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The Captain
The A novel [hardcover] Shubin, Seymour [Jan 01, 1982] …
202 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
26 people want to read
About the author
Seymour Shubin
31 books4 followersMajored in journalism at Temple University and began his career editing a detective magazine. His first novel was Manta which was published in Great Britain and his second novel Anyone's My Name was a best-seller.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 13, 2019
The Captain is a retired and mentally deteriorating former police captain panicky about his lack of usefulness in life. He is placed in a retirement home by his children who are unable to cope with his increasingly deteriorating physical and emotional conditions. He is fully aware of his frailties and is surrounded by people who are usually worse off physically and mentally than he is – presenting a vision of what likely awaits him. He struggles to find both emotional balance and a purpose in life. The Captain feels abandoned and becomes focused on his enemies: those who abuse the elderly. The retirement home is staffed by a mixed group: the caring but overwhelmed, as well as the unaware and the unsympathetic. To the Chief Administrator of the home, the murder of a staff member is potentially bad for business. The patients are merely a commodity.
The Captain remembers himself as not only a good cop, but also as a humanitarian, who often later helps those he had arrested – those who have demonstrated that they want to lead more worthwhile lives. In particular, his history includes defending an older man (unsuccessfully) from his greedy relatives.
In an effort to prove to himself that he still the man that he was, the Captain determines that his only purpose left in life is to punish those who have harmed the elderly. He battles his physical and mental conditions to avenge those whom he has determined are deserving of execution. His victims range from retirement home staff, to those he reads about in the newspaper, to the relatives of the man he had failed to protect in the past.
Shubin does a fine job of presenting the multiple perspectives of those involved in the crimes: the Captain himself; the police trying to track down a serial killer and some of the hospital staff, relatives and friends who become involved with the Captain during his killing spree. The victims get somewhat short shrift, but in this case, their deeds speak for themselves. Shubin allows the fully-realized characters to follow their natures and presents the realities of the warehousing of the low-income elderly and those caring (or not) for them with an unbiased perspective. He makes the story events intriguing as we see the Captain overcome his personal difficulties and we watch as the Captain works around the difficulties inherent in his living situation - conditions that would prevent lesser folk from executing their purpose. The Captain only feels whole again when he has dispatched one of his targets. Shubin portrays a man fighting his own demise by securing that of others.
Knowing that he is doomed and in the end not caring whether he is caught (for he really has very little to live for) the Captain resolves to pursue his final target, a doctor for whom he has been building up a hatred throughout his stay at the home. Shubin maintains a presentation balance here as we see the final object of the Captain’s wrath as one who is no less confused and emotionally deranged as the Captain himself. Shubin displays his skill as a writer with an ending which is both suspenseful and totally logical based on the story to that point.
This is a grim work with little humor, but was intended to disturb more than to entertain. Shubin, however, never lectures and the circumstances and point of view of the intended final victim are as wholly presented as those of the Captain. Shubin’s portrait of the Captain was well done, because although the Captain is a sympathetic figure, Shubin does not portray him as a heroic avenger; his killing spree is the result of what he was when healthy (a figure fighting for justice) perverted by illness and in the end tragically becomes what he has battled all his life.
The Captain remembers himself as not only a good cop, but also as a humanitarian, who often later helps those he had arrested – those who have demonstrated that they want to lead more worthwhile lives. In particular, his history includes defending an older man (unsuccessfully) from his greedy relatives.
In an effort to prove to himself that he still the man that he was, the Captain determines that his only purpose left in life is to punish those who have harmed the elderly. He battles his physical and mental conditions to avenge those whom he has determined are deserving of execution. His victims range from retirement home staff, to those he reads about in the newspaper, to the relatives of the man he had failed to protect in the past.
Shubin does a fine job of presenting the multiple perspectives of those involved in the crimes: the Captain himself; the police trying to track down a serial killer and some of the hospital staff, relatives and friends who become involved with the Captain during his killing spree. The victims get somewhat short shrift, but in this case, their deeds speak for themselves. Shubin allows the fully-realized characters to follow their natures and presents the realities of the warehousing of the low-income elderly and those caring (or not) for them with an unbiased perspective. He makes the story events intriguing as we see the Captain overcome his personal difficulties and we watch as the Captain works around the difficulties inherent in his living situation - conditions that would prevent lesser folk from executing their purpose. The Captain only feels whole again when he has dispatched one of his targets. Shubin portrays a man fighting his own demise by securing that of others.
Knowing that he is doomed and in the end not caring whether he is caught (for he really has very little to live for) the Captain resolves to pursue his final target, a doctor for whom he has been building up a hatred throughout his stay at the home. Shubin maintains a presentation balance here as we see the final object of the Captain’s wrath as one who is no less confused and emotionally deranged as the Captain himself. Shubin displays his skill as a writer with an ending which is both suspenseful and totally logical based on the story to that point.
This is a grim work with little humor, but was intended to disturb more than to entertain. Shubin, however, never lectures and the circumstances and point of view of the intended final victim are as wholly presented as those of the Captain. Shubin’s portrait of the Captain was well done, because although the Captain is a sympathetic figure, Shubin does not portray him as a heroic avenger; his killing spree is the result of what he was when healthy (a figure fighting for justice) perverted by illness and in the end tragically becomes what he has battled all his life.
December 13, 2012
The setting in a rest home (assisted living, call it what you will) lets the author depict the losses that come in one's final years -- it definitely ain't for sissies! The premise is ingenious and the plotting and progress of the story is very efficient. My only quibbles are the slang, circa 1982 has not entirely held up, and a couple of important characters are left hanging at the end -- as in "What happens to them now?" But definitely a good read for suspense fans.
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January 23, 2019Synopsis: unwanted by his grown children, a retired police captain is shunted off to an old folks' home where a series of murders occurs.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews