Book Review: Seven Days by Alex Lake

Seven Days
by Alex Lake

Publication date: October 15th 2019
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 416

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Summary:

The twisty new psychological thriller from the USA Today bestselling author

A race against time to save her child…

In seven days, Maggie’s son, Seb, turns three. But she’s not planning a party or buying presents or updating his baby book. She’s dreading it. Because in her world, third birthdays are the days on which the unthinkable happens… she loses her child.

For the last twelve years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged fifteen, she gave birth to two sons before Seb, and on their third birthdays her captor came and took them from her.

She cannot let it happen again. But she has no idea how to stop it. And the clock is ticking…

Source: Goodreads

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Thoughts:

Maggie Cooper is 15 years old when she’s kidnapped by a man she’s never seen before. With her whole life ahead of her, Maggie is sure that she’ll be found and this terrible ordeal will be over in a few hours, perhaps a couple of days. Unfortunately, Maggie couldn’t have been more wrong and twelve years later she’s still being help captive in a dingy basement.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Maggie now has a son and she knows that in just seven days he’s going to be taken away from her.

This is a really powerful story and I read it all in a couple of days, desperate to find out what would happen to this mother and child. I could tell that the author had written this story well because I was always on the edge of my seat. Short and snappy chapters helped keep up the pace, creating a sense of urgency. I was completely engrossed towards the end and must have read a good 150 pages in one go because I just couldn’t put it down.

The story flicks back and forth between time and also between the people involved, so we get to see how Maggie’s disappearance affects those around her. Imagine being a parent or sibling in this situation, or a detective that’s unable to solve this case for so long. Both situations are tough and the characters experiences over the years feel completely real.

I did feel that some parts of this book were a little repetitive. I understand that this was likely to demonstrate how Maggie was feeling as I know what it is like to think things over and over again, but as a reader, I think I would have preferred it without a few of those paragraphs. Apart from that, this was a great read which I’d highly recommend.

Overall rating: ‘Seven Days’ is a really gripping thriller which kept me on the edge of my seat – 4 stars.

Thank you to publisher’s Harper Collins for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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See my other reviews of books by Alex Lake here:

• The Last Lie

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