Read 'The Chain' and you'll never leave your kids alone again

I was looking forward to reading "The Chain" by Adrian McKinty, as the plot I'd read about seemed very clever. For once, the book lived up to its hype. It was unsettling and left me thinking about it when not reading. That's usually a good sign. Koontz does that to me sometimes.

Goodreads sums it up well:

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.

Author Don Winslow calls it: "Jaws for parents."

This was one of the most suspenseful books I've ever read. Wasn't gory, sexual or anything over the top. I guess you'd consider it a psychological thriller, as the parents of the kidnapped children become the monsters they hate and weigh moral choices throughout.

You get hooked from the start. A couple twists shocked me. The final twist I didn't see coming.

The author shows a little humor too, as he quotes a character: “A man once told me that all books should end at chapter seventy-seven.”

This, of course, makes you turn to the end of the book to see how many chapters are in it.

Another says: “If I don’t make it, don’t let them cast some asshole to play me in the movie version of this.” And, of course, the movie rights to this book have already been sold to Paramount for 7 figures. That makes for a good rags to riches story for McKinty.

Amazonians give it a 4.2 out of 5, that jives with an 8 out of 10 on the Haugenometer. Goodreaders gave it 3.95 out of 5.

Definitely one of the better books I've read in a long time.