Appetite For Innocence
- Lucinda Berry
- Apr 12, 2017
- 2 min read
Wow – this was a totally riveting and compelling read. I could hardly tear myself away from the pages as my outside world seemed to stop. This is not a carefree, relaxing read – it sits uneasily in your mind, turns your stomach and plays on your conscience in the middle of the night.
Appetite For Innocence is an unsettling story of a serial rapist of the worst kind. He searches through social media for photos of the sweetest, innocent young virgins and then sets out to kidnap them. In his basement are Sarah, Ella and Paige. We hear their story through Sarah and Ella over two timelines – 'Then', when the three girls are prisoners in the basement, and 'Now', after they've made their escape – the 'Then' timeline eventually meeting up with 'Now'.
This book has so many issues, kidnap and rape being the two obvious ones. But what happens if you decide to help the rapist, become his assistant, start to love him? Stockholm Syndrome is a denial of the bad man actually being bad and instead having feelings for him and helping or taking his side. This is explored in the 'Now' part of Sarah's story and shows just how difficult it is to rehabilitate and adjust to the real world after being locked away and brainwashed by your captor.
Many will liken this book to Emma Donoghue's Room, and while it does have some similarities, I found Appetite For Innocence to be much more readable and enjoyable. Probably because it was written from the three kidnapped girls point of view rather than, as in Room, the child who didn't know what the true situation was – these girls definitely knew their situation.
Dr Lucinda Berry is a trauma psychologist specialising in childhood trauma. She obviously knows her field well and gives a authoritative and realistic feel to the whole story. It's terrifying to know that stories like this aren't just a figment of someone's imagination. This, or something similar, is real and happening right now.
This is the first book I've read by Lucinda Berry but it certainly won't be the last. Absorbing, gripping and well written.
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