Book review: Kill Chain

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By Meg Gardiner
Reviewed by Natazzz

I'm a big fan of crime novels. In fact, it's one of my favourite genres when it comes to books. Over the years I must have read hundreds of crime novels and I have a pretty good idea of what they usually entail and what I like and dislike about them. I picked up the paperback of Kill Chain by Meg Gardiner (2006) at a book fair last year because the cover appealed to me and I thought I would enjoy it. The book didn't disappoint but it also did not stand out much.

Kill Chain tells the story of Phil Delany, whose car is found at the bottom of a ravine. The cops think Phil just wanted to disappear but his daughter Evan finds out he's been kidnapped by some very bad people. They tell Evan her father will die is she doesn't give them something they want within 72 hours. In order to do so she has to figure out what exactly they are looking for and where to find it. Evan ends up travelling all around the world, stopping at nothing to save her dad. But this isn't as straightforward as it seems and she finds out things about her dad's past she might wish she had never known.

I really liked this story and I read the first part of the book pretty quickly because it was fast paced and I was eager to find out what would happen next. However, the further I got into the book, the less excited I became. It's not that I did not enjoy the novel but the storyline became a little predictable. It's never good when you have already figured out what the deal is chapters before your main characters do. It kills all the suspense.

In addition, I thought too much space was devoted to details and background stories that did not even matter much. The chase scenes with the bad guys seemed never ending and could have been cut much shorter. Having said that, the novel was entertaining enough to help me through a long train ride home.

I don't consider this book as a must read but if you enjoy crime novels it's a great book to keep you company while travelling or if you have some time to kill.

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