Review: "Stolen" by Lucy Christopher

7/3/2018

For some reason, last night I was in the mood for a mystery, so I browsed through my library's ebook collection and came across this book. I decided to give it a try and I am so glad I did! You'll hear a more in-depth explanation below, but let me just say that this book is well worth your time!

The Story

Stolen tells the story of a sixteen year old girl named Gemma who is kidnapped at the airport by a strong and mysterious man. The book illustrates how the relationship between captor and captive evolves and how Stolkholm Syndrome can take hold as a survival mechanism as a result of isolation.

What I Liked

The authors's descriptions of Australia are awe-inspiring and well-written. The choice of setting is fitting and works well with the theme of isolation present throughout the story.
Ty serves as a great example of a well-written villain. He has motivations beyond violence and destruction and almost draws sympathy from readers.
For a kidnapping novel, there was not a lot of violence or brutality. I really appreciated this as it provided better chances to actually explore the characters

What I Did Not Like

I was not the biggest fan of the format. The book reads as one long letter from Gemma to her captor. While I thought the format was an interesting idea, I generally prefer books to be broken up into chapters to divide the story up.
At some points, it was a little slow and felt redundant as Gemma and Ty played cat and mouse.
The actual kidnapping scenario felt kind of unrealistic. The chances of someone successfully breaching airport security with a drugged up girl and fake passports seems pretty slim.

Overall

Stolen was a fascinating read. I read the entire book in one sitting because I could not put it down! I was very impressed by the unique nature of this kidnapping story, and I would recommend this book to teens looking for a mystery but wanting to avoid lots of violence and brutality.

Rating: 4/5

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