by Gemma Amor

He took her life in a way far worse than dying.

Laura's best friend is abducted when she is fourteen years old, and the abductor starts to send her letters, asking for things. In return he will tell here where Bobby is.

I am a fan of stories about sinister pen pals. I am sure I won't be the only person to draw comparisons to Dathan Auerbach's Penpal.

This book is haunting. It's hard to read without manifesting feelings of being watched or needing to look over your shoulder. As the letters progress and the fear and anger escalate, you start to realize that Laura is being violated in a far worse way than if she had just been taken. She can't have a childhood, she can't enjoy young adulthood, she can't have relationships. He is always watching.

I have to be honest, I didn't like the ending. I think I wanted it to go a different way, but then that light bulb went off in my big dumb man mind. I mean, we can interpret art however we want, yeah? What if the whole book is an analogy for rape, sexual assault, being violated? In my mind I compare Laura's journey to a rape victim's. Maybe the guy never gets caught, maybe he does. Maybe the victim has to see his picture in the paper. The point is (again, big dumb man mind) that the haunting never ends. It a single act, a split second maybe, the life was changed and it was ultimately stolen. I have to assume there is no true coming back from that, there may be some salvaging but it can't be fixed. That is where this story took my mind. 

4 Stars

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Review by Well Read Beard
Twitter: @WellReadBeard

I purchased this book.