Book Review
Title: Stolen by Lucy Christopher (Stolen Book 1)
Genre: Contemporary, Crime
Rating: 5 Stars
Stolen was a book on my radar when I first started following BookTube. I finally picked up a copy and was immediately wicked into this dark and twisted story. The novel literal opens with Gemma being drugged and kidnapped from a Bangkok airport by Ty. He drugs her, changes her clothes and disguises her and puts her on a flight to Australia where he imprisons her in the middle of nowhere.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Ty claims he doesn’t want to hurt Gemma and he doesn’t physically but he does din got and cold with her. Gemma obviously try to escape several times in the first week Tyne her and refused to communicate with him. However, isolation is something no human does well with and she eventually starts talking to him to figure out why he took her and what for since he barely interacts with her most days. Ty does have some caring moments patching Gemma up after an escape attempt and trying to make her comfortable with which is virtually impossible given the situation. This entire story is written after the fact since Gemma refers to the events in the past tense but I can’t wait to see how she escaped or is found.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Gemma continues to reflect on her situation with Ty and try to get more information out of him which isn’t successful at first because she is terrified of him. Despite Ty repeatedly stating he wouldn’t hurt Gemma he sometimes goes out of his way to scare her and keep her compliant. Eventually, Gemma realises there is no point trying to escape since there is nowhere to go and after three weeks of barely sleeping out of fear, she gives in which pleases Ty. After this Ty begins to open up more to Gemma about why he took her and it turns out he has known Gemma for years, she just didn’t remember him.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Ty explains that they first met when Gemma was 10, while we don’t know Ty’s exact age he can’t be that much older than Gemma as she remembers him looking like a teenager when she was a child. He became fascinated with her and the life she lived so he essentially began stalking her but it wasn’t until she was a teen and was being harassed by a boy named Josh, that he decided to step in. That night Gemma remembers feeling like Josh would have done something to her if Ty hadn’t have stopped him but she wasn’t aware this was the exact moment that Ty decided to “rescue” her. The pair develop a fragile truce between them following these revelations but I am still nowhere near understanding Ty’s obsession with Gemma and why he kidnapped her instead of just becoming her friend which wouldn’t have been hard to do. There also aren’t any hints about whether Gemma escapes or is rescued since she has already been with Ty for three weeks.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Gemma has been with Ty for close to a month now but she still hasn’t given up hope of being rescued. One day while they are exploring after Ty gets beaten up by a chicken, Gemma voices these thoughts to Ty and he encourages her to try thinking she won’t get far. She ends up taking the truck deep into the desert much to Ty’s surprise and horror but after getting stuck in the dunes, Gemma doesn’t know what to do. She knows she doesn’t have much water and no food, and there is nothing she can eat in the desert but she holds out. Eventually, she has no choice but to turn back or die in the desert but the walk back takes it toll on her leading to her collapsing. Ty finds her but she has severe sunburn and is dehydrated and he ends up taking care of her, the same way she does to him, but Gemma’s reserves of hope are lower than ever now.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Gemma and Ty are beginning to truly understand each other. They end up making an arrangement where Gemma will willingly stay with Ty for 4 more months and if after that time is up she still wants to leave then he will take her to the nearest town and allow her to return home and she agrees. However, soon after this she finds herself seeking out Ty even when she isn’t sure she wants to and begins to feel more comfortable around him. This could be the beginning of Stockholm Syndrome but it doesn’t exactly fit the archetype for that but I am not sure. With their new routine in place things seem to be easier but we see Ty truly worry about Gemma when she is bitten by a snake, while he does give her the antivenom, he isn’t a doctor so there is still a chance that something bad might happen to her but Gemma knows that if it is within Ty’s power to keep her safe then he will.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to Ty and Gemma since the book is written in a way that seems like Gemma is no longer with Ty for whatever reason but I only found out recently that there is a book two so I don’t know what will happen. The antivenom doesn’t seem to be working and in the end Ty gives Gemma a choice. They can either ride it out or he can take her to a hospital and given the amount of pain she is in she chooses the hospital. Ty moves heaven and earth to get her there in time but when she is loaded into the plane she doesn’t want him to leave her alone. Ty knows that going with her ends with him in prison and he chooses to go anyway because Gemma asked him to. We get to see Gemma reunited with her family and use this letter as a way of processing her complicated feelings for Ty before the upcoming trial. I have a feeling book 2 will focus on the trial and the resolution between Gemma and Ty after everything that has happened and I adored it.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Comentarios