Baby Doll by Hollie Overton

"An enjoyable and entertaining read"

What’s it about?

“You've been held captive in one room, 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 about what happens next ...

Lily knows that she must bring the man who nearly ruined her life - her good-looking high-school teacher - to justice. But she never imagined that reconnecting with her family would be just as difficult. Reclaiming her relationship with her twin sister, her mother, and her high school sweetheart who is in love with her sister may be Lily's greatest challenge. After all they've been through, can Lily and her family find their way back after this life-altering trauma?

Impossible not to read in one sitting, Baby Doll is a taut psychological thriller that focuses on family entanglements and the evil that can hide behind a benign facade.”

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Having read a number of scathing reviews of this book, I have to admit that I was a little worried - I really dislike having to give someone’s hard work a poor rating but, fear not, it was quite good although as many have said, it could have been better which just goes to show that us readers are fickle human beings and what one person dislikes, another will absolutely love … well, if we all liked the same things, it would be a pretty boring world!

Unlike many other reviewers, I haven’t read anything quite like this before so it was unique for me. What I thought was good was that the story started when Lily escaped from her prison rather than go into the disturbing details of what it would have been like for her all these years being a child held prisoner in a cellar being used and abused at her captor’s whim; there were snippets of course but these didn’t dominate as the focus of the book is what life was like for Lily outside her prison.

The story is told from four different perspectives - Lily, her twin sister Abby, her mum Eve and the perpetrator Rick. I was torn as to whether this was a good idea or not; on the one hand it was useful to see the situation from all of the perspectives but on the other, I think this diluted the impact of the story a little and weakened the characters. I would have preferred it to have been written just from Lily and Rick’s perspectives - this would have made it more powerful. However, having said that, the parts devoted to Abby and Eve gave some insight into the terrible impact on the family.

The book is easy to read; the pace is good and there are a few twists and unpredictable moments but there are also some annoying parts which had me almost flicking forward many of which involved Abby … my goodness, she’s one annoying character! Overall though, a classic it may not be but an enjoyable and entertaining read it most certainly was for me and I will look out for future books by Hollie Overton.

Thanks, again, go to the publisher RandomHouse UK, Cornerstone, via NetGalley for my e-copy in return for an honest review.

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