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Captives
Martin and his family are enjoying a sun-filled vacation on a beautiful Caribbean island--until they are stopped at gunpoint, blindfolded, and bundled into a truck that heads for the dense forest of the island's interior. Pushed to their physical and emotional limits as they are forced deeper into the wild terrain, the hostages come to understand something of the harsh political backdrop of life on sunny Santa Clara, and the events that have shaped the lives of their captors and fueled their actions.
- GenresYoung AdultTeen
185 pages, Hardcover
First published August 3, 2006
5 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Tom Pow
47 books4 followersTom Pow is a Scottish poet, travel writer and teacher. He was born in Edinburgh in 1950. Several of his collections have won awards and three of his poetry collections have been short-listed for Scottish Book of the Year. Most recently, Dear Alice – Narratives of Madness (Salt Publishing) won the poetry category in the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust’s Scottish Book Awards in 2009. He has also written young adult novels, picture books, radio plays and a travel book about Peru. In the Becoming, Selected and New Poems was published by Polygon in June 2009.
He has held various writing posts, including that of Scottish/Canadian Writing Fellow, based at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and Virtual Writer in Residence (Scotland’s first) for the Scottish Library Association’s Scottish Writers Project. He was the first ever Writer in Residence at the Edinburgh International Book Festival from 2001 to 2003.
From 2000 to 2009, he worked for the University of Glasgow in Dumfries, latterly as Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Storytelling.
He is currently Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Glasgow University Dumfries and a part-time lecturer on Lancaster University’s distance learning Masters in Creative Writing.
He has held various writing posts, including that of Scottish/Canadian Writing Fellow, based at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and Virtual Writer in Residence (Scotland’s first) for the Scottish Library Association’s Scottish Writers Project. He was the first ever Writer in Residence at the Edinburgh International Book Festival from 2001 to 2003.
From 2000 to 2009, he worked for the University of Glasgow in Dumfries, latterly as Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Storytelling.
He is currently Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Glasgow University Dumfries and a part-time lecturer on Lancaster University’s distance learning Masters in Creative Writing.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 7, 2008
Captives. Tom Pow. New Milford: Roaring Book Press, 2007. 192 pp.
Reviewed by: Gwendolyn
Tom Pow’s book Captives leads you through the journey of a group of captives held hostage by guerrillas seeking to raise awareness to the local government. Unfortunately, Captives lacks to grab the reader’s attention, apposes Biblical morals, the effectiveness of the gorilla’s plot is unrealistic, and it makes clear Pow’s ultimate need for a Savior.
Captives takes place in the remote jungles of the Caribbean island Santa Clara. Sixteen-year old Martin and his family join two other families on what is believed to be an adventurous tour through some of the mountains on the island. However, everything goes terribly wrong when they are kidnapped and taken hostage by a group of guerrillas. They are scared for their lives, as well as for Martin's brother and two other tourists who supposedly escaped their capture by the guerrillas. The captives are pushed to their physical and emotional limits for the next month, as they are forced into the heart of the island's dense jungles, and farther away form any sign of possible rescue. Also, as they venture on through the jungles together, they end up learning the guerrillas' reasoning behind their captivity. They planned the scheme in hopes to bring awareness to the politics and the harsh world of Santa Clara that is not seen in its tourism, and to change the government's influence on the economic destruction that was ruining the common folk of Santa Clara.
One major downfall of the book Captives is its lack to keep one’s attention. The book had an interesting storyline and plot, which intrigues me to read the book in the first place. Its not often you hear of books where vacations are ruined due to the fact that the tourists are kidnapped and taken hostage by guerrillas.Unfortunately, once I began reading Captives, I noticed that my mind was continually wandering and the book seemed to lag on. Another aspect of the book that caused me to loose interest was the fact that it was a two-part story. One part from the father's perspective and the second from the son Martin’s. The first part of the book was a diary of the father, and the second part was of Martin's account of the kidnapping. The writing styles of the two were too similar though, so at times it felt like I was reading the book twice.
