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Held Up

3.29 of 5 stars 3.29 · rating details · 21 ratings · 17 reviews

How far do you go to rescue your child?

Paul van Niekirk, a successful white South African is held up at gun-point when driving his new BMW. He's dragged out and his abductor drives off in his car. It's an everyday car jacking. Except his nine-month old daughter is in the back seat. As a pacifist, Paul is reluctant to carry a gun, but he descends into the heart of darkness...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published July 19th 2012 by Headline

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Jul 18, 2012 Glenys rated it 4 of 5 stars

I received this book as an uncorrected proof copy- I had not heard of the author, so was intrigued to find out more. I started reading, and was hooked! It`s set in South Africa, an area that Christopher Radmann knows well, as he hails from there- his knowledge, & unique insight into the area, its beauty, and also problems, is very apparent.

It`s the story of Paul van Niekerk, who is a contented man, his family means everything to him. Then, one day, whilst waiting at traffic lights, someone...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Charlotte rated it 2 of 5 stars

Held Up is set in the 1990s ‘New’ South Africa when the country is going through great upheavals. Paul van Niekirk, a successful white businessman is carjacked at gunpoint when he is stopped at traffic lights. He is dragged from the car and his car is driven off – with his nine-month-old daughter Chantal still in the back seat.

From this moment Paul and his wife Claire’s lives are irrevocably changed and Paul will stop at nothing to find out what has happened to his daughter. He will put his sani...more Held Up is set in the 1990s ‘New’ South Africa when the country is going through great upheavals. Paul van Niekirk, a successful white businessman is carjacked at gunpoint when he is stopped at traffic lights. He is dragged from the car and his car is driven off – with his nine-month-old daughter Chantal still in the back seat.

From this moment Paul and his wife Claire’s lives are irrevocably changed and Paul will stop at nothing to find out what has happened to his daughter. He will put his sanity, marriage and his life on the line to traverse the dark heart of South Africa.

This all sounded promising enough if you’re not averse to a suspenseful thriller type story with an unusual setting. However I really struggled with this novel. The writing style is poor and there are some moments which seem odd and jarring. For example Paul seems to forget that he even has a child until after the car has driven away when he suddenly remembers which to me seemed incomprehensible. The only mention of a baby in the first chapter is when he talks about his BMW as his ‘new baby’. I understand that Paul has a moment of paralysis when the carjacker points a gun at his head but Paul’s rather prolonged forgetfulness beggars belief.

When he gets home and tells his wife that their daughter is missing we are told that ‘His wife does not take it well’. No well I think that goes without saying. Later on Paul is hungry so they make bacon and eggs and this whole episode really jarred with me because it seems remarkably indifferent. Their child is missing but their top priority is not too call family or friends for support but to make bacon and eggs.

There are moments when Paul and Claire veer from full blown hysteria to an apparent coldness. For example which Claire ‘munches’ on her bacon and eggs and then, when she sees that Paul hasn’t eaten she asks ‘Do you mind?’ and takes more food. Similarly Paul complains that Claire is ‘hard to fathom’ and yet after your daughter has gone missing wouldn’t you be acting strangely?

There are numerous dubious moments in this novel which is why I found it so difficult to read. I found it tricky to get past the clunky writing and dialogue to enjoy the story. Another example: in the last section of the novel Paul phones Claire and says ‘Don’t hang up...It is I’ but who says that even if they are an English teacher?

I have been rather harsh on the novel so far but it does have good points. The setting is interesting and is not something that I’ve read much about. The violence which is rife in the ‘New’ South Africa is illuminated and the ineffectiveness of officials and Paul’s despair at their lack of help is well portrayed at times.

If you’re after an action based story then this could be right up your street as long as you don’t mind an improbable plot and clunky and unnatural dialogue.
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Aug 03, 2012 Carol Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Held Up is a dark, brooding story of how one man's life and convictions seem to dissolve around him after the kidnap of his daughter. The dialogue is sparse and stark and the narrative refuses to ebb and flow, instead making the reader follow Paul as he tries to make sense of himself and his situation. The story is compelling, with a flat realism that doesn't allow room for dramatics even in the most dramatic situations.

