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Capture

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IN A CITY WHERE THE LINES BETWEEN RICH AND POOR ARE DRAWN IN BLOOD, THE TRUTH IS JUST THE LIE YOU BELIEVE THE MOST.
As four-year-old Sunny Exley drowns in the icy waters off a luxury beach house, her father, Nick, smokes weed on the shore and her mother, Caroline, is lost in the arms of a lover. Hidden on nearby boulders, rent-a-cop Vernon Saul watches the child die and chooses to act only when it is too late.

In the days following Sunny's death, gutted by grief and guilt, Nick falls under the spell of Vernon who presents himself as a friend in time of need. When the sinister Vernon's true motives are revealed, Nick is drawn into a spiral of manipulation and murder that leaves him fighting for his sanity and his life.

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 18, 2012

704 people are currently reading
837 people want to read

About the author

Roger Smith

11 books117 followers
Roger Smith's thrillers Nowhere, Man Down, Sacrifices, Capture, Dust Devils, Wake Up Dead, Mixed Blood & Ishmael Toffee are published in eight languages and two are in development as movies in the U.S.

His books have won the German Crime Award and been nominated for Spinetingler Magazine Best Novel awards. He also writes horror under the pen name Max Wilde.

“Roger Smith writes with brutal beauty." The Washington Post

“Smith’s writing is astonishing.” Cleveland Plain Dealer

“You’ll struggle to find a more forceful voice in current crime writing.”
Die Zeit (Germany)

“Smith is the shooting star of the crime scene.” Radio Europe

"If you are a fan of George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane, give Roger Smith a close look." BookPage

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5 stars
243 (35%)
4 stars
232 (34%)
3 stars
127 (18%)
2 stars
47 (6%)
1 star
29 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
Profile Image for Lnben.
6 reviews2 followers
July 10, 2012
Never have I read a book where there were no redeeming qualities to the main characters! Few works make the antagonist's point of view the story telling style.
Roger Smith's CAPTURE was a breath of fresh air, albeit angst filled air.

We meet Vernon Saul in the first chapter as he calmly watches a little girl die. His motive becomes clearer as the story progresses; but one thing is certain...Vernon Saul is a Whirling Dervish of meanness, mayhem, and murder. A perfect sociopath.

Nick Exley and Dawn Cupido are the "good guys". Yet they are so flawed and self-contained that you don't recognize them as the protagonists. Neither are the standard stalwart or warm-and-fuzzy heroes we come to expect. All the characters have their own justifications for their criminal behavior...not by our logic, but by theirs.

This was perhaps the most refreshing and engrossing thriller I have read in quite a while. I applaud Smith for his ingenious POV and plot.

I encourage a quick download of this great read to all who want to experience a new type of thriller. And I happily give it a full 5*s.
Profile Image for Marvin.
1,414 reviews5,406 followers
February 26, 2014
Capture, along with Dust Devils, have been released on February 20th, 2014 by the exceptional publishing company New Pulp Press. As both books will attest, South African author Roger Smith is an exciting writer of literary suspense and one that is well deserving of a larger audience. Dust Devils in a action-packed thriller with strong socio-political overtones while Capture is a slower paced but equally riveting descent into psychopathology and dysfunctional relationships. Both are highly recommended yet I found Capture to be slightly better due to its tight grasp of human nature and the high quality of psychological suspense.

Vernon Saul is a ex-police officer now rent-a-cop who sees a small child drowning on a private beach. For reasons that will slowly unravel, he does nothing until he knows it is too late then acts like a rescuing hero. While the child was drowning, the child's father, Nick Exley was smoking a joint with a friend while her mother Caroline Exley was having an affair with her lover in the house. Vernon becomes friends with Nick and reveals a talent for manipulating the father's grief and guilt over the death. As Vernon's hold on Nick grows, the consequences become more severe and deadly.

I love the way the novel develops. Vernon is the most interesting if also most revolting character in the book. We know little about him at first but, between his "friendship" with Nick and his more direct control of a young mother and her child, we are both fascinated and repulsed by him. Vernon carried an unhealthy need for power and control with more than a tinge of sadism involved. Nick and the young mother Dawn easily fall into his web and the results are harrowing in the edge-of-your-seat way a suspense novel should be.

The other characters are no less full dimensional. Nick seems to be a good person but weak and dependent. Caroline has a history of mental illness and a strong selfish streak. Dawn is an ex-junkie who works in a strip joint while trying to care for her child that she just received by from Child Welfare. In some ways, she seems to be the most understandable; a woman who childhood and mistakes have dug her deep in a hole yet having a love for her child that makes her want to redeem herself even if she is not sure how. None of the characters are truly likable but their weaknesses and problems are the kind that keeps a story believable and alive. There is a great supporting cast of corrupt cops, low-lifes and good intentioned acquaintances. The author knows how to bring alive even the most minor characters.

