After best friends Sarah and Jennifer were in a car accident
that killed Jennifer’s mother, the two created a “never list”; a list of things
to be avoided at all costs. The two plan
everything down to the last detail, including their freshman year of college,
to ensure their safety. Sometimes, even
though the girls don’t believe in it, fate intervenes, and despite their best
plans, one night the girls get into a cab, a ride that changes their lives
forever. Jennifer and Sarah spend the
next three years held captive a cellar with two other girls. Their captor is obsessed with torture and how
much the human body-and sprit-can withstand.
Sarah escaped and led authorities to rescue the other two girls, but to
Sarah’s knowledge, Jennifer did not survive the ordeal.
Ten years of careful planning and living later, Sarah has
still not dealt with the horror of her captivity and lives her life as a
captive of her own making. By mutual
agreement, the three surviving women have changed their identities and have never
spoken of these events to each other.
Now Jack Derber is up for parole and as much as Sarah wants to see him
rot in prison, she also wants to learn what happened to Jennifer and her body;
Sarah things that the letters she has been receiving from Derber may contain
clues to what happened to Jennifer, but also suspects her other counterparts
have been receiving the same letters which may contain different clues that
together will lead her to her friend.
Back in Portland for the first time in ten years, Sarah finds herself
drawn into Jack Derber’s world including the secret world of BDSM, cults and
ancient torture. As she brings Tracy and
Christine back to their worst nightmare, Sarah learns that the three were not in
their ordeal together and that the other two still harbor grudges against her.
Fast-paced and disturbing, this multi-layered plot slowly
reveals layer upon layer as Sarah thinks she has dealt with what has happened
to her, but realizes she hasn’t, that she has just been hiding as she tries to
control her environment. As Sarah
searches for her friend, she confronts her fears and learns things about
herself that surprise her and things she doesn’t necessarily like. Her journey to find Jennifer becomes one of
healing and self-actualization. A couple
of rescue scenes as the book progresses seem unlikely but the reunite three
women in Portland where they need to be to face the horrors
of their past, find the answers to give themselves the closure they need to
move on with their lives.
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