Review written for ClubReading.com by Gary
For those of us that enjoy a good psychological thriller, this book is a winner.
The story is about a ten year old girl who gets lost in the woods. The terror she experiences when she realizes she is lost helps to create part of the nightmare as she struggles to survive. She must cope with everyday problems such as lack of food and water, and she must control her fear of the unknown.
As the story progresses, we get to watch her slowly become less and less rational, with her only companion being her hero Tom Gordon, a make believe friend who has a real life occupation. She listens to his games on her transistor radio and believes he will protect her from the monsters in the woods.
As the reader, we watch her make mistakes and wish that we could stop her everytime she does. It is one of the few short books by King, but every new page is agony to the reader to watch the poor girl suffer so.
At first when reading this I thought that it was unbelievable that a ten year old child who lived in a city could possibly survive as long as she had within a deep forest. Then reality smacked us in the face as a seven year old became lost in a state park nearby, and came out a week later with mere cuts and bruises.
I cannot of good conscience wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone. If you read and enjoyed “Misery,” then this is definitely a book for you. If you found yourself disgusted by the level of pain in “Misery,” then I suggest you do not read this book.