Book Review: The Cellar By Nashua Preston

The Cellar

Nashua Preston

386 Pages

Expected Publication: March 1st, 2014

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.

Have you ever been so engrossed in a book, so terrified by the words you were reading that you couldn't put it down, no matter how many feelings you were being hit with? The Cellar has me feeling just like this throughout the entire freaking book! I almost feel guilty saying I enjoyed this book, as it left me feeling so emotionally wrong. After the last page commenced I just sat there, staring off into space lost in my thoughts. The story the Preston composed has me feeling the entire rainbow of emotions, from hope to fear to burning hot anger. 

The story starts off fast, not letting us get to know our main character, Summer all too well before she is snatched by a man she's never seen before, who calls himself Clover. She's thrust into a cellar, though it wasn't the type of cellar that I was expecting. Instead of a cold, dingy basement she's forced into a bright and cheery downstairs with 3 other girls, a cellar that smells strongly of lemon disinfectant and other cleaners. Their captor is a madman who's head isn't on quite straight.. more like on backwards. He's obsessed with cleanliness and keeping young girls clean and "pure". He goes on late night killing rampages, targeting prostitutes and any girl who dresses skimpy or acts less than ladylike. Though he always acts polite around the general populace, he has an angry side to him that made him terrifying, and oh so dangerous.

The most interesting part of the story for me was getting to know the other girls. Rose.. she got on my nerves at first but as the story progresses, I see why she is so different from the other girls. While Summer, who was renamed Lily during her 8 month stay in the cellar, desperately wanted to get out and return home, Rose seemed to have given up all hope of ever leaving.. she'd already been his captive for years. Hell, sometimes she seemed happy, like she genuinely cared for the monster who kept her imprisoned. After some back story it becomes clear that they'd originally been in a relationship, before he threw her int he cellar to be his forever.

Next we have Violet.. poor Violet. She's more feisty than the other girls, the only one that Lily could actually relate to. She wants nothing more than to escape the cellar, and this is what often gets her in trouble with Clover. She isn't afraid to challenge him.. but challenging a beast like him often comes with some pretty harsh consequences.

Then there was Poppy, who seemed defeated at times, but nowhere near as badly as Rose. I feel like if fear wouldn't have been holding her back so much, she might've planned an escape with Lily, but she was just too terrified. Though she willingly did his bidding, it was clear that she still had her head on straighter than Rose, and was still able to think for herself.

My blood boiled every time Clover walked into the room. He was so vile and nasty, so delusional in thinking that these girls were his family. Watching him unwind and spiral out of control as the authorities came closer and closer to discovering him and his nasty lifestyle terrified me. I started this book at 10pm and by 1am I was finished, stunned into silence. The intensity of this read wasn't something I was prepared for, so be sure you're ready for some pretty intense feels and a long sit when you pick up this one!