Review: An irresistible page-turner
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 8, 2013
On the outside, Ben and Hugo's relationship seems to have come straight from a gay fairytale: both exceptionally good-looking and well-endowed, the two are living the best years of their lives amid adoring friends and family (except for Ben's mother, that is). But on the inside, their partnership isn't strictly monogamous: having newly married, they spend their honeymoon in Cape Town, South Africa, where the sun and the stunning vista and the atmosphere of rarefied romance promptly open them up not only for passionate marital sex, but also to consummate extramarital ones. It's all so good, until Ben--the fun-loving flirt--disappears and is subjected to such jaws-dropping physical and sexual violence by shady characters with what turns out to have been a long-drawn-out agenda.Yes, as an erotic fiction, `Captive' has a great amount of sex scenes--although expertly and deftly written by David Ellis. The gratuitous sex scenes--some with a touch of BDSM, a `fetish' made recently very popular by EL James's `Fifty Shades of Grey'--are breathtaking and work really well as part of the story. Despite the comparison to `Fifty Shades', however, `Captive' is by all means a superior book in its own genre, mainly because of the sheer seasoned quality of Ellis's writing--the confidence and literary grace is evident even when Ellis is describing brutally violent scenes like an impassioned observer.And of course, let's not forget the humor: Ellis's sense of humor cracks up in places you'd never expect it to be, like comic relief, appearing in sudden one-liners or a tongue-in-cheek description. "Sprinkled" subtly like the expert finishing touches on a masterpiece, the element of humor is just a delightful bonus to a novel that already is brimming with irresistible qualities.`Captive' is a well-written tale with a believable story arc that Ellis succeeds in using as a powerful literary device. The setting--Cape Town--is also rendered so vividly that you could almost feel the sand in your feet. It is an emotional meat-grinder, a suspense-mystery of sorts, that ends with a surprisingly satisfying climax that will leave you wanting to read for more. Fortunately, David Ellis has written other books, so if `Captive' merely gave you a hankering for more David Ellis, just go visit his Amazon author page for more of his books. This one deserves five stars, no less.