The Kidnapping of Suzie Q

This novel (published originally in 1994 under Waddell's Catherine Sefton pen name) focuses on the consequences of a kidnapping which was never meant to happen, when three young, inept and socially disadvantaged robbers, following their botched raid on a supermarket, become the captors of 15 year old Suzie Quinn. Quickly realising how incompetent (and ultimately pathetic) they are, Suzie soon comes to understand that extricating herself from her plight will involve more of a psychological than a physical battle. Waddell's depiction of this warfare of minds and wills, played out in an isolated, rural Ulster setting, is such that high drama and black comedy are never far apart. It is an engaging mixture, raising just enough questions about crime and its causes to challenge the reader's assumptions.