Seven Days by Alex Lake

Seven Days by Alex Lake
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A race against time to save her child?

In seven days, Maggie's son, Max, 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 Max, 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?

A compulsive and addictive read from the first to the last page. Told through multiple viewpoints the story of a fifteen year old girl who is abducted while on her way to see a friend. She is imprisoned in a cellar beneath the abductors garage and remains there for 12 years. During this time she is raped and punished and has 3 sons. Each son is taken from her on their 3rd birthday and she never sees them again. Determined this won’t happen to her third son Max, Maggie resolves to get him out of his prison before his third birthday in seven days. In addition to her story we see how her disappearance affects her family and how they slowly fall apart particularly her younger brother James.

Short chapters give this story a pacey and urgent feel and time hopping fills in blanks through the story.

Good strong characters and an urgency to free Max kept this hurtling forward to the end. The ending was just as thrilling with the horrible thought that although it looked like it would be alright you were never completely sure and had to read to the end.

Highly recommended read, full of sadness that made me want to cry for Maggie and Max in parts. Couldn’t fault this one at all, it hits all the right spots - five stars.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.