Capital Punishment: A Thriller

Charles Boxer #1

by Robert Wilson

The “crackerjack” first thriller in the London-set series featuring kidnap consultant Charles Boxer (TheWall Street Journal).

When the twenty-five-year-old daughter of Indian billionaire Frank D’Cruz is kidnapped, former cop turned private security professional Charles Boxer is charged with getting her back alive.
 
Boxer knows all-too-well how the dark forces in London can reach out and ensnare an innocent victim. He also knows that D’Cruz’s crooked business empire has made him plenty of enemies. But despite the family’s vast fortune, the kidnappers aren’t looking for money. Instead, they favor a crueler, more lethal game that will put many lives at stake as the trail crosses paths with a terrorist plot on British soil.
 
Capital Punishment is a “smart, sophisticated, and twisty thriller” from the award-winning author of A Small Death in Lisbon (Library Journal, starred review).

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, British Literature, Audiobook

417 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Robert Wilson has written thirteen novels including the Bruce Medway noir series set in West Africa and two Lisbon books with WW2 settings the first of which, A Small Death in Lisbon, won the CWA Gold Dagger in 1999 and the International Deutsche Krimi prize in 2003. He has written four psychological crime novels set in Seville, with his Spanish detective, Javier Falcón. Two of these books (The Blind Man of Seville and The Silent and the Damned) were filmed and broadcast on Sky Atlantic as ‘Falcón’ in 2012. A film of the fourth Falcón book was released in Spain in 2014 under the title La Ignorancia de la Sangre. Capital Punishment, the first novel in his latest series of pure thrillers set in London and featuring kidnap consultant, Charles Boxer, was published in 2013 and was nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. This was followed by You Will Never Find Me in 2014. The third book in the series, Stealing People, will be published in 2015. Robert Wilson loves to cook food from all over the world but especially Spanish, Portuguese, Indian and Thai. He also loves to walk with dogs…and people, too.

Reviews

[James Thane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Late one night, a very drunk young woman named Alyshia D'Cruz leaves a going-away party for a co-worker. A friend puts her into a London taxi. But instead of taking her home, the cabbie turns her over to a gang of kidnappers.

Alyshia's father, Frank, was once a very famous Bollywood movie star. Now he's a ruthless businessman with enemies world-wide. He's also extremely wealthy. When Alyshia's mother, Isabel Marks, innocently calls Alyshia to check in, the kidnapper answers Alyshia's phone and tells her that Alyshia is now in their hands and that they will only deal with her. Naturally, Isabel is not supposed to call the cops.

Isabel calls Frank, her ex-husband, and Frank in turn, calls Charles Boxer, a former homicide detective who has now become a kidnap specialist in the private sector. Frank wants Boxer to rescue his daughter and then, incidentally, to kill the people who took her. He's willing to pay very well.

Boxer arrives at Isabel's posh London home, which now becomes his base of operations. Because of the nature of the case, he also quietly alerts the authorities who begin working the case as well. The lead investigator for the Metropolitan Police is Mercy Danquah, who just happens to be Boxer's ex-wife and the mother of their out-of-control seventeen-year old daughter, Amy.

Everyone naturally assumes that the kidnappers are looking for a whopping ransom, especially since Frank D'Cruz is worth billions. But surprisingly, the kidnappers, who seem to know a great deal about Alyshia and her family, say that they are not interested in money. What they do want is not exactly clear, but before long, what appeared to be a routine kidnapping is spinning rapidly out of control.

Before all is said and done, the case will spread from Europe to Asia and the cast of characters will include London street thugs, drug dealers on two different continents, secret agents, the Pakistani military and spy services, Indian businessmen, not to mention a couple groups of terrorists, just to name a few. The whole thing is pretty much a hopeless mess and one can only pray that Charles Boxer can sort it out in time.