Also, Captives strongly portrayed a series of unbiblical morals throughout the book. Two of the main subjects that didn’t morally line up with the Bible were the frequent use of God’s name in vain, and the encouragement of sex before marriage. For instance, every time Martin and his family were in situations they didn’t like they took the name of God in vain profusely. Then, to my astonishment the parents actually encouraged their children to make separate huts and to sleep with the other teenagers as a means of enjoyment and comfort throughout their captivity.
In addition, I found the effectiveness of the guerilla’s plot completely unrealistic. The chances of them actually winning their rights as the people of Santa Clara again in exchange for the hostages were slim to none. I believe Pow could have used a more effective, and interesting reason for the tourists being captured. By doing this, it could have completely reshaped the book, and actually made it an interesting and memorable read.
Lastly, Pow’s book Captives shows where he is in his spiritual walk with God. Many messages that Pow is preaching through Captives go against Biblical principles and are clearly talking directly to a worldly minded audience. One of the main examples of this is in the encouragement of sex before marriage. Overall, it makes Pow’s ultimate need for a Savior obvious.
In conclusion, Captives fails to grab the reader’s attention, goes against Biblical morals, the efficiency of the gorilla’s scheme is impractical, and demonstrates Pow’s ultimate need for a Savior. Captives is by far not an enjoyable read, and fails to achieve much of a purpose throughout its plot. This is not a book worth picking up, and I would highly recommend never reading it.
Reviewed by: Gwendolyn
Tom Pow’s book Captives leads you through the journey of a group of captives held hostage by guerrillas seeking to raise awareness to the local government. Unfortunately, Captives lacks to grab the reader’s attention, apposes Biblical morals, the effectiveness of the gorilla’s plot is unrealistic, and it makes clear Pow’s ultimate need for a Savior.
Captives takes place in the remote jungles of the Caribbean island Santa Clara. Sixteen-year old Martin and his family join two other families on what is believed to be an adventurous tour through some of the mountains on the island. However, everything goes terribly wrong when they are kidnapped and taken hostage by a group of guerrillas. They are scared for their lives, as well as for Martin's brother and two other tourists who supposedly escaped their capture by the guerrillas. The captives are pushed to their physical and emotional limits for the next month, as they are forced into the heart of the island's dense jungles, and farther away form any sign of possible rescue. Also, as they venture on through the jungles together, they end up learning the guerrillas' reasoning behind their captivity. They planned the scheme in hopes to bring awareness to the politics and the harsh world of Santa Clara that is not seen in its tourism, and to change the government's influence on the economic destruction that was ruining the common folk of Santa Clara.
One major downfall of the book Captives is its lack to keep one’s attention. The book had an interesting storyline and plot, which intrigues me to read the book in the first place. Its not often you hear of books where vacations are ruined due to the fact that the tourists are kidnapped and taken hostage by guerrillas.Unfortunately, once I began reading Captives, I noticed that my mind was continually wandering and the book seemed to lag on. Another aspect of the book that caused me to loose interest was the fact that it was a two-part story. One part from the father's perspective and the second from the son Martin’s. The first part of the book was a diary of the father, and the second part was of Martin's account of the kidnapping. The writing styles of the two were too similar though, so at times it felt like I was reading the book twice.
Also, Captives strongly portrayed a series of unbiblical morals throughout the book. Two of the main subjects that didn’t morally line up with the Bible were the frequent use of God’s name in vain, and the encouragement of sex before marriage. For instance, every time Martin and his family were in situations they didn’t like they took the name of God in vain profusely. Then, to my astonishment the parents actually encouraged their children to make separate huts and to sleep with the other teenagers as a means of enjoyment and comfort throughout their captivity.
In addition, I found the effectiveness of the guerilla’s plot completely unrealistic. The chances of them actually winning their rights as the people of Santa Clara again in exchange for the hostages were slim to none. I believe Pow could have used a more effective, and interesting reason for the tourists being captured. By doing this, it could have completely reshaped the book, and actually made it an interesting and memorable read.
Lastly, Pow’s book Captives shows where he is in his spiritual walk with God. Many messages that Pow is preaching through Captives go against Biblical principles and are clearly talking directly to a worldly minded audience. One of the main examples of this is in the encouragement of sex before marriage. Overall, it makes Pow’s ultimate need for a Savior obvious.