The novel shows the reader different sides of South Africa; wealth and secu...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Held Up is the debut novel from Christopher Radmann.
Paul van Niekerk is car-jacked at gunpoint at traffic lights. Perhaps not unusual against the setting of South Africa. However, this car jacking is different. His daughter is in the back seat of the car. This begins a spiral for Paul that changes his life.

‘Their longed-for miracle. Now miraculously vanished. He must get her back’
The blurb seems to promise action, thrills and an all-out on edge novel set against the back drop of 1990’s South A...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Gill Chedgey rated it 2 of 5 stars

During these times of economic recession I would guess a publisher has to be pretty confident of publishing a new writer in order to get a decent return on the initial investment. And so I approached this novel with a trust that it would be a worthwhile read.

But I’m sorry to say that I didn’t like it. I’m not sure whether it was the subject matter or the writing style.

The story as a whole made me feel very uncomfortable but I think it was supposed to and there’s nothing wrong in that. However wh...more During these times of economic recession I would guess a publisher has to be pretty confident of publishing a new writer in order to get a decent return on the initial investment. And so I approached this novel with a trust that it would be a worthwhile read.

But I’m sorry to say that I didn’t like it. I’m not sure whether it was the subject matter or the writing style.

The story as a whole made me feel very uncomfortable but I think it was supposed to and there’s nothing wrong in that. However what I couldn’t get my head round was why this guy failed to think about his child until the hold up was over. I cannot think of a parent whose first thought wouldn’t be their child. This was unrealistic. I have no doubt that the author believed it would create a greater impact but for me it failed miserably and possibly compromised the integrity of the rest of the book.

I am not a fan of novels written in the present tense. I always feel that such a technique indicates that the writer is not sure enough of him/herself to commit. There is only one place in this novel where it worked for me and that is the description of Claire swimming and the recall of an adolescent memory, the present tense there seemed to reinforce the immediacy of their crisis and I liked the juxtaposition of swimming and tears. But that’s the only place.

I guess I learnt a lot about life in South Africa, the poverty, harshness, the anguish of a mother and her children all dying from AIDS and the challenges of simply surviving amidst such a severe regime.

The ‘happy ending’ is too contrived to work against the backdrop of brutality, heartbreak and violence. It simply doesn’t ring true. And with a novel like this a sense of reality within it is vital.

My heart goes out to anyone who has suffered like this. If this is a personal experience for Christopher Radman than I do applaud this work as an act of catharsis and I hope he feels better. But as a work of fiction or literature it doesn’t quite make it for me.
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Jul 24, 2012 Emma rated it 4 of 5 stars

Christopher Radmann's debut novel, Held Up, is a tragic and brutal journey into the darkness of a grieving, and guilty, mind. Inspired by Radmann's own experiences, and that of family and friends, of living in South Africa, Radmann paints a vivid picture of a country that is divided by not only race, but wealth and violence.

On the way to meet his wife after purchasing a new BMW, South African Paul Van Niekerk falls victim to car jacking. Paul survives, but after the shock of the incident wears o...more

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Aug 04, 2012 CuteBadger rated it 4 of 5 stars

In late 1990s post-apartheid South Africa, white advertising executive Paul is on the way home in his new BMW when he is carjacked and the vehicle is stolen. In the shock of the moment Paul doesn’t instantly remember that his nine-month-old daughter Chantal was also in the car, but soon realises that she too has been lost. “Held Up” follows Paul’s journey to find his daughter, to come to terms with what has happened and to find his place in a nation divided by race, poverty and violence.

The cove...more In late 1990s post-apartheid South Africa, white advertising executive Paul is on the way home in his new BMW when he is carjacked and the vehicle is stolen. In the shock of the moment Paul doesn’t instantly remember that his nine-month-old daughter Chantal was also in the car, but soon realises that she too has been lost. “Held Up” follows Paul’s journey to find his daughter, to come to terms with what has happened and to find his place in a nation divided by race, poverty and violence.