This book starts out on a very promising note and kept me on the edge of my seat for quite some time. But to my mind, an excellent beginning peters out into a thicket of characters and competing interests so dense that you need a scorecard to keep the players straight. It's also a bit hard to buy into the notion that, of all the people employed by the Metropolitan Police Force in London, the person assigned to the case would be Boxer's ex-wife. And, sadly, the climax seems a bit rushed and rather anti-climactic, especially after such an excellent beginning. Thus three stars for me rather than four.

[John McDermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do like Robert Wilson. His writing is always elegant and intelligent. Capital Punishment is no exception ; a kidnap thriller that explores the dark territory between big business, the underworld and terrorism.
Charles Boxer is a great new character : ex-military , a former murder squad detective and now a private kidnap specialist. Damaged by his past and despite a strong moral code, has a very dark side ; he occasionally will operate as a hit man under ,what he judges as the right circumstances.
This is a thriller which is gripping ,fast paced and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing more of Mr.Boxer .

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Wilson is an excellent writer who knows how to deliver a story, recently I returned to the first of the Falcon quartet and was again pleasantly surprised with the book. So I was planning to revisit his books when I came across this book and was curious of course.

Charles Boxer, ex-army, ex-police and currently workings a kidnap recovery specialist for a company in the private sector. We meet him in Lisbon where he is supposed to meet his somewhat estranged daughter, who leaves him stood up as she is off doing her thing.

Alyshia D’Cruz is the daughter of an Indian billionaire who is kidnapped from the streets of London. Her kidnappers do not behave as kidnappers should, they clearly have a different agenda.

Charles Boxer Will have to work fast to save the life of Alyshia and find out what is really going on. As the plot thickens he and the mother of his daughter, who works in the same sector as he only she is a cop, will find themselves challenged as parents and in the professional sense.

This is book that has a lot going for itself and spoiling the story is far too easy. You liked Falcon?- This book will be enjoyed for sure.
You enjoy a good thriller then Robert Wilson is your man.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting novel, if not always for the reasons Wilson hoped. It had me thinking back to my experience reading the new Richard Price novel, The Whites. Price admitted that he wrote that novel under the pen name Harry Brandt because, strapped for cash, he needed to write a pot-boiler that would sell fast and well. He wanted to keep his legacy as a literary writer under the name Price intact, but was finding it costing him audience.

Fortunately or not, Price’s Harry Brandt novel is a deeply plotted, psychologically dense, character-driven novel not unlike earlier Price novels. He missed his mark. It is emphatically not a pot-boiler. Wilson may be feeling some of the same pressures. He seems to be trying something completely different in this first novel of a new series. He calls this work a “thriller” as opposed to characterizations of his earlier work as “crime” or “mystery.” I note that thrillers have evolved with the times: plots must be as sophisticated as the world is now, and readers must be willing to put up with what was previously thought to be unreasonable complexity. Life is complicated.

Charlie Boxer is a private security consultant based in London. He is hired to deal with the kidnapping of the daughter of an Indian billionaire business magnate in London just before the Olympic Games. Once word gets out, every far-flung contact of the billionaire is suspected and suspicious: they find themselves looking for their own advantage while looking at allies and enemies within and without their own organizations for perpetrators. The only thing we know for sure is that Charlie Boxer seems out of his depth with both the billionaire and the billionaire’s ex-wife.

This thriller actually has very little action and a whole lot of revenge plotting going on. The complexity becomes amusing. Wilson knew very well what he was doing by layering one set of potential kidnappers on the others, along with their attendant informants, security personnel, and hangers-on. The violence is fierce and gratuitous. As the body count mounts, readers might find themselves placing bets on which set of thugs will kill the others and would the overseas set arrive in time to participate in the melee? The whole circus became a murderous joke, all centered about a smart, beautiful 25-year old woman who made mincemeat of the men she encountered. It’s a riot, in all senses of the word.

That having been said, there were times when I wondered if I were the only one in on the joke. The first false note—Boxer falling into bed with his client, the wife of the kidnapped girl--had me curious what Wilson was thinking. As the number of investigators and their targets multiplied, I began to think of the whole construction as tongue-in-cheek. Wilson didn’t try to obscure the seams. It was a nightmare of connections and hitmen. I began to enjoy the ride to see how it would all unravel.

