Review: Captive by Remy Jensen

Reviewed by Fehu
Captive by Remy Jensen
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story: 73pgs
3.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
All Nico wants is to leave his fame behind for a bit and enjoy a relaxing vacation. His trip to Belize starts off promisingly, but it all goes wrong quickly when he accidentally ruins the plans of Patrick, an ex-pat in the middle of an illegal deal. Patrick takes Nico hostage, hoping to recover his loss, and if Nico wants to regain his freedom he'll have to do exactly what Patrick says—including, apparently, a bit of cross-dressing.




Review:
On his vacation in Belize, where he hopes no one will recognise him, the singer Nico gets more than he bargained for. First he gets kidnapped after ruining one part of his kidnapper’s plans to get back at his ex-girlfriend. His kidnaper, Patrick is not working alone and the crew, especially the sleazy Slade, is showing great interest in a "closer" relationship with Nico. Sleeping in Patrick’s cabin seems like the lesser evil, even if Nico is not 100% sure about that. Patrick offers Nico a deal, help him in his plans and pretend to be the former mentioned girlfriend to accept a package and he will let Nico go. Of course nothing goes like planed.

Nico is an interesting character, who doesn't give up easily and is quite charming. I liked that he tried to escape and didn't just meekly go down. Patrick didn't know what hit him, because Nico might look la bit girly, but he is quite spirited and challenges Patrick’s authority, and actually rescues them from a tough situation and proves that he is more than his voice or his looks.

The story is pretty fast paced and I didn't understand why Nico was jealous about Patrick’s ex, when he was told about her the next day after his capture. Patrick is not the evil master mind, he really isn't that (couldn't even conceive of shooting said evil ex after she captured them), but still why would one feel anything like possessiveness about one's kidnapper? Or play guide for the guy one captured a few days ago. There were no big emotional conversations, revelations or anything; Nico talked more with other guys about personal things than with Patrick, so I don't know where Nico's feelings for Patrick are coming from.

That said, it's kind of fun to read, all is happening very fast and the evil guys are super incompetent and that's not only Patrick, I'm talking about. A spunky, flamboyant superstar kicks some aspiring pirates and gets his man in the end. I would recommend it as a vacation read, most of it is sunny, light and humorous, some aspects are not, like the attempted rape but you simply knew that Patrick would come to the rescue. ;)

3.5 Pants Off