In conclusion, Captives fails to grab the reader’s attention, goes against Biblical morals, the efficiency of the gorilla’s scheme is impractical, and demonstrates Pow’s ultimate need for a Savior. Captives is by far not an enjoyable read, and fails to achieve much of a purpose throughout its plot. This is not a book worth picking up, and I would highly recommend never reading it.
July 14, 2011
Captives had a promising story line and plot. After all, not many books are about vacations being ruined by the tourists being taken captive. But honestly, it didn't live up to my expectations. I was expecting and hoping for a survival story, but this just wasn't it. The captives were just allowed to do pretty much whatever they pleased, as long as the Geurillas could see them. As a matter of fact, they even played a card game with their captors! The plot was confusing, throwing in all sorts of political bits and backstory that neither made sense nor affected the story in any way, and the geurillas' plan was overall poorly thought out by the author. There was no way they could realistically believe that kidnapping a few tourists would turn their whole government around. The writing was poor. The first half is the journal that the father wrote while kidnapped. This writing was lacking and dull, really only saying what he thought of the experience and skimming over parts that were key. He frequently spoke of his fellow captives "being more willing and able to work than I" or "Seeming excited at the prospect of building things." Frankly, I wished to slap him. Help the others, for crying out loud! I can see why there was such tension in the group. Then the second half of the book, writen supposedly from what the son, Martin, knew and what the girl, Luise, experienced, was sort of boring, though it certainly added some nice perspective to the whole thing. Some of the parts were unrealistic, like the parents allowing their teenage children to build and sleep in a hut all their own without adult supervision in the hut, even if it is for "comfort reasons", and Overall, I was disapointed.
October 3, 2014
The novel Captives, written by Tom Pow, tells the dull and uneventful adventure of two families who get taken and held captive. This story takes place on the Caribbean Islands in the middle of a Jungle. The major themes of the novel, were to never give up, and to be persistent. Although the theme was good the word choice was very dull and the plot wasn't attention grabbing. Although the characters faced many difficult challenges, there were too many people to keep track of. So many that the author couldn't even begin to describe any of them. This made the story un-amusing and displeasing.
Every chapter is unenjoyable; the reader cannot stay focused on the plot. The slow plot makes it hard to keep reading. The word choice is not attention grabbing, although the idea for the story is interesting. It is a shame that the author did not do a better job in telling the story because if the characters were more limited, and the word choice was enticing the book would have been quite alluring. “I’m sure I heard him sob” (63) is the last sentence in the chapter. The finishing sentence of a chapter should leave the reader interested but to me this sentence is not very tempting.
As the story goes on the chapters become repetitive and again, uninteresting. A main reason this book couldn't keep my attention is because there were too many characters and it was confusing to read. Tom Pow did have a good mind set when writing this story but it just wasn't interesting enough. I would not recommend Captives to readers who find it hard to get into a book. I would give the book 2 out of 5 stars, and I hope Tom Pow can try again with a more alluring novel.
Every chapter is unenjoyable; the reader cannot stay focused on the plot. The slow plot makes it hard to keep reading. The word choice is not attention grabbing, although the idea for the story is interesting. It is a shame that the author did not do a better job in telling the story because if the characters were more limited, and the word choice was enticing the book would have been quite alluring. “I’m sure I heard him sob” (63) is the last sentence in the chapter. The finishing sentence of a chapter should leave the reader interested but to me this sentence is not very tempting.
As the story goes on the chapters become repetitive and again, uninteresting. A main reason this book couldn't keep my attention is because there were too many characters and it was confusing to read. Tom Pow did have a good mind set when writing this story but it just wasn't interesting enough. I would not recommend Captives to readers who find it hard to get into a book. I would give the book 2 out of 5 stars, and I hope Tom Pow can try again with a more alluring novel.
November 19, 2015
Captives by Tom Pow is a suspenseful novel where the main character and his family are taken hostage on a Caribbean Island that has a large jungle on it. The book details the struggle of the captives and tells how horrible the treatment of them was and the book is a really good thriller and has some good points in it but it does struggle in the detail category and I felt it could have described the jungle and the camp that they were spending most of the time in. The book goes from being narrated and a journal form of describing what happened when they were captured. This book does have some good parts of the story that I don't want to spoil but if you read to the end you will feel good about reading the entire book I would recommend this to anyone who likes a quick read or a thriller that is an easy read but still has some good points in the book for suspense and lots of point that will want you to keep reading I finished this book in 4 days because I just couldn't stop reading at some parts of the book that were near the end because that is really when most of the action happens and the beginning of the book really spoils what happens at the end because it is a flashback but it is still a good book but I felt like it could have been longer for more of an experience but overall it was a good book.
July 12, 2013
Book Review on Captives by Tom Pow
Captives by Tom Pow was an interesting book and it had a lot of action parts in it. When Martin and his family go on a family trip to a beautiful Caribbean island, they suddenly get ambushed by a gang of freedom fighters. The gang are sick of tourist coming to their country and changing everything.
I enjoyed this book because there were many different things going on. I particularly enjoyed the parts when they were on the island trying to find ways to be rescued and also how they had to do everything by themselves like making their own huts and cooking their own food.
Everything in this book was interesting and there were no parts that I disliked.
My favourite character was one of the freedom fighters Miguel. I liked him because he was the toughest and strongest out of the gang. He was the one that had all the scars because he did all the hard work. I also liked him because he did not hesitate to do things to his hostages such as torturing them.
Over all I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading another one of Tom Pow’s novels.
From Kahurangi Morehu
Captives by Tom Pow was an interesting book and it had a lot of action parts in it. When Martin and his family go on a family trip to a beautiful Caribbean island, they suddenly get ambushed by a gang of freedom fighters. The gang are sick of tourist coming to their country and changing everything.
I enjoyed this book because there were many different things going on. I particularly enjoyed the parts when they were on the island trying to find ways to be rescued and also how they had to do everything by themselves like making their own huts and cooking their own food.
Everything in this book was interesting and there were no parts that I disliked.
My favourite character was one of the freedom fighters Miguel. I liked him because he was the toughest and strongest out of the gang. He was the one that had all the scars because he did all the hard work. I also liked him because he did not hesitate to do things to his hostages such as torturing them.
Over all I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading another one of Tom Pow’s novels.
From Kahurangi Morehu
July 14, 2013
Captives by Tom Pow was an interesting book and it had a lot of action parts in it. When Martin and his family go on a family trip to a beautiful Caribbean island, they suddenly get ambushed by a gang of freedom fighters. The gang are sick of tourist coming to their country and changing everything.
I enjoyed this book because there were many different things going on. I particularly enjoyed the parts when they were on the island trying to find ways to be rescued and also how they had to do everything by themselves like making their own huts and cooking their own food.
Everything in this book was interesting and there were no parts that I disliked.
My favourite character was one of the freedom fighters Miguel. I liked him because he was the toughest and strongest out of the gang. He was the one that had all the scars because he did all the hard work. I also liked him because he did not hesitate to do things to his hostages such as torturing them.
Over all I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading another one of Tom Pow’s novels.
From Kahurangi Morehu
I enjoyed this book because there were many different things going on. I particularly enjoyed the parts when they were on the island trying to find ways to be rescued and also how they had to do everything by themselves like making their own huts and cooking their own food.
Everything in this book was interesting and there were no parts that I disliked.
My favourite character was one of the freedom fighters Miguel. I liked him because he was the toughest and strongest out of the gang. He was the one that had all the scars because he did all the hard work. I also liked him because he did not hesitate to do things to his hostages such as torturing them.
Over all I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading another one of Tom Pow’s novels.
From Kahurangi Morehu
October 10, 2012
*REVIEWED FOR PUBLISHER*
Scottish author, Tom Pow, has attempted something unusual with Captives; using two different approaches within one novel (half the story is told in diary form, the rest as a normal novel) and really manages to pull it off quite well. This story of being caught up in the conflict of another country and seeing things from multiple perspectives is engaging and harrowingly realistic, and the portrayal of two families torn apart by tragedy expertly drawn. It’s a challenging novel aimed at young adults who will easily identify with the characters of Martin and Louise, who are thrust into a nightmare of swirling emotions and physical danger. It does, however, drag a little in places with the changing in styles, which hampers progression and this is a little frustrating at times.
