The Captive Condition
by Kevin P. Keating
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Pub. Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0804169288
Pages: 288
Buy Link: Amazon
Review:
Have you ever run across an old Gothic novel from the late 60s or early 70s that had an eerie cover of a young woman running from something? Well, that's exactly what I pictured when I started reading the mystery thriller The Captive Condition by Keven P. Keating last month.
Set in a Midwestern college town, the novel centers on Edmund Campion, a young man takes on odd jobs while attempting to get his master's degree. The one thing that he never expected is to get caught up in a murder mystery, but that is what happens when Emily Ryan, who was having an affair with Professor Kingsley, is found dead in a pool.
Edumund enters a dark world of betrayal as he becomes obsessed with the murder, leaving him to learn about all the town's dark dirty secrets.
The Captive Condition is a bizarre little tale that blends the short-lived cult television series Twin Peaks with J.K. Rowling's Casual Vacancy novel. I'm not aware of the author's other novel, but I do like his style of writing. The characters are all cleverly written, especially the victim's twin daughters, whom both seemed a bit too creepy for me. It's not your typical mystery novel, which isn't a bad thing as it avoids all the usual cliches that are found in them. Overall, The Captive Condition is a surprisingly intriguing read from start to finish.
*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
About the Author:
After working as a boilermaker in the steel mills in Ohio, KEVIN P. KEATING became a professor of English and began teaching at Baldwin Wallace University, Cleveland State University, and Lorain County Community College. His essays and stories have appeared in more than fifty literary journals, and his first novel, The Natural Order of Things, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. He lives in Cleveland.
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