Listed as horror, this book certainly has some horrific moments, but The Captive, by Kit Burgoyne, is also full of action, wry humor, relationship drama, and biting social commentary. Although it’s listed as 384 pages long, it feels significantly shorter than that, despite all that happens; in fact, it feels just right for what it was doing, and I was very satisfied by how everything turned out in the end.
The Captive starts out from the viewpoint of Luke, an anti-capitalist revolutionary participating in his first direct-action encounter, kidnapping the heiress of a vast business conglomerate. It’s not for ransom, but to draw public attention to this shadowy corporate empire “that runs everything from military bases and mental hospitals to commuter trains, call centers, and prisons” (from the publisher’s summary) — and also has great behind-the-scenes power over the British government.
A lot of the book also comes from the viewpoint of Adeline, the Woolsaw heiress, who doesn’t resist the kidnapping because it lets her escape her tyrannical parents. She hasn’t been allowed to experience much of the outside world, but she knows how evil they are, not least because she’s been involuntarily impregnated under their direction. Because the Woolsaws aren’t just “ordinary” megarich bloodsucking capitalists, not caring how many people they hurt with all their cost-cutting measures; they’ve been bargaining with a dark power to help it establish dominion here on Earth. And when Adeline goes into labor, the baby begins to manifest destructive powers of his own.
All of that is revealed in the publisher’s summary, and happens in the first 5% or so of the book. I won’t spoil the plot further except to say that amid the hiding, narrow escapes from rescue/recapture, negotiations, and confrontations, there is also a lot of discussion about methods and goals. Luke is still hurting over the death of his sister in one of those Woolsaw facilities, but doesn’t want to physically hurt anyone else; his fellow revolutionaries are more experienced and much more hardened than he.
In a world where many people cheered the actual assassination of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, it may sound a little naive to say this, but the supernatural elements of The Captive helped me to enjoy it more wholeheartedly. Allowing a demon king to manifest and rule the world, or even just to rule Britain, would be really bad (although, as shown in the later books of the Laundry Files series, that might seem little worse to most people than life under advanced capitalism); so, although the revolutionaries/terrorists originally just intend to fight the Woolsaws, the fact that their actions may also stymie a demonic takeover attempt is something that made it easier for me to enjoy the ride without worrying too much about the morality of collateral damage to police and civilians.
The Captive displays some excellent character work. Luke and Adeline are very well drawn, and we also see some scenes from the perspectives of other revolutionaries and a doctor, enough to get a real sense of them, too. Even the Woolsaw mother has some complexity, although not enough to make me sympathize with her (which I didn’t want anyway). There are also some surprising revelations about some of the characters, but there are enough foreshadowings earlier to make these seem natural and justified when they come fairly late in the book.
The Captive, coming out Sept. 30, is the debut novel of Kit Burgoyne, but that’s actually a pen name for novelist/screenwriter/journalist Ned Beauman, whose fifth novel Venomous Lumpsucker won the 2023 Arthur C. Clarke Award. That one looks pretty grim, but I’ve put a hold on it via the Libby library app anyway. That’s because I really enjoyed The Captive and thought it did some very interesting things; since there aren’t any other Burgoyne books to read (yet), I’ll see what his alter ego does in what looks like more serious science fiction. I do highly recommend The Captive for anyone who can get onboard with the premise and can stand the sometimes graphic and often violent plot.
Content warnings: Many deaths on and offscreen; torture and graphic violence; offscreen anaesthetized involuntary impregnation and onscreen childbirth; kidnapping/captivity; severe burns; vermin plagues and their results; corporate dystopia.
Comps: Jimmy the Kid, by Donald Westlake; the Laundry Files series by Charles Stross, particularly A Quantum of Nightmares.
Disclaimer: I received a free eARC for review from the publisher via NetGalley.
