Description
After two years of brutal captivity, Portia Lamont has escaped and returned to her family’s Vermont horse farm – only to find her parents gone to New York to try an experimental treatment for her mother’s cancer, and her childhood friend Boone Hawke running the farm. The man Boone has become frightens her to near paralysis, but she’s too traumatized and physically devastated to put up a fight.
Like the rest of her family, Boone has never given up hope that Portia would return. But when she turns up battered, skinny as a 12-year-old boy, afraid of everything and unable to talk about what happened, he does the only thing he can – try to help her heal. He summons the town doctor and Portia’s parents, and sets out to put this beautiful, broken woman back together again.
Through her family’s love and Boone’s gentle affection, Portia gradually comes back to herself, and starts to fall for her old friend in a whole new way. But one thing threatens her fragile hopes for recovery: The man who took her promised that if she ever escaped, he’d kill her. Slowly. And someone is definitely watching her…waiting to make a deadly move.
Susan May –
This story was an eye opener. People do get taken like this sometimes & I bet it happens more than we know. The story was well written & the characters were great. Good triumph’s over evil again. Thumbs up for this one. Also great Narrator.
Uvi Poznansky –
What did you love best about Devil’s Lake?
I love the opening scene, because it sets the tone for the entire story. We hear Portia coming back home, having escaped from her abductor. She is in a severely weakened state, “Her heart slammed against her ribs, quickening with every mile she recognized,” and has an overwhelming yearning for safety, for home. “Green mountains surged into the clouds in the background. guarding the rolling hills of the valley where her family’s farm nestled in the hollow.” But the place is empty, except for her childhood friend, whom she barely recognizes, and because of her harrowing experience, she is afraid to be touched. “`It’s me.’ He offered her a hand, but she pulled her away.”
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
The description of the abduction is vivid and at time quite stark, as it must be, so I wanted to reach out and rescue Portia from her abductor.
“Shhhh,” says Murphy, in his frighteningly metallic voice. “It’s okay. You’re with me now, sugar.”
We get a glimpse into the way she managed to survive the torture and starvation. “Pretend to be respectful and sweet,” she tells herself. “Go along with him. Watch and wait… If you don’t fight him, he’ll have nothing to push against.” And throughout the ordeal, she braces herself. “You can do this.”
Which scene was your favorite?
The last part creates a much needed conclusion to the story. Anderson and Boone work their way toward Devil’s Lake and watch for the cabin with the boarded up windows. Grace, Portia’s sister, plays a great role, which I am not going to divulge here, except to say that in the end, she and Portia renew their bond of sisterhood, and cleanse themselves of the past. It is so symbolic that they do it by diving beneath the surface of Devil’s Lake. This is the part I love best, because it suggests the possibility of harmony.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
in spite of the suspense at certain twists and turns, I truly took my time with listening, because some parts of the story are heat wrenching and I wanted to take it all in. I wanted to savor every shade of every word, as the narrator, Gwendolyn Druyor, gave expression to Portia’s pain, her initial confusion and mistrust in others, having gone through an unimaginable ordeal. And towards the end I could feel, in her voice, the beginning of healing and hope, not only for Portia but for her sister, too.
Any additional comments?
This book is dedicated to the women kidnapped and held hostage for ten years in Cleveland, Ohio, and so it is with great tenderness that the author, Aaron Paul Lazar, imparts this story, which I imagine must have been inspired by what he learned about the case, and by his great compassion. Being based on a true story is not enough–an author must make it vivid, even in the most harrowing parts, to the listener, which Aaron Paul Lazar does brilliantly.
Suzanne Nelson –
This is a really good audiobook! It is intense and dark. It is the story of a woman’s escape from the man who held her captive and her abduction and abuse. The storyline seems very real and could be an account of an actual event. Although chilling, I thought that the descriptions of the emotional impact on the victim during the abuse lacked some depth. I imagined what she would have felt and wanted the narrative to show a greater understanding of the victim’s feelings and the absolute terror that she must have felt. Nevertheless, this audiobook is very good. I appreciated the author’s sincere effort to cast light on the impact to female victims of abduction and captivity. This audiobook is definitely not cozy. It is also not sleazy bondage tale for those who get off on that. This is a story of a woman’s survival and escape from a horrific experience.