WINNER NED KELLY AWARD 2020

Longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020

‘You’ll miss meals, sleep, and your stop on the bus – guaranteed.’ Val McDermid

VICTIM. KIDNAPPER. CRIMINAL. YOU WILL BECOME EACH ONE.

The morning starts like any other. Rachel Klein drops her daughter, Kylie, at the bus stop and heads into her day. But then a phone call changes everything. A woman has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will ever see her again is if she pays a ransom – and kidnaps another child. The caller is a mother herself, whose son has also been abducted, and if Rachel doesn’t do exactly as she’s told, both children will die. Rachel is now part of a terrifying scheme – The Chain.

The rules are simple: find the money, find your victim, and then commit a horrible act you’d have thought yourself incapable of just 24 hours ago. Rachel is an ordinary woman, but over the coming days she will be pushed beyond ordinary limits to save her daughter. What the anonymous masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. But what they don’t know is that they may have met their match.

Can Rachel be the one person to finally break The Chain?

PRAISE FOR THE CHAIN

‘Scary, plausible, gripping.’ Ian Rankin

‘Explosively brilliant … genuinely unputdownable … McKinty’s brilliance lies in exploring just how far a parent will go to rescue their child.’ The Guardian Australia

‘Nightmarish … propulsive and original.’ Stephen King

‘Striking, memorable, should be savored.’ Tana French

‘McKinty delivers a heart-clutching thriller that mainlines parental nightmares. It’s terrifying and traumatising in a way that shockingly violent fare just can’t match.’ Good Reading

‘Told in a spare, punchy style, this is a blazing, full-tilt thriller that entirely justifies the hype. Read, and pass it on.’ The Guardian UK

‘This clever book moves McKinty – author of the dark, funny Sean Duffy books – into the blockbuster league of Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay.’ The Sun

Author Biography

Adrian McKinty was born and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the Troubles of the 1970s and 1980s. His father was a boilermaker and ship’s engineer and his mother a secretary. Adrian went to Oxford University on a full scholarship to study philosophy before emigrating to the United States to become a high school English teacher. His debut crime novel Dead I Well May Be was shortlisted for the 2004 Dagger Award and was optioned by Universal Pictures. His books have won the Edgar Award, the Ned Kelly Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award and have been translated into over 20 languages. Adrian is a reviewer and critic for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Irish Times and The Guardian. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.