Every night, I lie in bed for about an hour and read. But this
book was so gripping that it reeled me in from the very first
page and never let go. In fact, I literally read it all in
one sitting and I didn't get to sleep until 5:00 a.m.
Annie O'Sullivan is a realtor holding an open house. It's
going slow, and as she's packing up for the day, a man pulls
up to take a look at the house. Unfortunately, this man
changes her life, and she forever thinks of him as The
Freak. He abducts her, takes her to live in a remote
mountain house, and does unspeakable things to her. Over
the course of a year, she lives a daily nightmare with no
hope of rescue. The cabin he's made for the two of them was
custom-built with care, specifically removing anything that
would give Annie any tools to create an escape.
However, Annie does get away from The Freak, and a lengthy
investigation into exactly who he was begins. Who was he?
How did he know so much about her life (such as the deaths
of her sister and father)? Was she purposely chosen? If
so, why?
As the investigation begins to reveal the answers to these
questions, Annie is also trying to piece her life back
together. Her friends, including the boyfriend she used to
have, are desperately trying to reconnect with her, but they
don't understand that she's far from the person they used to
know.
This book is told in a unique narrative. Although being
told via flashbacks is not in and of itself unique, Annie
tells her story through a series of therapy session. It's
as if the reader is eavesdropping on her sessions with her
therapist and hearing the details of what she shares. Each
session, Annie fills the therapist (and thus, the reader) on
the progress she's made psychologically since the last
session before wading back in and revealing more details
about what happened on the mountain. Then, as those details
end, we find out about the current investigation. The
sessions become more frequent as the investigation narrows
and Annie discovers the truth about her abduction.
This story was incredibly compelling and suspenseful, I
could not bring myself to put it down. Annie is a
completely sympathetic character, and I
found myself relating to her on several occasions. I see
that the author has another book coming out this summer, and
I eagerly await it's release.
On the day she was abducted, Annie O \"Sullivan, a thirty-two
year old realtor, had three goals sell a house, forget about
a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner
with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but
when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she \"s about to
leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after
all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent
captive in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through
sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative
recounting the nightmare that follows her escape: her
struggle to piece her shattered life back together, the
ongoing police investigation into the identity of her
captor, and the disturbing sense that things are far from
over. The truth doesn\'t always set you free.