The Captive

Burgoyne''s debut is a Rosemary’s Baby for our conspiratorial 21st century, with a band of semi-competent activists pitted against a family of plutocratic billionaires in thrall to an ancient evil—and caught between them a new mother, and an alarmingly fussy baby with staggering supernatural powers.

“The baby is a derangement, an abomination, a Chernobyl in nappies. Think about the hail. Think about the centipedes. And that’s just in the first few days . . .”

For months, Luke and his underground revolutionary group, The Nail, have been planning their biggest operation yet: kidnapping 23-year-old heiress Adeline Woolsaw. But they don’t want a ransom—they just want to draw attention to the Woolsaw Group, the source of her parents’ vast wealth. The Woolsaw Group is an outsourcing company that runs everything from military bases to prisons. But Luke gets a shock once they bundle Adeline Woolsaw into their van. She’s about to give birth to a baby with devastating supernatural powers. And all this time the Woolsaw Group has been preparing the ground for their real aim: an infernal new kingdom that will rise with Adeline’s son sitting on its throne. This is a lean and pacy thriller which brilliantly weaves in the supernatural: killer hailstorms, toxic caterpillars and, of course, a door direct to the Underworld.

Anti-corporate activists unwittingly unleash staggering supernatural forces when they kidnap a pregnant heiress, in a Rosemary's Baby for our conspiratorial 21st century.

Kit Burgoyne (pen name of Booker-listed novelist Ned Beauman) is a startling new voice in horror: witty and appalling, equal parts H.P. Lovecraft and P.G. Wodehouse.

For months, Luke and his underground revolutionary group have been planning their biggest operation yet: kidnapping 23-year-old heiress Adeline Woolsaw. They don't want a ransom they just want to draw attention to the Woolsaw Group, the source of Adeline's parents' enormous wealth, a vast yet largely anonymous company that runs everything from military bases and mental hospitals to commuter trains, call centers, and prisons.

But the revolutionaries get a shock when they bundle Adeline into their van. She's about to give birth. And she may not mind being kidnapped, if it allows her and the baby to escape the grips of her controlling parents.

It quickly becomes apparent that this is no ordinary child. He's capable of setting off deadly weather events and summoning plagues of vermin. And that's just the beginning. Luke discovers that Adeline's parents had arranged the pregnancy as part of a dark bargain that links the baby to an ancient evil of nearly limitless power. And the Woolsaws and their agents will stop at nothing to get the infant back, and establish a new infernal kingdom on Earth, with their grandchild installed on the throne.