A Jolly Good Fellow

Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Good Harbor Press; 1st edition (November 26, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 097996380X
ISBN-13: 978-0979963803



A Jolly Good Fellow is by Stephen Masse of Massachusetts.

With just two weeks before Christmas, Duncan Wagner makes the decision to kidnap the son of his most despised enemy, State Representative Win Booker. When he drives into the wealthy Boston neighborhood to carry out his plan, he is surprised to find the boy - Gabriel - hitchhiking. This is where Wagner's quest for revenge begins as he finds himself face to face with a real boy and no clue about how to run a kidnapping. This story captures the true motives behind an unpredictable kidnapping

Gabriel doesn't appear upset by his apparent kidnapping and even after have several opportunities to escape he chooses to remain with Duncan. The boy begins to develop a close relationship with Duncan, and helps him in the kidnapping process. On the surface this sounds like a case of Stockholm syndrome, but underneath you discover a little boy who is only angry at his parents. Mr. Masse's description of the friendship between a young child and a lonely adult is heartwarming. Gabriel is a multi-faceted character, one who loves reading books and tries to eat a vegetarian diet, but he still wets the bed at night.

Stephen Masse does a great job of taking a man and a boy from very different backgrounds and developing them into heartwarming characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good stories with unpredictable endings. A Jolly Good Fellow is the winner of the Silver Medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards.