The Abduction

April 14, 2014
The disappearance in Venice of 16-year-old Mia Elston, an American officer’s daughter, kick-starts Holt’s enthralling second Carnivia thriller (after 2013’s The Abomination). Videos soon appear on Carnivia.com—a cyber-Venice in which carnival masks hide identities and ethical boundaries collapse—showing Mia undergoing CIA-sanctioned “interrogation” techniques. While the kidnappers claim the “non-torture” will cease when Americans halt construction on a nearby military base, Carabiniere Capt. Kat Tapo and U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Holly Boland suspect the abductors have powerful, hidden supporters with another agenda. They enlist Daniele Barbo, Carnivia’s reclusive mastermind, to help find Mia. Holt deftly avoids prurience or gratuity while conveying the horror of walling, waterboarding, and similar practices, and Mia is refreshingly resourceful throughout her ordeal. Holt weaves her kidnapping into a larger narrative of American foreign policy during WWII, the Cold War, and post-9/11, raising troubling questions about how the U.S. defines its allies and foes, and how it treats both. Agent: Caradoc King, A.P. Watt (U.K.).