The Chain: The Award-Winning Suspense Thriller of the Year
by Adrian McKinty
- Used
- Good
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Good
- Seller
-
Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Lt, 2019. Hardcover. Good. 2019. First Edition. 352 pages. No dust jacket. Signed by the author. White cloth. Flatsigned by author to title page. Book has a slight smoky odour. Noticeable staining and tanning to pages; text unaffected. More prominent to text block edges, pastedowns and free endpapers. Binding remains firm. Boards have minor corner bumping and edgewear with noticeable chipping, tanning and scuffing overall. Spine has minor creasing and tanning with soft crushing to ends. Book has a slight forward lean.
Reviews
On Aug 6 2019, CloggieDownunder said:
4.5★s
The Chain is the fifth stand-alone novel by award-winning Irish-born author, Adrian McKinty. What would turn an intelligent law-abiding mother into a gun-toting kidnapper? Divorcee Rachel Klein is finds out when her thirteen-year-old daughter, Kylie is snatched from the bus stop. She is told:
"You have to select a target and hold one of that persons loved ones until the target pays the ransom and kidnaps someone in turn. You are going to have to make this exact phone call to whoever you select. What I'm doing to you is what you are going to do to your target. As soon as you carry out your kidnapping and pay the money, my son will be released. As soon as your target kidnaps someone and pays the ransom, your daughter will be released. It's that simple. That's how The Chain works and goes on forever."
Rachel can't understand why she has been targeted, but she soon realises: "Selecting the right target is very important. You have to choose the right kind of victim with the right kind of family, people who won't lose their shit and go to the cops and who have both the money to pay and the emotional wherewithal to carry out a kidnapping to get their child back."
She is warned of the reach of The Chain and the "blowback" that will occur for her if she breaks The Chain. Documented examples are given of people who didn't heed this warning. But of course, Rachel's first priority is to get Kylie back, and she will do whatever she must. But even if she succeeds, life will never be the same for them. Will she then let sleeping dogs lie? Or will she risk everything?
Once disbelief is suspended (as Rachel had to do) the reader finds themselves engrossed in a page-turner that does not let up until the heart-stopping climax. McKinty's plot is brilliantly original and his characters are fairly believable; most of the females are quite resourceful and far from helpless. The dialogue is natural and there's occasionally some pretty dark humour to relieve the building tension.
This novel certainly serves as a timely warning to those who feel compelled to document every tiny moment of their lives on social media. McKinty enjoys a joke by including a cute little speech in chapter 51 that will have the majority of readers turning immediately to the last chapter. A riveting read.
This unbiased review is from a copy provided by Hachette Australia
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Details
- Bookseller
- World of Rare Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1688450003TMB
- Title
- The Chain: The Award-Winning Suspense Thriller of the Year
- Author
- Adrian McKinty
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Lt
- Date Published
- 2019
Terms of Sale
World of Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
World of Rare Books
Biblio member since 2009
Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex
About World of Rare Books
Wob sells rare and collectable books on behalf of charities. Our team of booksellers are happy to deal with any enquiries and aim to provide same-day dispatch for all orders.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Chipping
- A defect in which small pieces are missing from the edges; fraying or small pieces of paper missing the edge of a paperback, or...
- Flatsigned
- A flatsigned book is signed, and not inscribed, directly on a page of the book, rather than on a bookplate or with an...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...