One character I wanted to survive the damage was Dan, alias for a nurse with an addiction that sent him to jail for a couple years, wrecking his legitimate career but placing him on the payroll of a thug lord. His restraint, sincerity, gullibility, skills, and skepticism made a complex character. A very good series could be made out of his adventures in the underworld. I note we did not get a sufficient description of his death.

In what becomes a large piece of the action, an Afghan terror group sidesteps the Indian Mafia (both Hindi and Muslim factions), the Pakistani Military Intelligence, and London’s drug lords and lowlifes to mix it up with MI5, MI6, the anti-terror units of the military, and the police. When Wilson tells us in his Acknowledgements that writing is the most "exquisite torture" but that sometimes one hits a gusher, our smile of recognition hides a wince. Yes, we agree, but perhaps we don’t need the whole nightmare.

Another thread, if one were needed, is the backstory of Charlie Boxer. He still works with his ex-wife and his daughter is an opinionated teenaged terror at seventeen. Apparently it is this thread that continues in the second novel in this series, You Will Never Find Me, due out next month.

Robert Wilson is an author I have followed from Africa to Lisbon to Seville to London. I have enormous respect for his talents. Wilson places the following in the mouth of one of his characters in this novel:

"The sad thing about goodness is that is it’s bland. Evil has the power to provoke extraordinary emotions. And we’re drawn to the excitement of the extreme, rather than the dullness of the everyday."

Wilson writes thrillers now. He may feel the pull, like Richard Price, of financial considerations, eyeballs on the page, a larger audience. Unless Wilson meant to be humorous, I think he missed the mark on this thriller. It was complex--perhaps too much so. It was difficult to suspend disbelief.

Wilson has the talent and experience now to write whatever he decides he wants to write. If he has fun and satisfaction and lack of angst from writing novels like this, I totally understand. I don’t want to put the kibosh on a successful literary franchise. But Wilson is one who could go deep, if he wanted, on a literary thriller. I’ll probably check in regardless.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve so enjoyed Robert Wilson’s books featuring Seville based detective Javier Falcon that I thought I’d try another of his series, this time following the adventures of a British kidnap recovery specialist, Charles Boxer. Ex-army and ex-police too, Boxer is recruited by Indian tycoon Francisco D’Cruz to retrieve his daughter who’s been grabbed by members of the London underworld. In fact, the early sections of the book set up things pretty well, with a good mix of action and enough background to provide a base for the protracted negations I’d assumed would follow.

Unfortunately, the author clearly thought more would be more and began introducing enough additional characters to befuddle my (admittedly fragile) memory. I just couldn’t keep up: an ex-wife comes in to help Boxer, then a copper who’s about as welcome as flu at Christmas is added to the cast, quickly followed by more members of the London underground, some Indian mobsters and religious fanatics. And now the kidnap victim is getting moved around like a kiddie’s game of pass the parcel. Way too many people and way too many twists for my appetite.

It probably didn’t help that in the audio version I listened to a couple of the London criminals were played out in voices that made them sound like a southern imitation of the Chuckle Brothers. After a dozen or more hours one final twist did me in, I couldn’t cope with yet another unlikely and, frankly, unwelcome surprise intervention. I was done.

My own rule is to provide a standard rating for books I fail to finish, so one star it is.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent if horrifying thriller, mostly populated with well written characters I didn't care for. I don't like characters that kill for hire, no matter what the motive, nor gangsters in general. There's also a bit too much coincidence in timing, everything gets wrapped up at the same instance. Still, a better than average version since many books of this genre have paper thin characters and mindless action.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

An above average thriller by Robert Wilson as usual. Charlie Boxer is called in to help on a kidnapping case. While Charlie is a bit annoying, actually the no woman can resist him and the wounded warrior with a heart of gold seem a little silly. Happily though all the other characters while showing up the laziness of his characterization in stark relief provide more than ample relief and reward. The whole thing capers about in ever more complex circles for some genuinely thrilling moments and a most satisfying food chain bloodbath

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Wilson is a gifted writer and if you have not yet read any of his books your are missing some really good ones! Starting with The Company of Strangers which is set in 1944 war torn Lisbon with a female spy as the lead character, to A Small Death in Lisbon whose main character is a police detective investigating a murder and on to The Blind Man of Seville in which Inspector Javier Falcon must confront his father’s past as he solves a most gruesome murder, Wilson has shown that he is a master of the literary character driven mystery/thriller. So, I was really excited to see his new book, Capital Punishment!

