Book Review - Captive

Captive
Author: A.J. Grainger
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary, Thriller | Young Adult
Release Date: 29th January 2015
Publishers: Simon & Schuster
No. Pages: 228
Source: Review Copy - Simon & Schuster
Rating:
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones

I open my eyes. The cell is flooded with sunlight; the window is a slice of pale blue. Dust particles dance in the sparkling light, pirouetting in a golden line from the window to the opposite wall of the cell, where they seem to converge into shapes. It is like looking into a kaleidoscope.

Dad isn't here. No one is, but me.
Robyn Knollys-Green is an A-list celebrity, famous for being the daughter of one of the world's most powerful men. But not even the paparazzi can find her now.

Robyn begins to realise that she is trapped in a complicated web of global corruption and deceit - and that the strange, melancholy boy who has been tasked with guarding her might not be an enemy after all...

A thrilling, well-crafted, ever-relevant story from a talented new voice in YA fiction.

Captive is a book that has been on my radar for a while, so when I was given the opportunity to read it I took it. I was really looking forward to it, and though my expectations may have been a little bit too high I did, I just think I expected more before I had even opened the front cover, I know a lot of people had some problems with the book and it's really not all that hard to see why.

Though I loved the idea behind the story, and it had such potential, I think for me it just took too long to get to the actual kidnapping part which is ironic considering it wasn't that long. You know when you're reading a story and it just feels like its moving so slow and some things are pointless? It's stupid, because it wasn't exactly a bad start but that’s what I felt. I will say this though, it may have taking me a long time to finally feel like we were getting somewhere but when it did, I felt like things was getting better.

Robyn Knollys-Green is the daughter of the current British Prime Minister and after a failed assassination on her fathers life, she and her family are learning to move past it and are desperately trying to get some level of normality back to their life. For months everything seems to be going ok, until in the blink of an eye everything is turned upside down again. Robyn is kidnapped while on the way to her grandparents home with her sister and mum, and if that wasn’t bad enough it seems that the group are none other than the same terrorists that tried to kill her dad. So what are their motives? Well it's simple really, they want Robyn's dad to release the person who is supposedly responsible for the failed assassination. It should be a done deal right? The prime ministers daughter gets taken so you meet the kidnappers demands? Turns out that even when it comes to family he can't be seen to show any sign of weakness in the fight against terrorism, so Robyn is forced to stay longer.

Being held captive is as terrible as she could imagine, the only good thing about it is one of them doesn't seem to be happy with what they are doing, he seems to have different motivation for doing what he believes to be wrong and is someone she bonds with over the time she is there (which isn't long at all). Slowly but surely, something deeper grows between the two and through it, the real reason's behind everything are unfolding, the only question is could Robyn really be ready to hear the truth about her father?

I was pretty disappointed by this by the end of the book. Although there was a lot of backstory and character development, I still felt that at times the book had no substance. It had action, yet nothing happened. It had love, though I didn't have enough time to commit to the idea of it because it all happened so fast, leaving it completely unrealistic. Everything down to the ending felt rushed and forced and I didn't really believe it. I wanted so much to like this story more, I really tried, but I think if I'm honest I found myself caught up in the idea of it more than the poorly executed story I was left with. I think others will really enjoy this story, I myself just couldn't look past the flaws.