The Chain by Adrian McKinty

Once again I caved to the social media frenzy and excitedly snatched up The Chain by Adrian McKinty from the library even though I swore I wouldn't check out any more books for a while so I could stay focused on my 300-deep to-be-read shelves. Let me just say, breaking my self-imposed rule, and the subsequent library late-fees, was...not worth it.

"Grips you tight, right from the start, and mercilessly refuses to let go. One wild ride," is my very first note on this book after I was undoubtedly sucked in by the first two chapters; that's what books are supposed to do, after all - get us hooked from the beginning. Unfortunately, The Chain grips you tight, doesn't let go, and drags you through a slow, character-driven plot that is more an attempt at a philosophical explanation of life than a propulsive thriller.

The Chain - believed to be hundreds of years old - is quite possibly the worst thing to happen to a parent. Their child is kidnapped and the only way to get them returned safely is for those parents to pay the ransom, kidnap another child, and be prepared to commit murder if anything goes wrong. The Chain studies their "participants" and Rachel Klein seems to fit the bill. Newly divorced, new job, and a cancer survivor, The Chain believes she's just strong enough to carry out their heinous demands, but just pliable enough to avoid going to the police, and to do whatever they say. The book jacket would have you believe that she is a strong-as-a-motha, mama Grizzly type who will stop at nothing to get her daughter, Kylie, back safely, while dismantling The Chain, which is, unfortunately, misleading. What is actually true is that McKinty's novel is slow, dramatic, and ultimately a poor attempt at existentialism where Rachel's "take down" of The Chain feels forced.

The premise - the very idea of the book - is enough to keep you reading, so where you would expect the book to be plot-driven, it mostly focuses on the characters and their basic emotional well-being during the time that Kylie is missing and after she is returned. The set-up for the major "twist" is unfortunate and weak, and in spite of the book being very wordy, the writing is choppy and comes off lazy; case in point, no one who isn't from Massachusetts and the surrounding area will care about the random list of street names. And the ending is an attempt at Dennis Lehane-esque waxing poetic that mostly misses the mark, like when my high school English teacher would call me out on my bullshit.

I will say, though, that The Chain is an eye-opening account of Social Media, the dark ways in which it is used that we hear about on the news but think it will never actually happen to us, and makes us re-examine if we're really being as social media safe as we should be. Posting our every move and thought is not only annoying, it's dangerous. So, more for the public service announcement than anything else, I give The Chain ⭐/5 on goodreads.