book because of the author, whose series "Sean Duffy" I loved very much. I knew this would be different, far from the 1970s Irish troubles, but still, I didn't want to miss a possibly good book.

Apparently, Adrian McKinty is a talented writer, but a penniless talented writer :  he almost thought about quitting and that would have been too bad for us (the note he wrote at the end is worth reading). I didn't love The chain as much as Sean Duffy, even if there are some common points : drug abuse, a bit of Led Zeppelin, literary references you usually don't find in thrillers (Lovecraft and Borges, for instance), strong female characters and a particular reference which won my heart, the famous Monty Python fish slapping dance :

I know, I know, it's completely silly and pointless, but I laugh my heart out every time I see it ! I can't not like somebody who loves it too. 

The idea of the chain is original, as far as I know, but main characters rebelling against violence isn't. McKinty does a thoroughly, efficiently good job in keeping the suspense alive however. It's not the best thriller I ever read, I liked the first part better, but I wanted to know what would happen even if I had a fairly good idea, not unlike a Harlen Coben novel. The writing is gripping, I could have read it in one sitting if I had the possibility.

So : it's not the best thriller ever, but efficient, good characters, good pacing and the job is well done.