I was so excited to receive Deborah O'Connor's The Captive and it didn't disappoint.
I couldn't imagine having to live with someone who was convicted of murdering a family member, having to cook, clean, wash their clothes and look after them, but that is what the story's character Hannah did.
Jem is sentenced to 20 years for the murder of Hannah's husband and in an alternative system there no prisons. Instead, the prisoners are under a new justice system where a host takes in the prisoner to rehabilitate. The idea is that the prisoner gets to live with a family (albeit in a cage) and see their grief, know what it is like for the victims family to carry on without their loved ones. This in turn should make the convicted feel guilty and ashamed of their crimes.
I loved the concept of The Captive, very original!
Deborah O'Connor makes it easy to get lost in the pages. The chapters are short, which made it impossible to put down and the phrase 'One More Chapter' definitely applied here!
The Captive is told by both parties, The accused and the victim and the characters were believeable. I loved the little outbursts from Hannah's neighbour too.
Yes, the ending may have been predictable (there definitely could have been other dangerously, daring angles Deborah could have taken) but I enjoyed it none-the-less, and it's certainly a book I will be recommending to other readers.
I couldn't imagine having to live with someone who was convicted of murdering a family member, having to cook, clean, wash their clothes and look after them, but that is what the story's character Hannah did.
Jem is sentenced to 20 years for the murder of Hannah's husband and in an alternative system there no prisons. Instead, the prisoners are under a new justice system where a host takes in the prisoner to rehabilitate. The idea is that the prisoner gets to live with a family (albeit in a cage) and see their grief, know what it is like for the victims family to carry on without their loved ones. This in turn should make the convicted feel guilty and ashamed of their crimes.
I loved the concept of The Captive, very original!
Deborah O'Connor makes it easy to get lost in the pages. The chapters are short, which made it impossible to put down and the phrase 'One More Chapter' definitely applied here!
The Captive is told by both parties, The accused and the victim and the characters were believeable. I loved the little outbursts from Hannah's neighbour too.
Yes, the ending may have been predictable (there definitely could have been other dangerously, daring angles Deborah could have taken) but I enjoyed it none-the-less, and it's certainly a book I will be recommending to other readers.