Review: CAPTURED, Neil Cross

• published by Simon & Schuster UK in 2010
  
• this edition available on Kindle
• 260 pages
• ISBN 978-1847373977
• ASIN: B003JDCT4K

Synopsis (Amazon)

Even though he is still young, Kenny has just weeks to live. Before he dies, he wants to find his childhood best friend Callie Barton and thank her for the kindness she showed him when they were at school together.
But when Kenny begins his search, he discovers that Callie Barton has gone missing. Although cleared of any involvement, her husband Jonathan seems to be hiding something.
Kenny has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. And knowing that time is running out on him, he's prepared to do whatever it takes . . .

My Take

CAPTURED begins with an arresting hook:

Kenny wrote the list because he was dying.
Earlier that morning, an MRI scan had revealed a malignant brain cancer had germinated in the moist secrecy of his skull like a mushroom in compost.
He had six weeks, maybe less.

Kenny has just 4 people on his list. One is his ex-wife and one is the girl he sat next to at the end of primary school.

The other two are easy to deal with. One is dead and so there is nothing he can do there. He locates the other and finds that he has grown up to have a fulfilling life. He remembers Kenny and thanks him for actions he took over twenty years before.

But the third, apart from his wife, Callie has disappeared, missing for ten years, and Kenny finds it easy to suspect her husband of murder.

A book I reviewed recently THE LAST POLICEMAN by Ben H. Winters uses a different scenario to pose the question of what you, dear reader, would do if you knew your remaining time on earth was very limited.

For many people settling old scores would be high on the list, but I was surprised at the level of violence it unleashed in Kenny.

Neil Cross is a skilled story teller and knows how to follow ideas through to their most logical conclusion, at the same time as ratcheting the tension ever upwards.

My rating: 4.9

I have also reviewed (and enjoyed) BURIAL

About the author

New Zealand author Neil Cross is the author of several novels including ALWAYS THE SUN and BURIAL, as well as the bestselling memoir HEARTLAND. He has been lead scriptwriter for the two most recent seasons of the acclaimed BBC spy drama series Spooks and continues to write widely for the screen.

Read more about Neil Cross on CrimeWatch.

Series

Luther
1. The Calling (2011)
2. The Burning (2013)

 

Novels

Mr. In-between (1998)
Christendom (1999)
Nowhere, Forever (2002)
Holloway Falls (2003)
Always the Sun (2004)
Natural History (2007)
Burial (2009)
Captured (2010)