Stockholm Syndrome Series by Richard Rider

During a botched jewel robbery, a teenage Lottery heir unhappy with his home life becomes a willing hostage for the gang of thieves. Pip Valentine craves excitement, drama, anything that'll get him away from his family, especially because the ransom is going to hit them where it hurts - right in the bank account... moreDuring a botched jewel robbery, a teenage Lottery heir unhappy with his home life becomes a willing hostage for the gang of thieves. Pip Valentine craves excitement, drama, anything that'll get him away from his family, especially because the ransom is going to hit them where it hurts - right in the bank account. The gang leader who grabs him round the waist as a human shield between himself and the police, holding a gun to his head and hissing threats and promises in his ear and telling him to hold still and behave, is all part of the crazy new Hollywood gangster-film thrill.Lindsay Brown's secret life as a criminal is worlds away from his sensible day job and quiet seaside home. Things never usually go wrong, he's too careful about his plans. This kid wasn't part of any plan, but now he's here making things difficult and Lindsay can't make himself get rid of him - especially not when he realises what kind of reaction the kid has to his gun, his temper, and his issues with control. When love starts to creep up on him, it's unexpected and unwelcome and he fights it as much as he can stand, but it doesn't work. He's hooked. The alternative is domesticity, then - sharing his house with a kid fifteen years his junior who thinks it's okay to leave nailpaint bottles scattered around the bedroom and eat Haribo for a main meal. This is a thousand times harder than robbing banks.Stockholm Syndrome is an unconventional love story where opposites attract like bullets, Russian Roulette is foreplay, and a hand closed tight round your wrist is as good as an "I love you". Sometimes you find your missing jigsaw piece in the weirdest circumstances. And sometimes you've got to really force it into place through sheer stubborn will... less

Second part in the Stockholm Syndrome trilogy:Some mistakes are too enormous and some people are too stubborn for anything to work except running away, but the world is never as big as you need it to be and eventually you can't help circling back to where you started.

“What if that’s all there was? If I don’t need you looking after me no more are you still gonna want me?” The first time they were together was a messy, jagged jigsaw of interlocking flaws. Seven years later, Lindsay Brown and Pip Valentine have got back together and are taking a shot at normal life with 9-to-5s, family Christmas, and babysitting duties... more“What if that’s all there was? If I don’t need you looking after me no more are you still gonna want me?” The first time they were together was a messy, jagged jigsaw of interlocking flaws. Seven years later, Lindsay Brown and Pip Valentine have got back together and are taking a shot at normal life with 9-to-5s, family Christmas, and babysitting duties. But these things don’t come easily, especially when you’ve got a baggage train of violence, drugs, crime and sex in your past following you around. Once the giddy rush of reuniting fades, Pip and Lindsay realise they’ve both changed so much that it’s more like starting over than picking up where they left off. As they fall back into some of their old patterns and try new things from dating to dogging, will what they have now be enough to keep them together? All too soon, life or death events intervene to decide for them. less

A golden afternoon, a nightmare, and how sometimes you can only make sense of a thing through the looking-glass. (A Stockholm Syndrome short story.)