Roger Smith reminds me a lot of Patricia Highsmith. He can take not-so-likable people and place them in situations that causes them to struggle with the part of them that isn't too nice to look at. But unlike Highsmith, I think Roger Smith has a better grasp on the more noble corners of the mind that helps a person fight through their fears and temptations. Yes, Smith is cynical and dark but his novels are not hopeless. He has a good sense of the human dilemma that we all struggle through in more mundane ways. Even though we may not be dealing with infidelity, corruption and murder, Smith's themes will still feel uncomfortably familiar. This book gets my highest recommendation.
Profile Image for Camilla.
465 reviews86 followers
March 13, 2013
< rant on >

You know what? I am sick of good things happening to bad people!

Ever since I read Gone Girl, I’ve been sick and tired of good things happening to bad people!

And you know what else? I’m sick of books hooking me with twisted and sick storylines, hooking me with insane storylines, hooking me with fucked up people doing fucked up things, only to come to the last 20% of the book, and you can smell the goddamn ending a mile away. The goddamn a. mile. away.

That’s what I’m sick and tired of. If you’re going for the sick and twisted storyline, go for the sick and freaking twisted ending too!! The one I can’t smell a mile away!!

Ughh!

Anyway..

< rant off >

This book is about Nick and his wife and their daughter Sunny. Sunny drowns early on, and for the rest of the book, you follow Nick getting into deep shit with “Uncle Vermin” who’s a bad guy, and Dawn the local stripper…..

Really, the storyline is sick and twisted, and dammit I was hooked!

But the ending?!

Please..

Disney movie.
Profile Image for Benoit Lelièvre.
Author 6 books185 followers
September 7, 2012
It's difficult for me to use restraint when reviewing Roger Smith, because his work always hits home hard. CAPTURE equals DUST DEVILS in its attempt to grasp contemporary South Africa, but the fact that CAPTURE isn't a political novel plays in its favor. The scope is more intimate and therefore its objects clearer and its reach longer. The psychological accuracy is startling. To me, a novel that crafts meaning and transcendence from cold, hard reality achieves the highest possible goal of fiction and that's what CAPTURE is doing. DUST DEVILS entertained me and but CAPTURE wrapped me up in its darkness. The author's finest work to date.
Profile Image for Angelica.
59 reviews2 followers
September 1, 2020
I don’t often write a review, but I had a difficult time finding any redeeming qualities in this book. None of the characters were remotely likeable. I felt like taking a shower after each time I read it—the characters just suck as people. I finished it out of curiosity, so that’s why I gave it 2 stars. Yuck!
Profile Image for Bernie Charbonneau.
538 reviews12 followers
October 30, 2012
This was good, really really good! I will begin by stating that if you are put off by harsh language and brutal murder scenes, then this novel and writer is not for you. If you believe in the baby Jesus and all it's glory, this book is not for you. This novel is harsh, nasty and probably one of the best noir novels that I have ever read. There is no character in this novel that you feel sorry for, they are all venomous and that is what makes this tale so good! This is a tale that takes you to the more seedier parts of Cape Town, where this author is from, and pounds your senses numb but you keep turning the pages for more. This has it all, a young, rich family with big problems, a former dirty cop with his own dark secrets and a stripper just trying to keep her young daughter from becoming a statistic in the poverty strewn neighbor that envelopes them both. If you like a good, gritty, dark story, then I strongly recommend this author.
Profile Image for Jamey Knight.
50 reviews2 followers
August 2, 2013
I got this book as a freebie and wasn't at all site what to expect. Firstly, it is an extremely well-written novel; well-organized, impeccably edited (I am a huge grammar nazi, and so many freebies are so poorly edited, or possibly not edited at all, and some have been nearly impossible for me to muddle my way through).

I am definitely far from a prude, but some parts of this novel were a bit crass even for me. Other than that, I was beyond intrigued. I love the way seemingly multiple plots and characters were interwoven and ultimately tied together, and I must say that it takes a unique talent to leave the reader desperately longing to see the bad guys, although probably not the worst guys, prevail.