Scottish author, Tom Pow, has attempted something unusual with Captives; using two different approaches within one novel (half the story is told in diary form, the rest as a normal novel) and really manages to pull it off quite well. This story of being caught up in the conflict of another country and seeing things from multiple perspectives is engaging and harrowingly realistic, and the portrayal of two families torn apart by tragedy expertly drawn. It’s a challenging novel aimed at young adults who will easily identify with the characters of Martin and Louise, who are thrust into a nightmare of swirling emotions and physical danger. It does, however, drag a little in places with the changing in styles, which hampers progression and this is a little frustrating at times.
January 25, 2016
To be honest, I thought this book would be better than it actually is. I admit, it's probably the way that the book is written that makes me dislike this book. It was written in a form of a 'dairy' that was kept by a person in the story. I might even say it was kept by the main character.
After using the daily form of writing Mr. Pow for some reason decided to carry on writing the story in a 'chapter' form of writing and that made me a bit confused. Anyways, the plot was interesting though I often don't read these kind of genres. I kind of think that if this book was written ONLY in a 'chapter' form of writing, I would enjoy reading it more than I did now.
All in all... I gave this book a 2 star rating because of the confusion in writing forms and because of the fact that I don't read books on this genre and that probably had something to do with me not liking this book.
After using the daily form of writing Mr. Pow for some reason decided to carry on writing the story in a 'chapter' form of writing and that made me a bit confused. Anyways, the plot was interesting though I often don't read these kind of genres. I kind of think that if this book was written ONLY in a 'chapter' form of writing, I would enjoy reading it more than I did now.
All in all... I gave this book a 2 star rating because of the confusion in writing forms and because of the fact that I don't read books on this genre and that probably had something to do with me not liking this book.
May 21, 2009
While this was an interesting book and the plot was exciting, it just didn't seem so real. My least favorite thing about it was the fact that half the story is told in Martin's father's point of view while the other half is told in Martin's, which made me feel like I was reading the story twice. The one thing that kept me going were the clues that Martin gave the reader that something drastic would happen. And it did with the scene on the lakeside. But otherwise I wasn't very into the book or the plot too much, as the book didn't really keep my attention. The idea itself that guerillas would kidnap tourists and only hand them over if their needs were met is good, but not realistic.
May 6, 2008
This book was to planned, the love affair between Louise and Eduardo was inconceivably wrong and did not help to make this book worth reading it just made it worse, the ONLY respectable and wonderfull character was Martin, that is the ONLY thing that I will Tom Pow some cred. for.
January 2, 2009
While this book won't be to everyone's taste, it explores important ethical themes. Is it ever justified to take someone captive? Pow gives both sides of the story--the Westerner's point of view and the oppressed Latin American's POV. Includes original poetry by Pow.
February 15, 2011
This book was pretty good i thought. I liked how the author told both the captors and captives point of view. The ending was decent but was totally given away. I'd read it again in the future and id recommend it to others to read.
June 13, 2008
well i haven't read most of it(only 1 page) but it rocks. it tells a lot about the world but it also stays on topic
July 24, 2008
This was a good book. Only thing I didn't like was the ending, I kind of thought the author sold out, but the way it was written from both the captors' and the captives' sides was cool.
March 15, 2009
Political kidnapping: author told too much.
June 15, 2009
It's ok, but not that great. A bit confusing, and I think the ending was terrible, but only because it was so sad. Unrequited love....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2010
Active and mournful.
September 26, 2011
i really enjoyed this book. it is not what i was expecting, but i could relate to so many of the characters. glad i read it. would be interested in reading more by the author.
July 21, 2012
What a waste of potential. I definitely wanted it to be more interesting than it actually was. You were captured by guerrillas in the jungle, narrator dude! WHY SO DULL?
April 6, 2013
Right at the start you know who survives and who doesn't after that I just couldn't get into it just took any mystery out of the story in my opinion.
March 24, 2010
Not worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews