The Chain by Adrian McKinty

 

Wonderful premise of a story that had my heart pumping for the first 2/3 of the book, then, it's as if the book is written by a different author for the remaining 1/3. Starts out as a 5 star book and completely deflates down to a 2 star by the end. 

The Chain tells the story of a kidnapping scheme. Unlike a regular kidnap, The Chain is facilitated by a mysterious group who started this "chain" of kidnapping years ago, where the ransom isn't just money, but also requires the victim's family to abduct someone else. Only when the new victim's family successfully carries out the next kidnapping is the previous child safely returned. The book opens with the abduction of 13 year old Kylie. Her mother Rachel, who has been through a divorce and cancer treatments, has just learned that her cancer has possibly returned and she has an important appointment with her doctor. She ends up missing that appointment because she receives the phone call from the husband and wife who abducted her child while en route to her appointment.

She's given instructions on how to purchase burner phones, how to obtain and transfer bitcoins (in the amount of $25,000) and how to select the next victim. She's told that if she alerts the police, her child will be killed, and the abductor's child would be killed too. She's also instructed by the chain leader not to notify her ex-husband Marty, who the chain has deemed as too risky due to his likeliness of involving the police. However, Rachel is allowed to contact Marty's brother, Pete, who's an ex-marine and would do anything to save Kylie.

Rachel and Pete follow the abductors' instructions, and scope out a place to house the child they're going to abduct. Rachel finds a house that's been vacant for months and determines there's no active alarm system on it. She also identifies a child named Toby who walks home alone from archery practice. They plan on abducting him on the way home from the archery practice, but the practice was let out early so he was already gone by the time they got there. They see his 8 year old sister Amelia. They end up abducting her instead because the deadline to abduct someone was that night.

They take her to the house as previously planned, but the neighbor calls the cops on them because they heard some movement next door and got suspicious. Rachel meets the cops outside and flirts with him and pretends to be the caller. The situation is under control. Lots of exciting and close-call moments like this in the first 2/3 of the book.

They successfully complete their tasks and get Kylie back. Kylie understands how the chain works and is traumatized that her mother is capable of kidnapping another child. In the meanwhile, Rachel is still under the chain's control - oftentimes tasked with difficult jobs. Rachel is determined to find who is behind The Chain.

Rachel and Pete team up with another survivor of The Chain, Erik. Erik is a mathematician and programmer. He has developed an app that could track cellphone locations, even burner phones. Erik's abduction happened a long time ago so he didn't have any way to contact the leaders of The Chain any more, but Rachel still hears from them often. In the meanwhile, The Chain has put a target on Erik's back and has one of its minions kill him. Erik left Rachel a coded message on how to use the app. When Rachel has The Chain on the phone, Rachel and Pete run the app and finds the location. 

The location is in the remote, Choate Island, Massachusetts. There's only one property in the area. They think they see Kylie on the balcony. This can't be true. They had sent Kylie and a friend of Kylie's, Stuart, to Marty's house so they could work on this. Turns out, Marty had taken the kids to his girlfriend Ginger's grandfather's house. Ginger's grandfather Daniel (also goes by Red) helped raise Ginger and her twin Olly. Ginger and Olly are the masterminds behind The Chain. They initially started The Chain to pay off their student debts, but they couldn't stop after the debts were paid off, because the money is great and they enjoy the work.

The book also goes into the family dynamic of Ginger and Olly's family, their mom Alicia, and dad Tom, and of course, grandfather Daniel. All of which is extremely boring. Trust me on this. Back to Rachel and Pete who sees Kylie and go to the house. Ginger comes out with other minions of the chain. Gunshots ensue. Kylie shoots Olly dead. Rachel kills Ginger with a broken glass in the neck. Pete shoots Daniel. Rachel, Pete, Marty, Kylie and Stuart are rescued. Stuart's family stands firm on Rachel and Pete's side. Rachel and Pete get away with their crimes. The court of public opinion sides with Rachel and Pete as well, since they have put an end to the chain. We learn at the end of the book that Rahcel buys a pregnancy test, but we are not told of the result. Rachel has been in a relationship with Pete. The END.

The action pumping story comes to a snail pace as the book carries on except for the finale. The rationale of the crime family of Ginger and Olly is painfully boring.