I also found the descriptions if South Africa fascinating. Overall, a sick, twisted, disturbing and oddly entertaining read.
Profile Image for Rory Costello.
Author 21 books18 followers
October 6, 2014
Roger Smith confronts the seamiest aspects of South Africa and mines extremely compelling stories from these horrors. He excels in depicting the divide between rich and poor, and the emotional casualties on both sides. His characters are so well-drawn that it's like you're seeing them on screen. His plots bristle with tension. He is simply a superb author.
Profile Image for Rob Kitchin.
Author 55 books105 followers
April 15, 2018
Capture is thriller crime tale set in Cape Town. The tale revolves around three main protagonists: Nick Exley, a rich, white software developer visiting the country with his wife and young daughter; Vernon Saul, a coloured former cop, who is always looking for an angle to leverage power and opportunities; and Dawn Cupido, an erotic dancer and former meth-head and hooker who owes Vernon for retrieving her daughter from social services. Each character is flawed, but while Exley has lived a so-far charmed life, Vernon and Dawn have been living nightmares from a young age. Smith’s hook is for Exley to join them, his daughter drowning in the sea and his troubled relationship with his wife disintegrating. Vernon, a psychopathic chancer whose go-to solution for every problem is to kill whoever is in the way, inveigles his way into Exley’s life, which rapidly descents into hell – a blur of drink, drugs, lies, coercion and murder. And in Vernon’s wake is Dawn. Smith sets a dark, nasty tone in the first few pages and rarely lets any light into the tale, keeping the pace and tension high throughout. And he brings into sharp contrast the rich enclaves and the grinding poverty and violence of The Flats, and the inability of overstretched services to keep a lid on all the crime. While some of it seems far-fetched – it’s really not clear why the police don’t bring Exley or Vernon in for questioning or take a more active interest in their shenanigans, and there is a plot reliance on Exley’s work – it doesn’t really matter too much. This is like an action-thriller film, with a cartwheeling plot, rather than the considered realism of a police procedural drama. It’s bold, lurid and dark, with vivid characters, and not at all subtle. My main issue was that the denouement was signalled from quite a long way out, and after the noir running throughout felt a little bit of a cop-out. As I’ve said before, the South African tourism board is probably praying for Roger Smith to find his inner Enid Blyton; hardboiled crime readers will happy to take his work as it is.
Profile Image for Cindy Hulsopple.
53 reviews
May 30, 2020
I really had no idea what to expect when I began to read Capture. I didn't even realize that it took place in South Africa until I began to read. As an American, I tend to read books that take place in the USA, because that's what I'm familiar with, and I find foreign authors use words that have different meanings than they do here. There were a few of these, but none that I had to pause and find the meaning of before continuing with the story.

Capture is chock full of despicable characters, including all of the main players. Dawn was probably my favorite, followed closely by Nick, but, despite all they went through, I think they got off easy in the end. Vernon was just plain evil and I could find no sympathy for Caroline, despite her issues. All were victims of circumstance, but there are always "choices" (which may have been a better title for this novel).

This was my first book by Roger Smith, so, again, I wasn't sure what to expect. He didn't disappoint (except for the ending, as stated above). I absolutely love his writing style, and the way he described everything allowed me to experience a place I've never seen, and probably never will. He created a world that I became part of, characters that I could fully see and hear with emotions that rang true. Not every writer has that talent, but Roger Smith does.

This would have been a 5-star rating from me, but I just didn't care for the ending. I understand it, and won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read this yet, but think I just wanted more.

Profile Image for Kelly J.
15 reviews
March 20, 2018
Summary:
Nick Exley finds himself in a nightmare he just can’t seem to wake up from. On his daughter’s fourth birthday his nightmare begins. Nick thinks he has found a friend in Vernon Saul that he can speak freely with about his guilt and grief. Boy was he wrong and within few days Nick finds himself being dragged deeper into the nightmare. His so called friend has motives that will not help Nick but harm him and drag him into a world of death, loss of sanity and maybe loss of his life.

What I thought of the book:
This book starts off slow and very confusing. However after a few chapters the book grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. Every once in a while you might get confused but within a few minutes your confusing turns into “Oh My, What, You have to be kidding, and will Nick finally see Vernon for who he really is?” This book will have you clutching your seat, screaming at the pages and grabbing a tissue to wipe away your tears. This book is by far one of the best psychological mysteries I have read this year.

