When I read the premise of this novel, it immediately reminded me of Room by Emma Donoghue, one of my favorite novels of all time. Like Room, this novel deals with a woman who was kidnapped and kept hidden by her abductor. But that’s all that is similar between these two novels, as the author here took an entirely different approach.
For 8 years, Lily has been held captive in a basement cellar, and has gone from being a naive teenager to a scarred adult. Her daughter, Sky, has never set foot outside of this cellar and calls their captor Daddy. But one day, their captor makes a mistake: he leaves the door open. What happens next will change the lives of everyone – Lily, Sky, Lily’s twin sister, and the man who caused this mess in the first place.
At first, I was intrigued by this novel. In Room, we only get a brief glimpse of what life is like for Bree and her son after they escape. This novel solely focuses on life after captivity. The first few chapters were interesting enough and I became excited for how the rest of the novel wold shape up. Unfortunately, it didn’t continue as strongly as it began. Quite often, I felt like I was reading something from a soap opera scene, rather than reading about the aftermath of a terrible event. Lily didn’t seem as disturbed as I would have expected for a victim, and the focus on relationships and affairs seemed to take the seriousness out of the story. I thought it would be grittier, more heart breaking. Instead, it just felt a bit blah. There was some excitement at times but not enough to make this novel a winner for me. So while the initial premise was good, the overall story let me down.
Happy reading ~