Captives [Paperback]

Tom Pow (Author)

Book Description

Even in his wildest nightmares, Martin could never have predicted what would happen when his family sign up for two day's trekking in the National Park during their holiday on the beautiful island of Santa Clara. They've barely set off when their car is waylaid and Martin, his parents and another family are stopped at gunpoint and bundled into a lorry that heads for the dense forest. The captives are pushed to their physical and emotional limits as they are forced further into the wild terrain, away from any possible rescue. But during their ordeal, the hostages come to understand something of the harsh political backdrop to life on Santa Clara, and the events that have shaped the lives of their captors and fuelled their actions. Martin discovers deep feelings for Louise, the other teenager caught up in the nightmare, only to have to watch her growing love for Eduardo, the youngest hostage-taker. "Captives" is a wonderfully-written, deeply-engaging story about ten people thrown together under extraordinary circumstances and with devastating consequences - a story that will resonate with the reader long afterwards.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–Teenage Martin, son of Tony and Carol, watches his dad being interviewed on TV about the book Tony has written. It is based on journals he kept when his family and another couple and their teenage daughter, Louise, were held captive by antigovernment rebels while vacationing in the Caribbean. Now, following a violent rescue that resulted in Louise's death, Tony is accused of exploiting this tragedy for profit. Martin revisits the experience by reading the published journal (Part I). He then fills in the gaps with the many details that his father missed, which makes up Part II. With a Lost-like cover and this exciting premise, the book might have some appeal. But the story, mostly told in a third-person omniscient voice, is disjointed. Chunks of backstory about Tony and Carol's second son, Nick, seem irrelevant. The kidnappers' pasts, while vividly described, are too abbreviated to carry much emotional weight. Martin ineffectually lusts for Louise, but she develops a sexual relationship with Eduardo, one of the kidnappers. But here again, the heat just isn't on the page. One gets the general idea, but stereotypes of a rapacious dictator supported by a corrupt American corporation, vagueness about key relationships, and discomfiting shifts in perspective dilute the novel's power.–Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Dividing his tale close to the exact middle, Pow contrasts public and private accounts of an American tourist family's kidnapping by Caribbean guerillas. Having reread his father's best-selling diary in the first half of the book and finding it wanting, 16-year-old Martin, who is still withdrawn and suffering from the experience, composes a third-person version from a more private and personal point of view. It is also a psychologically probing look at the events—giving the kidnappers as well as their victims human characters and histories. Like Louise Moeri's The Forty-third War (1989) and Peter Dickinson's AK (1992), this will help readers see beyond conventional views of Third World rebels as faceless terrorists; it is the fictional island's power-hungry strongman and his ally, an amoral agent of an American mining company, who are the villains here, responsible for this compelling novel's sad, violent ending. Peters, John
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Corgi Childrens (August 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552555479
• ISBN-13: 978-0552555470
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,804,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Made me think, but didn't tug at my heart strings, July 22, 2008

By 

B. Long (South Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Captives (Hardcover)

Two families go on vacation, but get taken captive by guerrillas. The book chronicles the families with their captors from two perspectives. One is a journal, written by Martin's father. The other is third person and includes back stories, but created by Martin. The book emphasizes the complications of third world terrorism and the multiple perspectives. It isn't terribly personal and sometimes falls short in emotion. It was very interesting, though. Haha, and I liked the "bad guys" better than some of the "victims."