If you are looking for a chilling, realistic book that has crime and even kidnapping, The Cellar by Natasha Preston may be the book for you.

Published in 2014, Goodreads summarizes The Cellar as, “Nothing ever happens in the town of Longthorpe – that is, until sixteen-year-old Summer Robinson disappears without a trace. No family or police investigation can track her down. Spending months inside the cellar of her kidnapper with several other girls, Summer learns of Colin’s abusive past, and his thoughts of his victims being his family…his perfect, pure flowers. But flowers can’t survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out….”

This is a book that every mature teenager should read. The Cellar’s nature is very graphic and real, making it only suitable for mature readers.

Senior, Nicole Taylor, has read The Cellar and said, “I think people should be warned about how graphic it is. […] It’s enlightening and brutally honest about the world. […] The girl was just living a normal life and was stolen, just to show how fast it could happen and how fast your life could change. I think it’s a good book to show the dangers of life.”

“Sometimes these types of books come off as cringy, I personally thought that it was written effectively so that it was more personal and scary.” said senior Arynn Zheng. The books nature is personal and hard to show in writing, however; it is well put together making it easy to follow and something you’d want to read.

Senior, Madison Taylor, says, “One thing that makes this book stand out is, it really shows how easy and quick your life can change. One minute you are walking alone when a person comes up behind you and kidnaps you before you can even scream. “

There is a lot of children that go missing because of carelessness and many people having the mindset that these things won’t happen to them or their family. Most people have yet to see kidnapping at first hand and it makes them more likely to think of it has a fictional idea. It can happen to anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time, that isn’t being cautious.

The scary truth is that things like this happen more often than you would like to hear. A statistic from Child Find of America in 2013 shows, “It is estimated that 2,300 children are missing every day in the United States. Missing children can be victims of family abduction, non-family abduction, or they can be runaways.”

This book gives a life-like example of kidnapping, rape, murder, and how that affects everyone in a society.

The Cellar is for mature audiences that should be advised of the profanity before reading this novel, however, it’s an enlightening story that all young people should read. The book is written well, has a good story, and a good read.

There are more books that explore these themes and topics. If you enjoy The Cellar, Library Point.com recommends a few other books such as, Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee by Mary G. Thompson, Back Before Dark by Tim Shoemaker, The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas, and The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die by April Henry. These are all realistic thrillers that have the same concept of The Cellar.