Stolen is written as a letter from Gemma, a sixteen-year-old Londoner, to her kidnapper Ty, who is nine years her senior. Gemma is abducted from the Bangkok airport while waiting for her connecting flight to Vietnam, where she is going on holiday with her parents. At an airport café, she is drugged by a handsome, somehow familiar Ty, and she is “stolen” and taken to wild Australian outback. There, she is forced to live in the middle of Great Sandy Desert in a house that Ty had build for them. Ty, who grew up in Australian outback, believes this is the perfect place for Gemma and him to build their life together.
Gemma quickly finds out that her kidnapping was not a coincidence or bad luck, but it was carefully planned for long time. Even though, there is very minimal violent behavior from Ty and definitely no sexual abuse, there is no doubt that Gemma is a captive. However, as Gemma gets to know her abductor, she is soon torn between a strong desire to escape and her budding attraction to Ty. Whether it is a real love or a Stockholm syndrome (behavior of kidnap victims who, over time, become sympathetic to their captors), that is up to the reader to decide.
British/Australian writer Lucy Christopher wrote Stolen as part of her doctoral program in Creative Writing. It is very well written. The narrative style is intimate and emotional and suits the topic of the book perfectly. Christopher did a superb job portraying Gemma and Ty’s feelings as well as depicting the desolate Australian landscape. Gemma’s story is compelling, thought provoking and full of adventure. There might be a sequel to the book in the future. Lucy Christopher says on her official website that she has a plot for a book related to Stolen all worked out in her head, however at this time works on another novel.
I highly recommended Stolen to teens and adult alike. If you like to listen to books, make sure that you get the audio version of the book.