The Chain

  ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon):  When a mother is targeted by a dangerous group of masterminds, she must commit a crime to save her kidnapped daughter -- or risk losing her forever -- in this "propulsive and original" thriller (Stephen King) that has won the Barry and Macavity Awards, and was named the ITWA Best Novel of the Year. It's something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it's a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn't do as she's told, the boy will die.  "You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last." Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending and ingenious scheme that turns victims into criminals -- and is making someone else very rich in the process. The rules are simple, the moral challenges impossible; find the money fast, find your victim , and then commit a horrible act you'd have thought yourself incapable of just twenty-four hours ago. But what the masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. It turns out that kidnapping is only the beginning.

One (or more) Sentence Summary: What a wild and crazy book.  I couldn't put it down.  Amazing plot - no idea how the author Adrian even came up with it. A parent's worst nightmare and to make it worst you have to kidnap another child to get yours back.  The Chain will keep you on the edge of your seat to the very end. The Chain is a must read book.

Adrian McKinty was born and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the Troubles of the 1970s and 1980s. His father was a boilermaker and ship's engineer and his mother a secretary. Adrian went to Oxford University on a full scholarship to study philosophy before emigrating to the United States to become a high school English teacher. His debut crime novel Dead I Well May Be was shortlisted for the 2004 Dagger Award and was optioned by Universal Pictures. His books have won the Edgar Award, the Ned Kelly Award, the Anthony Award, and the Barry Award and have been translated into over twenty languages. Adrian is a reviewer and critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Irish Times, and the Guardian. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

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