Charles Boxer is a kidnap specialist-someone who negotiates with kidnappers on behalf of the families and companies whose loved ones and employees have been abducted. For many years he worked for a large insurance company who insured many large companies’ employees, many of whom worked in areas of the world where kidnapping is part of the cost of doing business. Recently, however, he has set up his own firm in London and is trying to make a new start so that he can be closer to his daughter, now a teenager who he hardly knows.

When Alyshia, the daughter of a multi billionaire Indian businessman Frank D’Cruz goes missing after a night out with her friends in downtown London, Frank contacts Charlie fearing the worst. The kidnappers take their time in making their demands and when they finally do, they appear to be uninterested in money but rather seem to have some other agenda, which makes Charlie’s job that much harder. As Charlie investigates possible motives for the kidnapping, he becomes convinced that Frank D’Cruz’s connections to the Indian mafia, and other criminal elements may be the key to understanding the motives behind the kidnapping. Digging deeper into these mafia connections Charlie becomes aware of the possibility of a large terrorist attack that seems to be somehow connected to Frank’s business interests in promoting the Olympic games.

Meanwhile the kidnappers themselves are not as organized as they appear to be and their internal instability has large repercussions on the negotiations. Sensing this instability local criminal elements in London take a keen interest in what is happening, seeing a chance to make some money of their own.

Throughout all of this Charlie attempts to reconnect with his teen age daughter, who barely speaks to him. The complexity of their relationship, his lack of knowledge about her life makes him regret all the years when his job came first rather than being there for his daughter.

This is the first book in a new series, which is great since I liked Charlie. He is a complicated person, who has been very good at his job, but is just beginning to realize that there is more to life than his work and is just now trying to figure out how to form a relationship with someone who doesn’t really care whether he is in her life or not. Although the book has many layers and many different characters who come in and out of the story, it was an exciting and satisfying read!

Read more reviews at Brendasbookshelf@wordpress.com.

[Márcia Balsas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Já eram muitas as saudades de ler um bom policial. Pena Capital foi-me muito recomendado e esperava na estante há demasiado tempo.
Correspondeu exactamente às minhas expectativas, encontrei o esperado estilo sofisticado de Robert Wilson, a sua escrita cheia de classe que eleva o policial para outro patamar. Ler este livro foi um duplo reencontro, por um lado com um género que aprecio e que, por força de outras escolhas de leitura, tenho deixado para trás, por outro com um autor que admiro pela sua escrita envolvente e pela estrutura estudada dos seus romances.
Este não é um daqueles livros que escorre sangue, por isso talvez não seja o mais adequado para os fãs de histórias de psicopatas e serial killers, que procuram aquela adrenalina da leitura no limite. Pena Capital não é um page turner, não consome o leitor enquanto este não o termina. É antes um livro-companheiro a que desejamos voltar para seguir a história com atenção e aproveitar bons momentos de leitura.
Não se pode comparar ao fabuloso O Último Acto em Lisboa, do mesmo autor, que guardo como um dos meus policiais favoritos, nem o pretende ser, a meu ver. São tramas completamente diferentes, igualmente (e extraordinariamente) bem estruturadas. Contudo com propósitos distintos.
Em Pena Capital o leitor entra numa conspiração internacional a que vai puxando os fios a partir do rapto da filha de Frank D’Cruz, um actor/magnata/empresário indiano, e por onde se vai desenrolando um novelo de ligações a terrorismo, fraude e crime, descendo, por vezes, a locais muito negros da alma humana. Charles Boxer é um herói que mantém os leitores com os pés na terra, não tem atitudes de desenho animado e possui tantos defeitos como qualquer ser humano. Com um passado que merece ser descoberto, Boxer tem uma vida familiar desastrosa e profissionalmente é especialista em gestão e resolução raptos e resgates. Cabe-lhe a tarefa de garantir o regresso de Alyshia (a filha raptada) a casa, de preferência viva.
Logo no início Wilson oferece ao leitor português uma passagem (considerável e entusiasmante) numa zona conhecida de Lisboa, dando destaque e talvez uma pequena homenagem ao país que escolheu para viver (pelo menos da última vez que soube ele vivia em Portugal).
Este é o primeiro livro de uma trilogia, a que se segue Nunca me Encontrarão. No fim das quase quinhentas páginas de Pena Capital, e devido ao seu final habilmente suspenso, a vontade de passar ao livro seguinte é enorme. O meu está à espera na estante!
http://planetamarcia.blogs.sapo.pt/pe...

