The Cellar - Natasha Preston

Category: Contemporary, Crime, Teen & Young Adult, Violence
Language: English
Keywords: Kidnapping

Written by Natasha Preston
Read by Richard Dadd, Nicholas Camm, Dawn Murphy
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
Release date: 05-28-14
Publisher: Audible Studios

A gripping, ripped-from-the-headlines, #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from Natasha Preston, author of The Cabin!

Nothing ever happens in the town of Long Thorpe – that is, until sixteen-year-old Summer Robinson disappears without a trace. No family or police investigation can track her down. Spending months inside the cellar of her kidnapper with several other girls, Summer learns of Colin’s abusive past, and his thoughts of his victims being his family…his perfect, pure flowers. But flowers can’t survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out…

Told in three alternating voices, The Cellar kicks-off with the kidnapping of 16-year-old Summer Robinson. Taken by a stranger, forced to use a different name (Lily) and locked in a cellar of her mentally deranged kidnapper, Summer spends days after days, months after months, desperately clinging to hope that one day she’ll escape or someone will find her, and she’ll be able to see her beloved family and boyfriend again.

Some critis thought the story could have been told better—
This ripped-from-the-headlines novel reads like an after-school special. In an opening scene, 18-year-old Summer’s boyfriend offers warnings about not walking home alone at night, a heavy-handed setup for the protagonist getting snatched off the street a few pages later. The teen’s captor renames her Lily and keeps her in his cellar along with three other women. She quickly finds herself trapped in a world of nightmares, subjected to rape, and forced to witness brutal murders. Cluttered by flashbacks and multiple viewpoints, the narrative seems slightly removed from its horrific subject matter. Stronger works with similar focus include Emma Donoghue’s Room (Little, Brown, 2010) and Elizabeth Scott’s Living Dead Girl (S. & S., 2008).-Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA