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Summary
Summary
"Energetic, thoughtful first in a new series . . . Fans of intelligent thrillers will eagerly await the next installment." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review
Alyshia D'Cruz, daughter of Indian tycoon Frank D'Cruz, has grown up in London and Mumbai wanting for nothing. After a boozy evening out, she gets in the wrong cab home.
Enter Charles Boxer. Ex-army, ex-police, he has found his niche in private security. His specialty: kidnap and recovery. When D'Cruz hires Boxer to find Alyshia, Boxer knows Frank's crooked business empire has made him plenty of enemies. Despite the vast D'Cruz fortune, the kidnappers don't want cash, instead favoring a cruel and lethal game. But the British government doesn't want its big new investor to lose his daughter in the heart of the capital. TheMI6 office in India follows Boxer's lead, and soon it seems more lives than Alyshia's are at stake as the trail crosses paths with a terrorist plot on British soil.
To save Alyshia, Boxer must dodge religious fanatics, Indian mobsters, and London's homegrown crime lords. Capital Punishment is a thrilling journey to the dark side of people and places that lie just out of view, waiting for the moment to tear a life apart.
Author Notes
ROBERT WILSON is the author of numerous novels, including The Company of Strangers and A Small Death in Lisbon , which won the Gold Dagger Award as Best Crime Novel of the Year from Britain's Crime Writers' Association. A graduate of Oxford University, he has worked in shipping, advertising, and trading in Africa, and has lived in Greece, Portugal, and West Africa.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in London, this energetic, thoughtful first in a new series from Gold Dagger Award-winner Wilson (A Small Death in Lisbon) introduces Charles Boxer, a former cop turned private security professional specializing in kidnapping. When 25-year-old Alyshia D'Cruz, the daughter of a self-made Indian billionaire, is kidnapped after an evening out with her co-workers, Boxer is charged with getting Alyshia back alive. The kidnapper, who insists that the crime "is not about money," urges the family not to involve the press or the police. That a lot more than money, or Alyshia's safety, is at stake becomes clear as the plot slowly, impressively expands to include an enormous cast of characters and a broad array of themes-global finance, the inequality of wealth, Islamic fundamentalism, counterterrorism. While at times the story's immensity threatens to overwhelm the appealing Boxer, who is supremely competent yet reassuringly flawed, fans of intelligent thrillers will eagerly await the next installment. Agent: Anthony Sheil, Aitken Alexander Associates (U.K.). (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* When Indian billionaire industrialist Frank D'Cruz, once a Mumbai gangster and later a Bollywood movie star, learns that his estranged daughter, Alyshia, has been kidnapped in London, he hires Charles Boxer to negotiate her recovery. Boxer, a former soldier and homicide cop, has something in common with D'Cruz; his teenage daughter, Amy, is furious with him. Boxer struggles to focus on his assignment but adds to his own difficulty by immediately falling in love with Alyshia's mother. Strangely, the kidnappers seem more interested in tormenting D'Cruz than in ransom money, and soon MI5, MI6, and London's Metropolitan Police are investigating D'Cruz's myriad shady business contacts with rival Hindu and Muslim gangs, old-school London gangsters, mercenaries, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, and their links to each other and to the global drug trade and terrorism. It's a testament to Wilson's storytelling talents that all these threads don't rob the book of its momentum or suspense. In fact, each is riveting, giving readers a glimpse of plausible alliances, rivalries, and murderous feuds that could explode in London or the U.S. Capital Punishment is taut and addictive, one of the best thrillers so far this year.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
In the first installment of a new series by Wilson (A Small Death in Lisbon, 2000, etc.), the estranged daughter of an Indian tycoon is abducted in London for reasons that don't seem to involve ransom money--and then re-abducted. Sussing out this odd turn of events, "kidnapping and recovery" expert Charles Boxer is drawn into an international plot that may involve terrorists. Part spy novel, part police procedural and part terrorist thriller, this book features a wide assortment of suspects and victims. The tycoon, Frank D'Cruz, is a former Bollywood star whose coldblooded business methods have made countless enemies--but whose investments have made him a favored guest of the U.K. His 25-year-old daughter, Alyshia--whose mother, Isabel, is British--had mysterious dealings of her own during her times in Mumbai that may have contributed to her kidnapping. Boxer, a former military man and cop trying to live down his reputation for killing as well as thwarting kidnappers, complicates the investigation by having an affair with Isabel while collaborating with his West African ex-wife, Mercy, who's with the Metropolitan Police. The perpetually unraveling plot involves members of the Indian underworld looking for payback, London lowlifes looking for a fast score and Islamic extremists looking to blow up London. And while all this is going on, the estranged daughter of Boxer and Mercy is demanding attention. As packed with characters and incidents as the book is, Wilson remains in elegant control of the narrative. Though there are times when the book bogs down a bit in the details, it never loses its grip. One of the more sophisticated writers in his field, Wilson leaves us looking forward to Charles Boxer's next assignment.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Alyshia D'Cruz, the privileged daughter of an Indian billionaire of Portuguese extraction, has grown up in London's high society. After an unhappy stint in Mumbai to learn about her father's international enterprises, she returns to London and finds a job on her own. Following a goodbye party for a coworker, a very drunk Alyshia leaves in what turns out to be decidedly the wrong cab. Her father, Francisco "Frank" Cruz, hires Charles Boxer, a homicide detective-turned-"kidnapping consultant" whom Frank somehow knows is sometimes willing to cross the line and erase perpetrators for an additional fee. Complicating matters is that the kidnappers will only deal with Alyshia's mother, Isabel Marks, who is divorced from Frank. Furthermore, the kidnappers seem not to want the money that Frank is readily able to pay but instead demand "a demonstration of sincerity." Verdict British suspense author Wilson (A Small Death in Lisbon; The Company of Strangers) launches an exciting new series with this smart, sophisticated, and twisty thriller that keeps the reader guessing to the final page. Fans of Wilson's other thrillers will definitely enjoy this one.-Vicki Gregory, SIS, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
