Unemployed grads turn to kidnapping

In his excellent debut, Owen Laukkanen mixes the economic downturn and a bleak job market for a suspenseful and insightful thriller about four out-of-work, newly graduated college friends who become kidnappers.

Laukkanen’s action-packed plot delivers finely honed characters we care deeply about, even when their behaviour is despicable.

Laukkanen skilfully shows how the kidnappers’ amorality and lack of empathy for others allow them to become criminals while still thinking of themselves as good people.

Kidnapping begins as a lark for Arthur Pender and his friends. For two years, they criss-cross the United States, kidnapping businessmen just high enough in their company to be worth millions, but not so high-profile as to draw attention.

Laukkanen invests much in the kidnappers’ individual personalities, allowing us to care about them, but never to approve of what they are doing. They don’t understand the anguish of the victim and his family or how, if they are caught – and these schemes never end well – this will devastate their own families. The group becomes too caught up in “some crazy Robin Hood thing, this gang of broke kids, outsmarting the rich, redistributing the wealth” to realize that what they are doing is wrong.”

But Laukkanen wisely makes the real heroes of The Professionals Kirk Stevens, a Minnesota state cop, and Carla Windermere, a young FBI agent. Their partnership and insightful investigation balance the gang’s irrational behaviour.

The Professionals is receiving a huge push from its publisher, touted as Putnam’s top book of the season. Laukkanen’s fresh voice and original storytelling deserve it. The Professionals By Owen Laukkanen Putnam, 384 pages, $27.50