Captured by Neil Cross
Simon and Schuster, $39
This disturbing novel illustrates the power of obsession.
Kenny Drummond, told he has only two weeks to live, wants to repay just the few people in his life to whom he feels indebted. There is his ex-wife, Mary, now married to his best friend. Thesecond is a little boy who just escaped being kidnapped by a pervert. Kenny should have been able to identify the driver of the white van. Should have done what the Indian shopkeeper did. He would like to meet Mr Jeganathan and commend him for his courage.
Most of all he wants to find Callie, the little girl who shared a desk with him years ago at primary school. Though he was the laughing stock of all the other pupils, Callie was his friend.
He and Mary have remained good friends, so he knows she is happy and that Steve is good to her.
It's not difficult to trace Thomas Kinstry, now grown up with no troubling memories of that long-ago afternoon when the white van pursued him.
Sadly, Mr Jeganathan has died. He has "beaten Kenny to where he is going".
So three of the four on his list are accounted for. Callie, however, is a different proposition. He tries the internet, Google, Facebook and Friends Reunited, but there is no trace of Callie Barton.
Kenny turns to an old acquaintance, a tough, retired senior detective who has "connections". It is through her good offices that Callie is finally identified as "Missing. Failed to return home after a night out with friends".
Her husband, Jonathan Reece, was questioned by police but not charged.
Kenny is not satisfied. Something does not ring true. Reece is hiding something and Kenny determines to force the truth from him. To do so, he must take matters into his own hands - making for scary but compelling reading.