The cover of this book and the blurb on the back led me to expect some kind of action thriller (not generally my cup of tea), but thankfully this was a false impression. Though there is action in the book and some explicit violence, “Held Up” is much more about the protagonist Paul trying to make sense of the world around him and find his daughter. The book is also in its way, a comment on action thrillers, as when Paul feels he has to take matters into his own hands and tries to do things which would come naturally to an action hero, the result isn’t what you’d expect and takes its toll on all concerned. The author seems to be saying that real life isn’t like fiction or the movies and that violence has a much wider impact than usually portrayed.

I had a few minor niggles at the start of the book, for example, I wasn’t familiar with many of the non-English words used and had to Google them to be 100% sure of what they meant (although the context in which they’re used is a big help). I also struggled a bit with the fact that much of the book is written in the present tense, but gradually got used to it in the context of the chapters’ titles such as “1 second” and ”1 day”, meaning the length of time after Chantal was taken. I also generally have a substantially-sized bee in my bonnet about authors who don’t use inverted commas around speech, which seems to be becoming more and more common. However, although this irritated me at first I soon forgot about it, such was the power of the narrative.

Another of my niggles, the cerebral (rather than visceral) way in which Paul reacts to his daughter’s kidnapping later turned out to be the author commenting on the kind of man his protagonist was at the outset, that is, a man who wished to distance himself from the reality of life in his native country by thinking about things rather than feeling them. It is to Christopher Radmann’s credit that we see even his character’s thought processes changing in the course of the book. The contrast between the Paul we see at the start and at the end of the novel is striking – the change not just being in his thought patterns, but in every aspect of his psyche and his life.

I found myself thinking about “Held Up” when I wasn’t reading it, wanting to go back to it, but almost dreading finding out what happened next. It’s a novel I’m glad I read, but “enjoyed” is not really the appropriate word here. In places the reader needs a strong stomach, but overall the book is powerful, shocking, violent and cruel, but ultimately uplifting and well worth reading.
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Aug 03, 2012 Lynn Brown rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a harrowing tale of how one moment in time can change your life forever. A book of what if.... and if only.... I was ok with the book in the beginning but I felt that the trauma of what had happened was dragged out for too long over the first week. The book then picked up speed when the central character took matters in hand only for it to slip again. Not a book I wanted to get back to, probably due to the traumatic contents rather than the writing. Not knowing any Afrikaans sometimes th...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2012

A book set in South Africa, it starts of with a normal guy picking up his new BMW. He is held up on a slipway and his new car is stolen.

So far, so bad.

Then he remembers his 9 month old daughter, Chantal, is in the car still. Him and his wife go through hell and back in the initial days following her abduction, and slowly their live fall apart. He plumbs the depth of his brutality to get a lead as to where she has gone, and tries to follow a lead that evaporates all too quickly.

Following the dest...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Jo at Jaffareadstoo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Paul Van Neikerk is a successful white South African, contented with his status in life, and proud of his new BMW. When he is stopped at gunpoint and made to hand over the keys to his new car, it’s either comply, or be killed. Watching his new car speed away from him, Paul realises that his nine month old baby daughter is still in the car. What then follows is a tense and unbearably detailed account of how Paul’s life, and that of his wife, Claire, spirals into a nightmare of uncertainty and fea...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Sharon Goodwin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Held Up begins one second after the hijack. The reader is introduced to how life is - violence and mistrust are common experiences. One minute after the hijack, Paul is reflecting on how difficult Chantal’s conception was and how he felt at her birth. One hour afterwards he tells his wife, Claire (having waited for the police and then related everything at the station). From this moment on, the reader is caught up in the pain and grief of Paul’s journey – the changes experienced as a direct resu...more

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Feb 24, 2013 lifeinsomniac rated it 3 of 5 stars

