Seven Days

By: Alex Lake

Narrated by: Laura Kirman

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

An incredible new psychological crime thriller from the top 10 Sunday Times best-selling author. 

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 12 years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged 15, 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....   

©2019 Alex Lake (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"This is creepy storytelling of the highest order: spine-chilling and difficult to put down." (Daily Mail) 

"Great hook, fast-paced, fully engrossing. Don't miss out – read it now!" (Sam Carrington, author of The Missing Wife)

"A superb read for suspense fans, this taut thriller will have you racing for the finish." (Heat)

Riveting!

The best audio book I've ever listened to. Kept winding tighter and tighter towards the end. Brilliant!

A weaker version of the Room

When I downloaded this book I did expect it to have some semblance to the Room, and I was right it did. There was the same premise, abducted teenager held captive, brutally abused and has captors child who remains in the hidden room with her. The difference with this book was the flash back narrative exploring what happens to the abducted girls family over the years of her disappearance and the revelation of the captor early on in the book. The difference between this book and Room is the elegance of the narrative in Room and the exploration of the captive woman's mental deterioration and the long term impact on both her and the child when they escape. Seven Days is far less elegant and becomes rather pedestrian at the end (to say more would be a spoiler) The idea of Maggie staying sane in such dreadful circumstances and losing two children before Max without having a total breakdown does stretch belief and is never explored in the book. Not my favourite book.

gripping yet sad. couldn't stop listening

A great pergormance of a story well written. looking into all aspects of a family.

Gripping and exciting

More than I thought it would be. I was hocked from the start. Highly recommend

Absolutely Fabulous.

Where to begin. I have just finished this book and I'm speechless.
This had been so realistic that im going to be thinking about the characters for a long time.
I chose to listen and read and have to say the narrator was really great. The pace, expression, visualisation and overall depth she lent to the story really added to the feelings I had. The last chapters are heart stopping, as you would expect, and so very sad too.
I'm not a spoiler so you'll need to enjoy this book for yourself, but trust me when I say it will keep you riveted.

Captured by the book!

Really enjoyed this book! Gripping from the very start and hard to put down!

Terrible, inaccurate accents and poor dialogue,

The story is set in Warrington, a town between Manchester and Liverpool, but the narrator has chosen to give every character a
terrible Yorkshire accent. It's like having a book set in Oxford where everyone talks like a Dick Van Dyke cockney. I'm sure
southerners/ most people won't care but it bugged me.

The dialogue is also very unrealistic and the characters are not believable, especially the police and the kidnapper.

The storyline is interesting but the execution of both the writing and reading is poor, it becomes a tedious chore to get through.

Listened in two days, would recommend

Pretty good, kept me interested. It's been compared to room but it's different in that we see how her family copes in the outside world. The narrator was good, if at times a little robotic sounding.

An emotional rollercoaster !

This story line was very sad but written in such a realistic way . Absolute gripping and interesting while I went through a lot of emotions throughout listening this book. The narration was perfect and I could not stop listening and finished this book within a day. Sad story which was written brilliantly !

Wow shocking

Couldn’t stop listening to this book definitely worth a credit , very creepy , loved the build up to the end .

So sad

This was a good listen but it was just too cruel and sad for me.