Review: The Chain by Adrian McKinty

The Chain by Adrian McKinty
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: 9th July 2019
Publisher: Orion
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating:

VICTIM.
SURVIVOR.
ABDUCTOR.
CRIMINAL.
YOU WILL BECOME EACH ONE.

YOUR PHONE RINGS.

A STRANGER HAS KIDNAPPED YOUR CHILD.

TO FREE THEM YOU MUST ABDUCT SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILD.

YOUR CHILD WILL BE RELEASED WHEN YOUR VICTIM'S PARENTS KIDNAP ANOTHER CHILD.

IF ANY OF THESE THINGS DON'T HAPPEN:
YOUR CHILD WILL BE KILLED.
YOU ARE NOW PART OF THE CHAIN

"YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST. AND YOU WILL CERTAINLY NOT BE THE LAST."

Honestly, I was expecting The Chain to be better. The Twitter campaign for this book had me absolutely invested, but once I started the book I quickly realised that it wasn’t going to be a hit for me.

My main issue with The Chain comes down to personal taste. I love psychological domestic thrillers, but I don’t like the more action-y thrillers as I tend to be quite detached from the characters. The Chain is one of those action-y thrillers, with the characters wielding guns and running about the place. And then there was the military tie, which kind of sealed the deal for me. None of those things are things that I enjoy in a thriller, and they tend to be my downfall every time.

The concept of the book was very intriguing, with the whole thing about, well, the chain, and parents having to kidnap another child in order to get theirs back. If it had been a quieter domestic thriller then this would have turned out quite well, but that’s not what this was.

The concept is, admittedly, a bit convoluted, but I read fantasy and I can deal with that from time to time, so it really didn’t worry me too much.

The second half was a lot less interesting than the first, with any tension we had completely drying up when the big twist came out of nowhere far too quickly. The author tried to add flashbacks to the second half as well, and these felt out of place and they could have been explained better.

The Chain was definitely a miss for me.