Jane Anonymous by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Then: Jane was snatched and wakes up alone in a small room.
Now: Jane pours her heart out on paper, trying to make sense of everything that's happened.

She only went to her empty workplace to collect a gift for her best friend. Snatched when her back was turned, she wakes up alone in a small whitewashed room. Food and other necessities are passed through a catflap in the door, and apart from an occasional whispered word from another captive, she is completely alone.

Ten months later, home with her parents again, Jane struggles with the memories and the PTSD the experience has left her with. She feels the weight of her parents' fear and worry and, on top of her own fears, it's close to breaking her. The therapists don't understand. Nothing is going right.

What an intense ride! The switching between Then and Now was well handled in this one, with information given at just the right speed. There is a twist, which I saw coming, but to be fair I read a *lot*. It was very cleverly done and I think a lot of readers will be caught by it.

I loved the way this novel showed that escaping is only one small step. After escaping the physical cell, Jane had to escape the cell in her mind, and that was much harder and took much longer. A lot of novels of this type end with the escape, as though that's the happily ever after.

A fantastic read. I think this one will do really well.

Then, “Jane” was just your typical 17-year-old in a typical New England suburb getting ready to start her senior year. She had a part-time job she enjoyed, an awesome best friend, overbearing but loving parents, and a crush on a boy who was taking her to see her favorite band. She never would’ve imagined that in her town where nothing ever happens, a series of small coincidences would lead to a devastating turn of events that would forever change her life.

Now, it’s been three months since “Jane” escaped captivity and returned home. Three months of being that girl who was kidnapped, the girl who was held by a “monster.” Three months of writing down everything she remembered from those seven months locked up in that stark white room. But, what if everything you thought you knew―everything you thought you experienced―turned out to be a lie?