[Sebastian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been great, ended up being a mess.

If someone would have told me that I would rate this book 2 stars when I was halfway through it, I would have said they were crazy. At that point, things were looking pretty good. We had a fast-moving plot, with enough intrigue to keep the reader's interest going, and an author that knows how to write and entertain us with the most banal dialogues and events. The main character, Charles Boxer, has a certain depth and his personal life provided the key elements needed for a character in a series.

So what went wrong you ask? Well, the main story, involving the kidnapping of the daughter of an influential billionaire had enough uncertainty and violence to keep us guessing and engaged. But then the author decided to start adding layer after layer to the story. Many characters started appearing, the reasons for actions by these characters started to become contrived and it became impossible to follow the story. There is not way to remember who the characters are and what they role is without grabbing a pad and paper and getting to work. Even if you do this, the plot goes round and round and you will get lost in the labyrinth. We end up with characters that behave erratically, and the motivations behind these actions are unclear and to tell you the truth also unimportant.

The author was able to get me to the point in which I did not care at all about why things happened the way they did, and he did this by trying to include more and more twists and turns and bringing new protagonists out of left field. When the book ended I felt like I had just wasted a whole bunch of time. It is a shame, because Wilson has the ability to write well, he just got carried away with the plot and I do not believe even he knew where he was going with it. As you can imagine, I have no intention of reading the next book in this series. Proof of this is that the author decided to include a cliff-hanger at the end to get people to buy the next book, and it did not affect me, did not even make me mad, I just did not care.

[Labijose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Más conocido por su serie de novelas policiacas del comisario Falcón, especialmente “El ciego de Sevilla” y “Condenados al silencio”, por las que es más popular, Robert Wilson también escribe la serie protagonizada por Charles Boxer, el negociador de rescates en secuestros, de la que “Pena Capital” (Capital punishment) es su primera novela.
Esta primera entrega está muy lograda. A veces un poco escabrosa, ya que la trama de los secuestros no es un tópico fácil de digerir. El argumento evoluciona de forma constante, y aunque la novela no esté al mismo nivel que las que ha escrito para la serie de Falcón, la encontré muy consistente. Todo lo relativo al secuestro de Alyshia D'Cruz, hija del magnate indio Frank D'Cruz, ex estrella del cine de Bollywood y que esconde muchos esqueletos en su armario personal, está contado de forma altamente interesante. Es un secuestro atípico, por el que no se pide ningún rescate, sino un “acto de buena voluntad” por parte del padre de la secuestrada. A su vez, el secuestro cambiará de secuestradores, cuando estos son asesinados por dos de los vigilantes de la casa donde tienen retenida a la víctima. Y a partir de ahí los acontecimientos se precipitan en cascada. Al mismo tiempo que se involucra en el secuestro, Boxer tiene que lidiar con sus propios problemas personales, que incluyen a su ex mujer, con la que tiene que trabajar en la resolución del caso, y una hija díscola, que le dará más de un quebradero de cabeza, y que servirá de puente para enlazar con la siguiente entrega de la serie ( “You will never find me” ), que también promete ser interesante. La trama principal se desarrolla en Londres, con incursiones esporádicas en India, lo que nos ayuda a conocer las posibles motivaciones del secuestro. Es una novela que se lee con avidez, y que no pierde el interés en ningún momento. Me ha resultado muy entretenida.