Ending:
Has Nick found answers to his questions, has he made a pact with the devil, and can he truly be happy once again? Please borrow the book, purchase the book or get it on your kindle if you have kindle unlimited. Read it!
Profile Image for Leslie.
219 reviews
October 14, 2017
The plot here was not awful just very farfetched, it feels almost like a very twisted fairytale. I might have given it three stars if not for the graphic language. I am not a prude but reading large portions of the book felt like falling into a seedy porno magazine. If these situations had been used for a specific impact it would have been fine but the instances far exceeded useful descriptions and just became over the top ridiculousness. It just felt like a very weird little story that wasn't all together awful but just felt unbelievable and a bit gross.
Definitely don't read if you're the easily offended type or don't want to read in depth descriptions of sexual abuse and violence.
Profile Image for Marbea Logan.
1,290 reviews17 followers
June 6, 2020
This book is phenomenal it has everything that you can want in a thriller and a cultural awakening. The characters have character and such overwhelmingly heartbreaking realness,and intertwining in depth qualities. You truly feel the emotional connection and understanding of each character. The dialect itself was refreshing to me to comprehend and appreciate the cultural differences in the same country. The imagery of how the entire storyline and plot came into cohesion from all characters was some astounding writing. I recommend this book to all my GR friends/followers. You won't be disappointed if you truly want to read some real life fiction greatness!!👍🏿
Profile Image for June.
399 reviews2 followers
September 30, 2018
This is a book where almost every single character in it is deviant and/or violent. When you first start reading it you feel like you have taken a step down a very long and dark hole. And as you continue to read on the hole becomes darker and danker where violence is king and gory bloody acts seem to be the norm rather then exception. Don't get me wrong the book was very well written; it just depressed me to 'like' it.
Profile Image for Otis Doss III.
373 reviews4 followers
August 8, 2020
This book should not be any good ...

But it is! One reviewer that I read said something like it was the only book she had ever read where no character had any redeeming qualities. I believe she was spot on. These characters are seriously flawed. But that's okay. I prefer that over characters that are nauseatingly perfect.

Dark. Brutal. Not for the faint of heart. But if you're up for it, this is a great read.
21 reviews2 followers
October 13, 2017
Ambiguous

Nothing nice or positive about any of the main characters in this book… Yet I still felt I had to finish. Dark, depressing, won’t read any more by this author, not my personal taste-but-still felt the need to finish the book and see what happened.
11 reviews1 follower
October 21, 2017
An enjoyable Mystery

The book Capture really held my interest. It had lots of unexpected twists and turns which made for an exciting read. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries and surprises along the way .
2 reviews
October 23, 2017
Dark and gritty. .



Interesting setting. Characters are unsympathetic, but compelling and psychologically damaged in their motivations. Bleak tale with dubiously positive ending. Not recommended for a depressive.
159 reviews
October 26, 2017
Interesting Story

Complicated but interesting story. Murder and mayhem are the words for the day. Daughter drowns despite a witness to her falling into the water. Why did he let her drown?
Profile Image for Daniel.
232 reviews1 follower
November 13, 2017
Should be getting closer to a 4 but the topic was extremely off putting so it is more of a personal rating than a rating on the author's ability to write well which he does. If this is an effort to shine a light on depravity and corruption in South Africa it does it well.
319 reviews3 followers
December 12, 2017
Foreign mystery.

Writer dragged the beginning story telling out far too much. I was bored at least the first half. The entire book is depressing even though the description s of the area may be accurate. Good ending.
Profile Image for W.S. Haggard.
Author 1 book
June 26, 2018
A well-written book chock full of flawed and mostly self-serving characters, depicting both the shiny, opulent side of South Africa as well as her dirty, seedy underbelly. I couldn’t put it down, mesmerized as I was by the twists and turns of the plot.
4 reviews
October 20, 2018
Capture captivates

This is a dark and harrowing novel. Very disturbing to read, but not a book you can walk away from. There are no good people trapped in this story, but there are very real people caught out in evil circumstances that spiral out of control.
Profile Image for lois lewis.
8 reviews
September 16, 2019
MACABRE

I have never read anything like this before. It makes me think that the author is a madman or a psychopath. I wanted to throw it down but I couldn't stop reading to see what happened next Very good for someone who is not to sqemish.
Profile Image for Norman Weiss.
Author 18 books72 followers
January 31, 2021
Starker Tobak! Gewalt, Mißbrauch, Elend, Kälte. Blut, Rotz, Sperma. Drogen. Haß, Einsamkeit, Verzweiflung.
Spannend erzählt, vielleicht um einiges überdreht, trotz allem – und das ist wirklich eine ganze Menge! – noch so etwas wie ein Happy End.

Profile Image for LILLIAN C. KNOCKE.
184 reviews2 followers
October 13, 2017
Capture

I stumbled upon this book and started to read thinking it was a little crude. But I kept reading on and WoW ! I was amazed at the ride it took me. Excellent
Profile Image for SUSAN CREWS.
65 reviews
October 18, 2017
Who knows?

Its frightening when a man who seems so normal when he wants to be, can also be such a cold blooded killer. Great story.
Profile Image for Tami.
67 reviews
October 20, 2017
Dark and raw, but incredible fallen characters that you can’t help but root for and original writing.
Profile Image for Joanne Maccione.
18 reviews
October 22, 2017
Suspenseful

A bit raw for my taste,but a number of twists and turns kept me interested. Lots of murder and mayhem....not for a squeamish reader.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews

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