“A darkly comedic, cinematic horror about a revolutionary group who kidnap an heiress, only to discover she’s pregnant with the antichrist, and she’s about to give birth.

Underground revolutionary group, The Nail, and their newest member, Luke have kidnapped 23-year-old heiress Adeline Woolsaw, whose wealthy parents run the Woolsaw Group, a vast outsourcing company. They run everything from prisons and hospitals to military bases – quietly suffocating the country with the help of powerful friends in government.

The Nail’s plan: to use the kidnapping to draw attention to the Woolsaw Group and their terrible practices. But with Adeline bundled into their van, The Nail discover two things. The first is that she’s just about to give birth. And the second is that this isn’t a normal baby. In fact, it has devastating supernatural powers. Because the father of this baby wasn’t a man, it was… something else. Something that her parents make human sacrifices to on an altar in the basement of their Highgate mansion. And all this time the Woolsaw Group has been preparing the ground for the Woolsaws’ real aim: an infernal new kingdom that will rise with Adeline’s son sitting on its throne.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of The Captive by Kit Burgoyne. The Captive was published by Titan Books on 30th September 2025 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free ARC of The Captive but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to Bahar at Titan Books for sending me a proof copy.

The Nail, a revolutionary group with a vendetta against the Woolsaw Group, makes the ultimate play, or so they believe, when they kidnap the Woolsaw’s twenty-three-year-old daughter, Adeline, straight off the street. What they don’t realise is that Adeline is pregnant. Heavily pregnant. And as they make a run for it from the scene of the kidnapping, she goes into labour. This was never part of the plan. How had their detailed surveillance, their intricate planning, not raised the fact that she’s clearly nine months pregnant?! What becomes clear very quickly is that this is no ordinary newborn. Far from it. Because the Woolsaws are no ordinary family…

The Captive is a well-written horror debut from a Booker-shortlisted author (writing under a pseudonym), which I found entertaining throughout. The Nail is a small revolutionary group with cells scattered across the country. Leading the kidnapping of Adeline is old hand Cam, with two newer, much younger members in Luke and Rosa. And that’s it. A team of three with a handful of other people prepared to help as and when necessary, such as doctor Shirley (not his real name), who was one of my favourite characters. The Nail’s war against the Woolsaw family has been raging for some time, but with little effect. The Woolsaws control EVERYTHING. They’re responsible for so much death, so much destruction. But let’s face it, The Nail doesn’t even know the half of it…

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. The Captive is an intriguing supernatural horror that proves capitalism really does breed monsters of the very worst kind! The characters are all well-written, with something always going on to hold the reader’s attention. I would have liked a little more baby-related chaos. The child, named Percy by his mother (purposely done to make him as unscary as possible!), only uses his strange powers a handful of times. I was hoping for a little more. There were moments where it felt as though the satanic child had been completely forgotten, left at base with Shirley, the reluctant babysitter. All in all, I found The Captive to be a fun, entertaining read from start to finish. Interesting characters, a propulsive plot and a great, satisfying, blood-soaked ending. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free ARC of The Captive. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Captive by Kit Burgoyne was published in the UK by Titan Books on 30th September 2025 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Kit Burgoyne is the horror fiction pen name of Ned Beauman, who was named one of Granta’s Twenty Best Young British Novelists in 2013, and is the author of Boxer, Beetle (winner of the Goldberg Prize for Outstanding Debut Fiction); The Teleportation Accident (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and winner of the Somerset Maugham Award); Glow; Madness Is Better than Defeat; and Venomous Lumpsucker (winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award). He has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and the London Review of Books. He lives in London. The Captive is his first novel as Kit Burgoyne.