Review: The Chain by Adrian McKinty

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis

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.

Review

Thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm for an advanced listening copy of The Chain in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this ALC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel or author.

Every parent’s worst nightmare fully realized and intimately portrayed, The Chain wraps itself around you and only tightens as the story unfolds. You’ll be gasping for air by the time you hit the last page. Meet the thriller that is up there with The Silent Patient as one of 2019’s best in the genre.

And here you thought that your child being kidnapped would be the worst thing that could happen… I cannot fathom the extreme anxiety, stress, worry, anger, or fear that comes with having a child abducted, but can you imagine having to do the same to another family and that being the only way to save your son or daughter? What an insanely, and highly possible situation that we could find ourselves in with today’s eagle-eye focus on technology and social media.

McKinty not only gives us a gripping, edge of your seat thriller, but also dials in on the effects social media and technology can have on our daily lives. Take cameras on laptops or phones for instance: what is going on behind the scenes when you are taking photos or videos, or just surfing the web, not to mention audio recording when having a phone conversation. Having devices constantly connected to the internet, always giving out signals via Location Services or apps. Scary stuff, peeps.

What had me truly enamored with The Chain was our protagonist. I mean, if you can’t just take her shoes for a few miles, who in the world would you trade with? The reader is thrown directly into the mix, feels and all, and it is absolutely impossible not to sympathize with what she and the other parents are going through.

The Chain will probably end up as the or one of the best thrillers of 2019. It is perfect for fans of Gone Girl and belongs in the same company. Oh, and did I mention that I finished it in one sitting? Not many books that I can say that for.

You can pre-order the novel wherever books are sold (some top links can be found at the beginning on this post). The Chain hits stores on July 9th.