With crisp, wised-up prose and a talent for capturing what it feels like when situations spin out of control, Juliano (author of Triple Overtime, another Billy Winslow misadventure) sets this caper apart through the voice and perspective of Billy, an engagingly shiftless protagonist who clearly needs a healthy creative outlet—here, he chronicles the high-stakes kidnapping through the perspective of a crime-fighting alter ego called Flash. Excerpts from Flash’s manuscript A Kidnapping in Paradise give the novel a playful edge, even as they reveal much about Billy’s sense of self: “Flash wasn’t the beast he’d once thought. He had a softer side.”
Kidnapping Steve recounts the efforts of so-called friends as they scheme, each with their own motive, to get what some simply want and what others deeply need—money. The tension comes from uncertainty: about how far they’ll go, how bad things can get, and whether Rita will be the one left to pick up the pieces of her and Billy’s life, especially once Keller, a true criminal and condescending jerk, takes over the operation, and what seemed like dark fun and games becomes something more.
Takeaway: Betrayals, desperation, lost love, and dark comedy power this kidnapping caper.
Comparable Titles: Gretchen Allen’s Death Rolls In, Steve Higgs’s The Kidnapped Bride.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
