Monday, February 9, 2015

Captured by Neil Cross

Open Road Media, 268 pages, $13.99

The creator of “Luther,” the amazing, morally ambiguous British detective show, has written this standalone thriller. “Captured” is fast-paced, surprising, and violent.

Kenny Drummond has received a death sentence. The tumor in his brain will kill him within a matter of weeks. He decides that with his remaining time he must settle some unfinished business.

Although it has been more than two decades since he last saw her as a little girl, Kenny is determined to locate the only friend he had as a kid, Callie Barton. When he finds out that she disappeared as a young woman, he is convinced that Jonathan Reese, her husband, is responsible. The police treated Jonathan as a suspect at the time, but there was no proof that he murdered her. With nothing to lose, Kenny seeks revenge on Callie’s behalf. Just so you know, Kenny has no proof either.

Although Kenny is the main character, Neil Cross also created an assortment of other intriguing people. Besides Jonathan, there’s Mary, Kenny’s ex-wife, and her husband, Stever; Kenny’s friend, Pat Maxwell, a former cop and current tough broad; and Paul Sugar, a dissolute private detective.

You have to buy into the premise that a man who has shown no violent or hostile tendencies before would suddenly be capable of perpetrating horrors. Kenny does have a brain tumor, so it’s possible it has changed his personality; he certainly feels it has given him back his long-ago memories with a startling clarity.

Kenny is a portrait artist, and so is Neil Cross.

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