One must wonder while reading Fiona King Foster's first novel, who is truly the captive? Is it fugitive Stephen Cawley, who spends the majority of the novel bound with rope and twist-ties, or is it protagonist Brooke Holland, who seems trapped by her past misdeeds? There is no easy answer, which makes the novel so beguiling.

The Captive is part adventure novel and part crime novel, set in a dystopian landscape where cellphones, the internet and vehicles are available to only certain people, particularly those in Federal-run cities. We slowly learn that Brooke is hiding a dark past from even her husband, Milo, and daughters, Holly and Sal. When she gets word that Stephen and his gang may be in the area, she immediately goes on high alert, certain that he has tracked her down and come to exact his revenge on her.

Brooke gets the drop on Stephen when he shows up at her rural cranberry farm, quickly overpowering him. Afraid the rest of his clan might not be far behind, she mobilizes her family, and together they set out on a punishing hike over rugged terrain, traversing more than a hundred miles to the nearest town, where she can turn Stephen over to the sheriff's office and collect the reward.

Foster keeps the tension high as Brooke refuses to reveal why Stephen is so dangerous and why she is so hellbent on bringing him to justice. You have to admire Brooke's determination and sense of concern for her family, but also Milo's ability to keep it together as he tries to support Brooke and quell the kids' simmering rebellion over her lack of answers. This initial stonewalling is, admittedly, a bit frustrating for readers as well, but as a credit to Foster's writing, she effectively keeps readers in suspense all the way through.

In Foster's The Captive, Brooke Holland lives with her husband and two daughters in a secessionist state, happy to have buried her violent past. When escaped criminal Stephen Cawley attacks their farm, she easily repulses him, but she's convinced that he came to deliver vengeance and persuades her family that they must flee to the nearest sheriff. Her aim: to capture Stephen, claim the bounty on his head, and take her family far from harm (75,000-copy first printing). Thornton's Pickard County Atlas opens one night during a roasting late-Seventies summer in the Nebraska sandhills, as sheriff's deputy Harley Jensen follows young troublemaker Paul Reddick through the streets after the Reddick patriarch finally holds a memorial for a son murdered decades ago, his body never found. That brings Harley in touch with Pam Reddick, eager to quit marriage and motherhood, who's attracted to his dark past (30,000-copy first printing).

After Brooke Holland, the heroine of Foster's intriguing if uneven debut set in a contemporary world that has feel of the Old West, is attacked in the shed of her family's isolated homestead by Stephen Cawley, a member of one of two local drug-running family, she ties him up and makes her husband, Milo, and their two daughters travel with her on foot in winter weather, to bring him in for the federal bounty offered in Shaw Station, 100 miles away. Brooke tells them that she fears that other Cawleys might be coming, but doesn't admit that the attack on her was far from random, leaving them to have faith in her drive to risk her family's well-being in order to bring a dangerous man to justice. Brooke's backstory unfolds at a natural pace, leading the reader gently into feeling compassion for her. Unfortunately, no other character gets similar care, and a conflict between the two rival drug-running families follows a predictable course. The high-tension setup suggests Foster will do better next time. (Jan.)