*************3 TO 3 AND A HALF STARS*************

Paul Van Niekerk is being held up by gun point for his car, he thinks that he will draw his last breath, but he is left almost unharmed. When the adrenaline settles and he is out of harm’s way - as the car is driving off - he realises that there is something worse than death that has happened. His daughter, only 9 months of age, is in that car. What will happen to her? Will they kill her, or worse? The thoughts of what could have been, the questio...more *************3 TO 3 AND A HALF STARS*************

Paul Van Niekerk is being held up by gun point for his car, he thinks that he will draw his last breath, but he is left almost unharmed. When the adrenaline settles and he is out of harm’s way - as the car is driving off - he realises that there is something worse than death that has happened. His daughter, only 9 months of age, is in that car. What will happen to her? Will they kill her, or worse? The thoughts of what could have been, the questions of what happened to his little girl, and the persistent thought that it is somehow his fault leaves him unable to live an ordinary life and impossible to leave it in the hands of the overstretched police force. He goes in search of her. Paul goes in search of punishing himself for the pain and loss that can never be filled.

I had so many different feelings whilst reading this book and I guess that would make sense, as there is a massive journey of not just physical proportions but also a mental/emotional one. Even though it started right off with the hijacking it still took me time to get into the book. I raced through some parts and other parts stalled on me.

I suppose the character I most identified with was Paul however it did keep changing throughout the book. Sometimes I would feel sorry for his wife Claire and think ‘What are you doing to her?’, ‘Can’t you just try?’, ‘Why destroy even more?’. However, there were times I found Claire extremely annoying and controlling. I did identify more with Paul as I could understand his hurt. He blamed himself for losing their daughter. He wanted to punish himself as he felt she had been punished. Their only child: fought so long to have and now taken from them.

This book touches on a lot of issues. It takes place in South Africa. Deals with racism, sexism (more to do with the obsession of masculinity though this might have been accidental), the apartheid, immigration (including the fear, blame and violence they endured), crime, politics, trafficking, fertility difficulties, unemployment problems, and the list goes on. I’m not sure how much trafficking actually happens there. I normally hear more about it in other places, but I wouldn’t be surprised, it happens everywhere, including our own big cities. I found it really interesting to read about South Africa. It didn’t ignore the problems that may exist but it also showed that it is more than just a problem. That it is a bustling interesting and beautiful place too. (less)

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Jan 23, 2013 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is not an easy book to read.

The plot is about a family ripped apart by a car-jacking. Paul Van Niekirk is held up at gunpoint, and his new car stolen, with his 9 month old baby daughter, Chantal, in the back. The story continues for 10 years, as Paul descends into alchohol, madness, violence, murder, destitution and finally finds redemption as a consequence.

But the book isn't about that really. Radmann is clever with language, he plays with it, using puns and wordplay to weave different con...more This is not an easy book to read.

The plot is about a family ripped apart by a car-jacking. Paul Van Niekirk is held up at gunpoint, and his new car stolen, with his 9 month old baby daughter, Chantal, in the back. The story continues for 10 years, as Paul descends into alchohol, madness, violence, murder, destitution and finally finds redemption as a consequence.

But the book isn't about that really. Radmann is clever with language, he plays with it, using puns and wordplay to weave different concepts together. He uses no quotation marks which help to suck you, the reader, into the narrative. It's hard to know sometimes whether the character is speaking or thinking, or whether the narrator is musing. Paul Van Niekirk grapples with the loss of his child, the loss of his marriage, the loss of his manhood and the loss of everything he took for granted, all set against the backdrop of a country beset by lawlessness, violence, and corruption, where Apartheid is over but not dead.

The book is about the birth of a new South Africa, and takes us with Paul on a headlong descent into the legacy of the Apartheid regime. With Paul, we plunge out through the security gates, leaving behind shiny wealthy suburbia, and find ourselves struggling for survival in the squatter camps of Soweto where the stench of poverty fills our nostrils as we read. On the way we share with Paul the societal racism, the violence and madness.

There is a huge amount to disgust. The story is awash with p*ss, vomit, human excrement. Violence is everywhere. Desperation pushes people to appalling extremes - the criminals and Paul.

