Stolen: A Letter To My Captor by Lucy Christopher
Published by: Chicken House Ltd on May 4th, 2009
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Thriller
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

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Synopsis: It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him.

A letter from nowhere.

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?

The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don’t exist – almost.

Review: This is a book that I read a while ago and recently gave to someone to read. It made me wonder if I did a review on it because I liked it so much. I found out about this novel by asking people to recommend me books a few years ago and after reading the synopsis I knew I had to purchase it. It’s such an interesting idea for a novel and makes you question the morals of the captor. I personally think that it was really well done. It has you asking yourself what you would do if you were in Gemma’s situation which is actually quite terrifying to think about.

What I liked:

• How realistic it was
• A unique premise
• Everything flowed together well making the book really interesting and hard to put down
• How the idea of Stockholm Syndrome played a part in the novel
• How Ty was a weird (read: different) “bad guy” in the novel and how it was executed
• How the author got you to understand Ty and how you really probably shouldn’t
• Different setting than most books!

What I didn’t like:

• Although it was fast-paced at times there were parts that dragged a bit
• How the two characters deal with certain situations at times had me going “what?”
• The original kidnap seemed way too complicated to have actually worked

Rating: 5/5 stars!