"The Cellar"

“The Cellar”
Written by Natasha Preston
Review written by Diana Iozzia



“The Cellar” is a young adult thriller that centers around Summer, an eighteen-year-old girl who is kidnapped by a man who calls himself Clover. Clover kidnaps up to four girls at a time and calls them his Flowers, naming them Rose, Lily, Violet, or Poppy. He chooses to kill those girls who try to fight back or become too much of a problem, when transitioning into his ‘happy family’. He also brings prostitutes and females who he considers to be whores into the basement in his house and kills them, leaving the body to be cleaned up by his kidnapped victims.

Summer, called Lily, is kidnapped and refuses to adjust into the ‘happy family’. She refuses to let Clover take the power away from her, but she also is trying to survive. Many girls and women are killed in front of her, she is raped, and she is abused physically. Summer knows she must survive at all costs. We also see through Clover’s perspective as well as Lewis’s, who is Summer’s boyfriend.

This book was a difficult read for me. The author became famous on Wattpad, which is a site that non-professional writers upload short stories and chapters of their own writing. Natasha Preston became famous and was offered book deals. However, I think her writing just isn’t up to par, in comparison to professional writers that I have read through. The dialogue is often cheesy. I find the characters hard to relate to, feel sympathy for, and honestly just tell apart from each other. Many of the chapters feel redundant, without giving much more information about each character.

My main issue with this book is that it does not stand out. There aren’t any moments or scenes that I felt to be jaw-dropping. I did not feel especially disgusted or horrified when characters were injured and even murdered. This felt very juvenile and base level for a thriller. I was thoroughly disappointed with most of this book.

I did enjoy some aspects of this story:

1. I felt the Flower idea was interesting. Clover attempts to keep the girls very clean and pure, which allows the girls to educate themselves, shower twice a day, eat healthily, and enjoy books and films. They also knit and make clothing. I felt this was refreshing in comparison to many other kidnapping themed thrillers that just have characters tied to bedposts. I felt the way that Clover was portrayed reminded me of “10 Cloverfield Lane”, in which the kidnapper tries to protect his victims, rather than extremely brutalize them. Yes, the sexual assault still exists in this book, but it was not graphic or as crude as other books portray it.
2. I also liked some of the girls. Especially the Violet and Poppy.
3. This felt like a Lifetime movie, in the sense that we don’t read too much graphic violence and gore. I feel this would be better for more sensitive readers.
4. The resolution after the climax was very jarring and effective, similar to the resolution in “Room” by Emma Donahue.

In conclusion, I would not really recommend this book for adult readers, like myself. It’s good for a teen reader’s perspective, but I think I like reading from an older character’s perspective. Also, I feel like this could be enjoyed for readers who are just starting to enjoy the thriller genre, because elements of this book are present in better thrillers. I imagine it would be good to test the waters with.