When I started the book, I struggled with some of the language. The car jacker is described as black, identified by being black. The gulf between priviledged white Paul and his "wild African" attacker is laid out literally in terms of black and white. "For one second he comes face to face with the black man. So ordinary. The shining skin, the flat nose and thick lips. The hair is short, kempt. The face is impassive, like a wooden mask. It is beautifully polished, any one of a million million African statues; sculpted faces that scrutinise tourists with dark disdain ...". There are plenty more instances where characters are defined by ethnic characteristics which all grate on politically correct sensibilities. Otherwise, black South Africans are only visible when they smilingly and dutifully fulfil their service to the white community - the gate keeper, the chauffeur from Paul's company. The ranking of black and coloured - the benchmarks of Apartheid, persist. Characters are constantly described by their ethnic characteristics. Stereotyping that - here in Britain - we find offensive and racist.

SPOILERS

But like the non use of quotation marks, I think what's going on here is that Radmann is sucking the reader in to post Apartheid society, which is still unequal, and still racist. It's a big thing to ask of the reader, and a big risk for him to take. I got very angry and wanted to put the book down, but I'm glad I carried on. In the final section of the book Paul finds himself living in Soweto in a squatter camp, trying to be nearer his kidnapped daughter. He immerses himself in the lives of the poorest black South Africans, and the language changes.

The people he lives with are people, described in more fully human terms, as if you start to see people differently, by what they are doing, what they are like, not by their ethnicity. And none of your "noble savage" nonsence - they're people on the edge, living in squalor, dying of Aids, starving and with barely any dignity left to hang on to. And lets not forget, people live like that now in South Africa and many parts of the world. It's a subtle thing, but I think very well done.

When Radmann is finally reunited with his daughter, she has been raised for 10 years by the hijacker's sister. She's described as grey - neither white nor black, colourless, neither and both. She speaks no English, only tsotistaal, a pidgin language blending isiZulu and Afrikaans. She only knows the name, Soneni, that she's been given. She eats pap with her fingers. She smells bad. Such a contrast with the shiny bright blond baby who disappeared.

In the closing pages, Paul realises: "Yes, the pale smoke of Chantal has long since dispersed. Here is his Soneni. Here is his South Africa."

The central character of this book is actually South Africa. The violent, sickening tale of the loss of a pretty blond baby, the depths to which Paul sinks, his efforts to understand this country, the injustice of the immense divide between the haves (mostly whites) and have nots (mostly blacks), Paul's redemption thanks to squatters who rescue him, his reclaiming of his changed daughter - all this is about the violent, painful re-birth of a nation, and the difficult and often violent reconciliation of people held on the opposites of many many divides. (less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Anne rated it 2 of 5 stars

Christopher Radmann's debut novel is a difficult read in two ways. It is a difficult subject and is set in a country where violence is very common place, I also found it difficult because of the style of writing.
I wouldn't say that it is all badly written, but there are parts that really annoyed me. Radmann 'does' violence and description very well, but I found it so hard to relate to his characters. They were quite cold and often emotionless.
I did learn things about South Africa, a country that...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Karin Wollina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bought, great-audiobooks

I just finished the audiobook version. I was fascinated by the story, even I f I too expected another kind of book based on the blurb. What I found was a story about fear, loss and finding your life again in a brutal country that is finding his way into the present and future.
I liked the narrator, but don`t know if he did the south african english right, but he did a very good job.
I really hope there will be more books by Christoper Radmann, I surely will read them.

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Aug 06, 2012 Andrea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: real-readers

This was perhaps not the best book to read as a first-time parent who is afraid of their own inadequacies hurting their child... Held Up, at least the first part, made me very uncomfortable. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it.

Then the plot took an unexpected turn and I felt myself much more drawn into the environment of the 'new' South Africa. Overall, I was expecting one type of novel, but I got another -- and in this case, it's a very good thing.

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Jan 17, 2013 Zeena rated it 5 of 5 stars

incredible debut novel, harrowing and brilliantly written

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