The Chain by Adrian McKinty // BOOK REVIEW

"The darkness keeps its own counsel."

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Book: The Chain

Author: Adrian McKinty

Genre: Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Thriller

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.

What I liked about it...

The whole idea of the story, its plot and setup is... wow.  It is like the modern day version of the ‘chain mail’ or ‘chain text messages’ from back in our elementary or high school days that if you failed to pass the message to a certain number of people you’ll get 5 years or 10 years of bad luck – or worse, no lovelife forever. 

What went wrong in the end...

It fell short on execution. I love the beginning of it, like I was at the edge of my seat while reading it and I can’t put it down because I wanted to know what’s gonna happen next but upon reaching the final chapter I was disappointed. The ending was meh.

Also, that was it for the people behind The Chain? I thought they were all so genius and stuff but that’s all (I won’t mention anything) it takes to put them down? (Ooops! Sorry). It is so frustrating that an FBI Agent got killed in a hand-to-hand combat with a frail, thin woman. Or maybe she was in the FBI cos of her brains? I dunno, this book left me with a lot of questions that I can barely keep up with work.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, still! It is a quick read and again, the story is so promising. I think it’s a popular novel since it has a lot of five stars and positive reviews in Goodreads. A lot of people are satisfied with the ending, too. And so I might still recommend it and discuss it with people who I recommended it to.

MY RATING

★★★☆☆