Review: The Cellar by Natasha Preston

Title: The Cellar

Author: Natasha Preston

Publisher: Source-books Fire

Publishing Date: March 1, 2014

Pages/Format: 368, eARC

When sixteen-year-old Summer Robinson goes missing one night, her family, friends and boyfriend are devastated. Nothing ever happens in Long Thorpe, so the disappearance of a school girl shocks the whole community. The police waste no time in launching a search and investigation, but with nothing to go on and no trace of Summer, hopes of finding her quickly fade.

Colin Brown, is a thirty-year-old solicitor living alone after the death of his mother. He suffered a traumatic and abusive childhood, and is left with no sense of right or wrong. Desperate for the perfect family, Colin, referring to himself as Clover, turns to drastic measures to get what he wants.

Book in One Word: MUGH.*

*A combination of meh and ugh.

The Cellar interested me because it's about a kidnapped girl, and I like kidnappings. (I know, I'm weird.) I was hoping for a book that was a thriller, kind of dark and creepy, and, well, good. (And I'd just watched Prisoners before reading this, so I was kind of excited.) However, I wasn't even 5% into the book before I had this sort of annoyed, ragey feeling coursing through me and wanted to put the book down. And yet, I kind of liked this book. And I don't know why.

I don't want to sound rude or anything, but really, the problem here is the writing. It did several things to make this book not work. Now the concept, that was great. A girl is kidnapped by a man who wants this group of girls locked up in his cellar (with furnishings and all that) to be his family, he names them all after flowers, they have certain duties, there's murder, etc. It could be a good thriller movie. But the writing gave the story a lack of thrills and suspense; it took away those feelings you should get with a novel of this concept.

But what REALLY annoyed me (and I was able to bear it and not feel so UGH over time, but still, it was THERE) was just the writing in general. All three POVs--Summer, who's kidnapped; Lewis, her boyfriend; and Clover, the kidnapper--sounded pretty much the same. Their voices/internal dialogue/whatever you want to call it were, in short, annoying. They explained everything, overexplained, questioned, and did so multiple times. (I tend to notice repeat information, and it drives me crazy.) I rolled my eyes a lot, and I kind of wanted to wring the characters' necks. Like, No shit, Sherlock. It's not that I disliked the characters; the writing just did not give this story proper execution. Some flashbacks were unnecessary to the story. And the flashbacks were kind of spotty, and then at one point the present just jumped ahead five months. Really, it was frustrating.

And even though I have a dislike and annoyance toward the writing, I don't find myself hating this book. I pushed through my very strong desire to just STOP READING it and finished the book, mainly because I wanted to see how the story would play out. I found myself actually wanting to read the book. I don't know why, because I had lots of issues with The Cellar, and it's nothing--I don't know how to say this nicely--spectacular. If it was written differently, this could be a very good, thrilling, suspenseful book. But it wasn't. Yet I still kind of liked it or something. You know, I just DON'T KNOW.

I don't do star ratings, but I think I see myself giving this book...three stars? And I know that doesn't make sense given this review, but I don't know. This book frustrates me. I didn't feel anything while reading it (nothing good, anyway), but anything below three stars just doesn't seem fitting. Maybe 2.5? I just--I liked the concept, and that helped me to keep reading. It was interesting to see the story three ways: through Summer, who's stuck in the cellar; Clover, the crazy-yet-not-crazy person keeping her there; and Lewis, the boyfriend who's desperately searching for his girlfriend. Like I said, there's something I liked about The Cellar, which doesn't seem right. (I think all the problems may lead to the writing.) But at the same time, I may have said some not nice things to my Kindle while reading/when I finished it, so...

Did I like it? Despite everything, I kind of liked this?

Did I love it? No.

Would I reread it? I'm going to say no...

Would I purchase it? No.

Who would I recommend it to? If you like books where people are kidnapped, then maybe this is for you?

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, and that in no way sways my opinion of the book.