The Captive cover art

The Captive

The gripping and original Times Thriller of the Month for fans of GIRL A

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 15 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
More purchase options

The Captive

By: Deborah O'Connor
Narrated by: Ed Hughes, Rose Robinson
Get this deal

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £13.80

Buy Now for £13.80

A brilliant, high concept, intensely gripping thriller perfect for fans of THE SILENT PATIENT, THE CAPTIVE will keep you guessing till the very end . . .

'Part thriller, part dark, unpredictable love story. A GRIPPING page-turner' ADELE PARKS, Platinum Magazine

'INGENIOUS. A smart, pacy and highly entertaining thriller' T.M. LOGAN
______________________

Hannah knows the cage intimately. Small, the size of a shopping centre parking space. A bed, a basin, a table and chair. A hatch and metal drawer through which to exchange food and other items.

Then there's him. Always there on the edges of her vision, no matter how hard she tries to block him out.

Every day, the same thoughts run through Hannah's mind:

What if he speaks to me?
What if he hurts me?
What if he gets out?
______________________

Everyone is talking about Deborah O' Connor and THE CAPTIVE...

'Oh my god, its FANTASTIC! Highly original, thrilling and emotional, The Captive is set to be one of the best books of 2021. I ADORED it' JO SPAIN

'The perfect concept. The perfect execution. The perfect book' GILLIAN MCALLISTER

'This original concept thriller is SO GOOD' Heat magazine

'Readers will become totally HOOKED within pages of starting this hugely original and entertaining thriller' Irish Independent

'Highly ORIGINAL' Daily Mail

'This GRIPPING page-turner has a terrifying concept at its heart. Part thriller, part a dark, unpredictable love story, it asks some big questions about crime and punishment. Tense and disturbing, I think it would spark great book club debate' ADELE PARKS, Platinum Magazine

'Stunning. Staggeringly original, chilling, ELECTRIFYING. I raced through the final chapters with my heart in my mouth' CHRIS WHITAKER, author of We Begin at the End

'With an ARRESTING beginning, this dystopian tale draws the reader in immediately...the story rattles along at a cracking pace' Woman & Home

'A super-smart, sophisticated and highly original tale which packs a POWERFUL punch on so many levels. Entertaining, fast-paced and clever, The Captive will hold you prisoner right through to the shocking dénouement' Lancashire Post

'KILLER CONCEPT, brilliantly realised and beautifully, satisfyingly plotted. I loved it' AMANDA MASON

'A great concept. Impressive, compelling storytelling as well as a FANTASTIC mystery' GYTHA LODGE

'Original, deft, and clever, The Captive certainly had me in its vice-like grip throughout' PHOEBE MORGAN Crime Thrillers Psychological Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

Brilliantly compelling . . . original, timely and very very hard to put down.
Dark and unpredictable.
Searingly relevant, at times uncomfortably truthful, a page turner . . . But more than all that, the writing, the writing, the writing . . . I loved every word.
An absolute triumph. Dark, uncompromising but full of heart. It gave me goosebumps.
All stars
Most relevant
i loved this . its twists and turns in the book had me totally hooked Looking now for a new by the author

brilliant story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really liked the concept to begin with, but it’s not particularly thrilling. The ending is a little bit too happy and there’s no real twist. Performances could have been better.

An average thriller

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Imagine a world where the penal system has been replaced with an ultimate form of restorative justice where victims of crime are responsible for the captivity of criminals in their own homes. This near future dystopia is closer to Charlie Booker's Black Mirror than the pulp thriller it initially appears. Deborah O'Connor manages to ensure that the remarkable scenario she has created is merely the backdrop to this very human story about a captive and capture and, whilst it would be surprising if there was not an element of Stockholm Syndrome in the storyline, there is enough here to ensure is it fresh and surprising and the author does not fall down any of the obvious traps with the plot that is both compelling and, strangely believable.

Black Mirror-esque dystopian thriller

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.