Lemaitre constantly plays with the reader’s emotions towards Alex. The first details of Alex’s abduction, the second details her actions and the final delves into her past. This discovery is a very pleasant surprise and soon you realise that this novel is separated into three very separate parts.
As the tale unfolds the reader discovers Alex is an intensely strong and intelligent character who’s unravelling a life changing and life ending plan. The readers first impressions of Alex are of a complete innocent, her hope and personality quashed by violence and captivity. You presume it will follow a single storyline, the hunt for Alex before she meets her end at the hands of her abductor. It’s difficult to write a review for a novel such as this, that contains so many twists and turns that to explain the plot too thoroughly is to spoiler it completely.
Alex needs to find a way to escape and quickly because if her past is catching up with her it’s not going to be pretty. The unknown man wants her dead and she eventually realises why. He returns once a day, takes a photograph of her on his phone and gives her just enough water and dog food to survive.
A broken woman, terrified of being raped, tortured and murdered, Alex is completely unprepared and terrified when her abductor turns and walks away. She can’t sit properly, lie down or turn around but her captor nails her in and winches the cage up above the ground. She tries to run but fails and after a brutal beating is forced to strip and clamber into a small wooden cage. When she regains consciousness she’s alone with her abductor in an empty, bricked up warehouse. On a beautiful Paris street, Alex Prevoust is attacked and bundled into a white van before she even has a chance to fight back.
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