Baby Doll by Hollie Overton

Author : Hollie Overton
Title : Baby Doll
Published : 29/12/2016
Pages : 384
Genre : Psychological Thriller
Publisher : Redhook







     You've been held captive in one room. You've been mentally and physically abused every day since you were sixteen years old. Then one night you realize your captor has left the door to your cell unlocked. For the first time in eight years, you're free. This is what happens next...

     More often than not we see women kidnapped and abused in crime books. We only ever get to see these women in glimpses, The men that take them are the usual focus of the story. Every now and again a rare thing occurs and an author makes these women the focus of there story. It is a difficult subject to tackle be it fiction or not. The story in themselves are harrowing and take a lot from those who decide to read them. When we make the decision to do so it is rarely from enjoyment but to get a better understanding, and in a strange to make us feel safe in the hope that such a thing could never happen to us. A couple of months ago I read a book called The Room by Emma Donoghue this in some small part was what helped make the decision for me to buy this book. I knew going in that this was probably going to be a difficult read.

     When I started this book I was expecting to spend my time in the head of just one character, so it came as a slight surprise to find my self in several.  We start our time with Lily the girl who went missing all those years ago. She has a core of strength that has kept her going all these years, a hope that one day she will escape Rick. The author manages to convey the mixture of emotions Lily goes through well as her freedom become a reality. There is a real struggle as she has to come to terms with what her life has been and what it may be in the future. She has also had a daughter with him called Sky. A girl so full of life and eager to see what this whole big world outside the cabin is. It's interesting to see how this little girl has not seen the bad in her life. Shield by her mother she only sees the happiness that is afforded her. For me, it felt like a nice contrast to the darkness of the environment the adults in her life occupy.

     When someone goes missing from a life, those who are left behind have to try and fill the whole. It would seem like an impossible task to complete and without answers, we can never be complete again. This is the place that Lily's sister Abby fills, her emotions are one we can all connect with happiness and joy at the return of her sister, but also anger and rage at the man who took her. To add to the impact of this story we get put into the mind of Rick, he gave me all that I would expect from someone like him. He is arrogant and self-obsessed, believing that what he has done is his right. He manipulates everyone around him for his own ends. It is these passages that double down on the feelings we get from Abby. He is someone we can hate wholeheartedly and for me at least has no redeeming qualities.

     This book hooked me from the first few words uttered by Lily. Her story is one of survival and the real face of what comes after. How you deal with a world that not only moved on as best it could but also what happens legally. It is these two contrasting environments that make the backbone of the story. The author reveals to us that being taken can rip a family apart, but also coming back can be just as hard. There is a need to process that someone you love was still out there suffering in pain and torture. It is a blame that we put upon our selves, while rationally you could understand that there was little you could have done. Emotionally it is akin to a car crash in our minds and there are few words that we can use to explain how this feels. This book I feel could have gone a lot darker than it did, the author chose not to go into great detail of the routine beatings and rapes that Lily went through. But it is in doing so that she delivers an amazing thriller and mystery novel.

     The book was well written and with characters that I could invest in. By halfway through I was more than eager to find out how it would end. The ending delivered well on what it had promised, I was left feeling satisfied but still with one foot planted in the real world.