Robert Wilson is a gifted writer and if you have not yet read any of his books your are missing some really good ones!  Starting with The Company of Strangers which is set in 1944 war torn Lisbon with a female spy as the lead character, to A Small Death in Lisbon whose main character is a police detective investigating a murder and on to The Blind Man of Seville in which Inspector Javier Falcon must confront his father’s past as he solves a most gruesome murder, Wilson has shown that he is a master of the literary character driven mystery/thriller. So, I was really excited to see his new book, Capital Punishment!

Charles Boxer is a kidnap specialist-someone who negotiates with kidnappers on behalf of the families and companies whose loved ones and employees have been abducted.  For many years he worked for a large insurance company  who insured many large companies’ employees, many of whom worked in areas of the world where kidnapping is part of the cost of doing business. Recently, however, he has set up his own firm in London and is trying to make a new start so that he can be closer to his daughter, now a teenager who he hardly knows.

When Alyshia,  the daughter of a multi billionaire Indian businessman Frank D’Cruz goes missing after a night out with her friends in downtown London, Frank contacts Charlie fearing the worst.  The kidnappers take their time in making their demands and when they finally do, they appear to be uninterested in money but rather seem to have some other agenda, which makes Charlie’s job that much harder. As Charlie investigates possible motives for the kidnapping, he becomes convinced that Frank D’Cruz’s connections to the Indian mafia, and other criminal elements may be the key to understanding the motives behind the kidnapping. Digging deeper into these mafia connections Charlie becomes aware of the possibility of a large terrorist attack that seems to be somehow connected to Frank’s business  interests in promoting the Olympic games.

Meanwhile the kidnappers themselves are not as organized as they appear to be and their internal instability has large repercussions on the negotiations. Sensing this instability local criminal elements in London take a keen interest in what is happening, seeing a chance to make some money of their own.

Throughout all of this Charlie attempts to reconnect with his teen age daughter, who barely speaks to him. The complexity of their relationship, his lack of knowledge about her life makes him regret all the years when his job came first rather than being there for his daughter.

This is the first book in  a new series, which is great since I liked Charlie. He is a complicated person, who has been very good at his job, but is just beginning to realize that there is more to life than his work and is just now trying to figure out how to form a relationship with someone who doesn’t really care whether he is in her life or not. Although the book has many layers and many different characters who come in and out of the story, it was an exciting and satisfying read!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 Stars out of 5)  

Recommend this book to: Keith, Ken, Marian and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? No, not really.

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