[Renata Carvalho · Rating 4 out of 5]

A minha estreia com o autor. Gostei muito, tem mt acção, as histórias pessoais das personagens vão-se desenvolvendo ao longo do livro, numa mistura entre o presente e o passado que permite entender melhor o porquê de algumas atitudes das mesmas.

O livro deixa em aberto a continuação da história de algumas personagens num novo livro.

Recomendo

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great political cum police style thriller. Terrorists, kidnapping, family tensions. And it's one of the few books I've read that keeps the final twist literally till the last sentence. If you like complex thrillers rush to the bookshop. One of the best of its kind.

[Lisette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started very promissing, but then it went down hill. In the second part of the book there were just too many characters. It got hard to keep track of who was who. I also didn't like that there was a subplot which made it confusing. I won't read the next book of this series.

[Joel Dávila · Rating 2 out of 5]

👎

[Dlmrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Ray Palen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Wilson has risen to fame and much critical claim via the terrific Falcon series set in Portugal. With the release of CAPITAL PUNISHMENT he brings forth a stand- alone novel that will hopefully mark the start of a new series.

Charles Boxer is a unique character. His background consists of ex-military and ex-police experience and now has found his niche as a professional hostage negotiator. He is not without his own demons as he fights to keep down the darkness of his own past before it consumes him. Compounding this is the strange relationship he has with his ex-wife, and current Police Investigator, Mercy and the estranged teen-age daughter, Amy, they are both rapidly losing touch with.

In an effort to keep himself busy --- and possibly redeem himself for his personal failures with his own daughter --- Boxer throws himself full force into his latest assignment. The twenty-one-year-old half Indian/half British daughter of a famous Indian billionaire (Frank D’Cruz) has gone missing and appears to be the victim of a kidnapping. Alyshia D’Cruz went out for a night of drinking and bar hopping with some mates and jumps into a taxi at the end of the revelry to return to her flat. That is the last anyone sees of her.

Her mother, Isabel Marks, is contacted by a mysterious man calling himself Jordan. Unlike most kidnapping situations, Jordan is not asking for money. Frank D’Cruz will only trust Boxer to handle the situation. This case is quite unique as Alyshia’s captors seem to only want to engage in wordplay and exchanging of information and insist on only speaking to Isabel. The standard threat of not involving law enforcement is also given and Frank and Isabel are in a quandary as to how to best get their daughter safely returned to them.

Boxer complicates the situation by getting sexually involved with his ‘employer’, Isabel, and realizes this may compromise the case. He reaches out to his ex-wife, Mercy, of the Metropolitan Police Squad, in an effort to get their support should things get out of control.

It is obvious that the purpose of the kidnapping has something to do with Frank D’Cruz, but he is unable to pinpoint what potential enemy could be behind this act. Boxer and his police contacts conduct an investigation into D’Cruz’s ties and the web lies and deceit stretch between London and India revealing a trail that leads to some heavy underground mobsters.

The plot of CAPITAL PUNISHMENT twists and turns while introducing new characters with every passing page. As the true intent of the kidnappers is slowly exposed Boxer and his colleagues come to the realization that this kidnapping may just be a smoke-screen for a far more sinister plot --- possibly one of terrorist origins. Charles Boxer is a refreshingly complex protagonist and definitely worthy of his own series --- a consideration I can only hope Robert Wilson follows through on.


Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

[Labijose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Más conocido por su serie de novelas policiacas del comisario Falcón, especialmente “El ciego de Sevilla” y “Condenados al silencio”, por las que es más popular, Robert Wilson también escribe la serie protagonizada por Charles Boxer, el negociador de rescates en secuestros, de la que “Pena Capital” (Capital punishment) es su primera novela.
Esta primera entrega está muy lograda. A veces un poco escabrosa, ya que la trama de los secuestros no es un tópico fácil de digerir. El argumento evoluciona de forma constante, y aunque la novela no esté al mismo nivel que las que ha escrito para la serie de Falcón, la encontré muy consistente. Todo lo relativo al secuestro de Alyshia D'Cruz, hija del magnate indio Frank D'Cruz, ex estrella del cine de Bollywood y que esconde muchos esqueletos en su armario personal, está contado de forma altamente interesante. Es un secuestro atípico, por el que no se pide ningún rescate, sino un “acto de buena voluntad” por parte del padre de la secuestrada. A su vez, el secuestro cambiará de secuestradores, cuando estos son asesinados por dos de los vigilantes de la casa donde tienen retenida a la víctima. Y a partir de ahí los acontecimientos se precipitan en cascada. Al mismo tiempo que se involucra en el secuestro, Boxer tiene que lidiar con sus propios problemas personales, que incluyen a su ex mujer, con la que tiene que trabajar en la resolución del caso, y una hija díscola, que le dará más de un quebradero de cabeza, y que servirá de puente para enlazar con la siguiente entrega de la serie ( “You will never find me” ), que también promete ser interesante. La trama principal se desarrolla en Londres, con incursiones esporádicas en India, lo que nos ayuda a conocer las posibles motivaciones del secuestro. Es una novela que se lee con avidez, y que no pierde el interés en ningún momento. Me ha resultado muy entretenida.

[Labijose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Más conocido por su serie de novelas policiacas del comisario Falcón, especialmente “El ciego de Sevilla” y “Condenados al silencio”, por las que es más popular, Robert Wilson también escribe la serie protagonizada por Charles Boxer, el negociador de rescates en secuestros, de la que “Pena Capital” (Capital punishment) es su primera novela.
Esta primera entrega está muy lograda. A veces un poco escabrosa, ya que la trama de los secuestros no es un tópico fácil de digerir. El argumento evoluciona de forma constante, y aunque la novela no esté al mismo nivel que las que ha escrito para la serie de Falcón, la encontré muy consistente. Todo lo relativo al secuestro de Alyshia D'Cruz, hija del magnate indio Frank D'Cruz, ex estrella del cine de Bollywood y que esconde muchos esqueletos en su armario personal, está contado de forma altamente interesante. Es un secuestro atípico, por el que no se pide ningún rescate, sino un “acto de buena voluntad” por parte del padre de la secuestrada. A su vez, el secuestro cambiará de secuestradores, cuando estos son asesinados por dos de los vigilantes de la casa donde tienen retenida a la víctima. Y a partir de ahí los acontecimientos se precipitan en cascada. Al mismo tiempo que se involucra en el secuestro, Boxer tiene que lidiar con sus propios problemas personales, que incluyen a su ex mujer, con la que tiene que trabajar en la resolución del caso, y una hija díscola, que le dará más de un quebradero de cabeza, y que servirá de puente para enlazar con la siguiente entrega de la serie ( “You will never find me” ), que también promete ser interesante. La trama principal se desarrolla en Londres, con incursiones esporádicas en India, lo que nos ayuda a conocer las posibles motivaciones del secuestro. Es una novela que se lee con avidez, y que no pierde el interés en ningún momento. Me ha resultado muy entretenida.

[Vivienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robert Wilson writes intricate, dense crime plots that combine psychologically-interesting characters with intriguing political machinations. I love his work, and marvel at how he manages to keep such intricate plots together. Capital Punishment is an example of how dense plotting can go horribly wrong. The beginning of the book sets up a fascinating premise - the daughter of a Indian businessman with mob and Bollywood connections is kidnapped in London, and interrogated until she reveals her darkest secret. Then two East End gangsters decide to kill her captors and take the ransom money for themselves. All great fun. Then it goes horribly wrong in the latter half of the book. Countless POV characters appear out of nowhere, including some Islamic terrorists and a Pakistani General. I ended up clueless over who was chasing who, who they all were, and who was responsible for the original kidnapping. The East End gangsters are by-far the most interesting and human characters in the novel, far more than fascinating than protagonist Charles Boxer. Wilson can write wonderful protagonists ranging from Javier Falcon, the tortured Seville detective, to murderous Nazi collaborator Klaus Felson. Charles Boxer is your common 'professional contract killer with a conscience'. It's no surprise that he ends up being sidelined in favour of a lengthy chase sequence in involving the hapless spider-tattooed cockney gangster and his disgraced-nurse mate.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wilson is a great writer. The story of a rich girls kidnap has been done before many times. But it is the backdrop of London and the Indian gangsters that make this story stand out. The heroBoxer is a well fleshed character but even he takes second place to the detailed wring that is able to set the scenes with ease.
The art of story telling is in the details and the author has a fine eye for detail and a writing style that incorporates this.
The secondary characters are well fleshed also making the story flow easily.
Well written and exciting with plot twists, a race against the clock to save a an Indian Billionares daughter not only from her kidnappers but from her fathers business deals and all those he had wronged on his way to the top.
Recommended .

[Ned Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gulped this one down. But still managed to savor the occasional taste of Wilson's writing prowess. His precise and unique phrasing (like his description of London traffic as "peristaltic"); his wonderful, varied and amusing, when not engaging, characters; and, his master puppeteer's plotting skills. Next time I'll try to slow down and chew more, but no promises.

[Trine · Rating 2 out of 5]

HATER sånne slutter. Hater hater hater

[Barbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Robert Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t normally give a 5 to a thriller, but Wilson’s book is a cut above. It’s an intelligent who-done-it that I glomped onto like the first couple of Dan Brown and Michael Silva novels that I read. At the center of this dizzying adventure is Charles Boxer, a very compromised and complicated character, who takes on a high profile kidnap case that involves gangs in Mumbai, a terrorist plot, and the kidnapping of kingpin Frank D’Cruz’ daughter Alyshia in London. Included are a plausible love story, several plot twists, and some not so perfect family backstories, all of which make this novel believable and compelling. I’m already looking for my second Robert Wilson novel to read.

[Mrs Melanie Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start of this book is slow moving, but the pace picks up as the story goes on and i struggled to put it down. The twists and turs are fantastic and not where i expected the book to go at all.....its a great read that keeps you guessing and speculating throughout. It starts out as just a kidnap that turns into something so much more.....gangsters, miltery, terroists it has it all.
You feel drawn in by certain characters and want the outcomes in some parts to play out differently, but the ending now means i will have to buy "You will never find me"

[Rachel Salinas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out really liking this book. It starts with a kidnapping and had a type of Taken vibe to it. There were parts of it though that I found a bit slow and I just had a hard time finishing the book. I wanted the kidnap victim to fight more. I wanted to hate the perpetrators more. I think that I just needed some better developed characters with a bit more depth to them. It was okay overall.

[Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish there had been more from the kidnap victim's perspective - we end up hearing her worst memory recounted by someone else. And I find it hard to believe that a mother, in fear of her daughter's life, would jump into bed with the stranger who's negotiating her daughter's release after having been celibate for 17 years. Maybe that's just me.

For all that I enjoyed this first of a series.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich liebe die Bücher von Robert Wilson, obwohl mir in diesem hier einfach zu viele Namen und Verwicklingen vorkamen, da kam ich wirklich nicht leicht hinterher. Vor allem, da es sich hauptsächlich um Namen aus dem arabischen Bereich handelte und diese noch schwieriger zu merken und zuzuordnen waren. Trotzdem fange ich gleich den zweiten Band an. :D

[John Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author never disappoints me. This is the first of his Charles Boxer series. I had previously read the Inspector Falcon books and the Bruce Medway books. Possibly his best is the stand alone novel A Small Death in Lisbon. Don't confuse him with any of the other Robert Wilsons out there -- most of them use a middle initial.