During the school year, I don't have much free time to read for anything besides class. But last week, I took a road trip to North Carolina and decided to listen to a book on tape. Though I do prefer reading an actual book, book on tapes are a great second option, especially for long trips. My roommate actually recommended that I read "The Cellar" by Natasha Preston. The plot of "The Cellar" is not exactly the same as "Gone Girl", but it shares some similar characteristics. Both involve kidnapping, and switch points of view throughout the book, and even go back in time to show how life was before these events occurred.
Here is what happens (SPOILER ALERT): Summer, an 16 year old girl in England, is getting ready to go out with her friends for a night at a local concert. Her boyfriend worries about her going out, and wants her to stay with him. She insists she will be okay, and goes to meet her friends. While trying to hunt down one of her friends out the concert, a man comes and "Lily?", to which she politely says no you have the wrong girl. He suddenly reaches out and grabs her, taking her home and locking him in his cellar with three other women: Rose, Violet, and Poppy.
The narration switches between Summer, her boyfriend Louis, and Clover. For nearly 8 months, Summer recounts her ordeal being locked in the cellar where the four women would spend their days watching movies and cooking meals for their kidnapper, Clover. Clover keeps them locked in the cellar, with no natural light and no access to the outside world besides books and DVD's he buys for the girls to entertain themselves during the day. Clover truly believes that these women, his 'flowers', are his family.
Clover, or Colin, as he is known at his job, spends his time visiting his 'flowers', at his job as an accountant, or even helping search for the missing Summer to avoid drawing attention to himself. His narration explains how the loss of his mother made him want his own family, as well as complete control over them. He has been kidnapping and killing women in his cellar for years before the police get suspicious of him. When the police come to search his house in regards to Summer's disappearance, he decides to kill himself as well as the rest of the women so they can be together, as a 'family' for eternity. This is how Summer is able to get out, and how the police are able to get Colin once and for all.
Though she of course is found alive with just minor injuries, the book ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger. Summer is having a hard time adjusting to life at home after the kidnapping, and the book ends without a certain ending to what Summer's life going forward will be like. She spends a lot of time feeling guilty and even uncertain about her relationships with her family and boyfriend.
For those of you at there that loved "Gone Girl" or any other thriller, I would highly recommend "The Cellar". It is intense, thought provoking, and you will not want to put it down.
