Book Review: Stolen (Lucy Christopher)

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.

Stolen is a very vivid recollection of a kidnapping, and an effective journey of what could be the Stockholm Syndrome. It left me feeling breathless, scared, confused, helpless, even hopeful...much like Gemma. It made me feel as if I was Ty, at the same time opening enough ground to make me relate to Gemma's emotions. It is poignant, I think, that the book is written the way it is. In the second person, everything comes to life.


The book is brutally honest. It's vivid description of kidnapping and Gemma's emotions and psyche throughout her experience is by no means a light read. It is a rich, equally disturbing account of the realism of a kidnapping. Personally, I thought Gemma's emotions were intense, strong, solid. Her narration was gripping, beckoning and so realistic. Although I have no experience of  kidnapping, I feel that had I been in her shoes, I would have thought and did much of the same thing. The intensity of Gemma's narration made me feel as if I was part of her capture; her emotions roaring right of the pages hooked me.


The characterisation of Ty also did not lack in richness. By no means is he normal - the author shows the side of him which ultimately gives background to his actions. I found Ty to be obsessive, frightening at times, and mad. Crazy. Insane. But he also has a heart, and Stolen takes time to explore the other side of him. And it is this exploration that really strengthens the book and the message it carried through. It is this journey of discovery that really shows how Stockholm Syndrome could happen - and it is so easy, so relatable.


As mentioned, Stolen exhibits the Stockholm Syndrome directly from the perspective of the victim. By doing so, and brilliantly at that, Lucy Christopher has underscored how it happens. She does not only shows you - she makes you feel it, experience it for yourself, so even the reader knows it is inevitable. After reading Stolen, I would never think Stockholm Syndrome is a ridiculous idea; before I could not imagine how a victim could feel for a kidnapper. Stolen shows you just how. It was too easy for me to be symphatetic with Ty - to believe him, to trust him, to feel pity - and so a reader related, and from that sprang the understanding of such complex psychological condition.


I loved also the description of the setting - the desert, the stars, the wildlife, the heat - they were all brilliantly described, and I admit I felt jealous reading about it and not being part of it. Despite the seriousness of the novel, it does not fail to translate beauty into the plot. And for that, it deserves just so much.


I didn't dislike any part of the book  at all- what I disliked was what I felt. In some twisted sort of way, I hoped that Gemma would accept Ty. I hoped that she would learn to live as he did, to see the beauty around the landscape as he clearly did, and maybe, just maybe, to embrace Ty and the romance they might share. 


I cried, in the end. Not much because of  the resolution, but because of - and I feel wretched really, saying this - what might have and could have happen. What I wanted to happen. What I thought should have happen. In retrospect I now think the ending could not have been better - it would be what I would have wanted for someone in those circumstances. Only, it hurt.


Overall, Stolen is a very gripping, disturbing read. But it is also beautiful, in an odd way. And a book which would no doubt stay with you a very long time after reading it. It left me speechless. I still am.


Five stars.