"The Cellar" by Natasha Preston Review

I chose this book randomly off of the shelf at my local Barns&Noble, as something that I would take a chance with. I had never heard of Natasha Preston, or the book before, but the summary seemed intriguing so I began to read it. I ended up finishing it that afternoon, on the exact place on the floor of B&N that I sat down to read it. The Cellar as about a teenager, Summer, who is kidnapped by a man who calls himself Clover. She is locked in his basement with three other girls, Rose, Poppy, and Violet, who used to have real names. He names her Lily. Clover's obsession with flowers is yet another one of his evil rituals, as he insists that the roses, poppies and violets that he buys them will remain alive forever, and whenever they die, he goes insane. Summer, turned Lily, is forced to watch, along with the other girls, Clover kill hundreds of prostitutes, his own coworker, and the first Violet(her real name was Jennifer). When she is finally found, she is at death's door after being dealt a severe closed head injury by Clover in his sick attempt to keep his "family" together. Summer's boyfriend Lewis and her family spent the seven months Summer was missing searching tirelessly for her. In the end, only Summer and Poppy(Becca) made it out alive. This book gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from me, due to the fact that this book kept me guessing. It lost half a star with the constant changes in and out of Clover, Lewis and Summer's point of view, as I found that incredibly confusing at first. This book was also a major dose of reality to me, because everything was described in such vivid detail, and even though this book was a work of fiction, it seems insanely real. I have been looking for kidnapping cases that seem to correlate with the horrors of this one, but have yet to find one. I found Clover's obsession with cleaning unnerving as well, because of the fact that he was committing such heinous crimes while insisting that the entire cellar be sterilized every day. I also found Poppy(Becca)'s insistence on cleaning everything constantly interesting, because every single time Poppy was mentioned, she was tidying up or making lunch or cleaning the kitchen. The basics of psychology attempt to explain it by saying she was doing the one thing she knew would help in that situation because she couldn't do anything else(she was locked in a damn cellar with a psycho!). I definitely loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to read it, and I've already read it four times.

Let me know in the comments below if you've read this book, whether or not you liked it and if you would read it again. If you haven't read it, let me know if this review makes you interested or makes you want to read it. I'm currently trying to see if there is a sequel, as I would read it in a heartbeat! I'll let you guys know.