Today's Read & Giveaway: Baby Doll by Hollie Overton

Suppose you were kidnapped at age sixteen and held captive for eight years in a dark basement. Then one day your prayers are answered, and you can escape, taking your six-year-old daughter with you. What would you find in the outside world and how would ever feel safe again?

A dead bolt has a very specific sound. Lily was an expert at recognizing certain sounds—the creak of the floorboards signaling his arrival, the mice scurrying across the concrete in search of food. But Lily always braced herself for the sound of the dead bolt, listening as metal scraped against metal. The lock was beginning to rust, so it always took him several tries. But inevitably, she would hear the click, the sound that meant they were trapped for another week, another month, another year. But tonight, she heard nothing. Only deafening silence. Hours passed, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the lock.

—Baby Doll by Hollie Overton (Redhook Books, 2016, p. 1)

Quick Facts

• Setting: Crested Glen (not yet sure of the state), modern times
• Circumstances: Lily escapes her abductor only to discover she was held captive for eight years a mere five miles from her family home. Although finally free, nothing is how Lily imagined it would be. The world and people she remembers have changed, and her daughter is scared and confused. Will Lily's abductor remain behind bars? Can she ever find peace and hope to live any kind of normal life?
  
• Genre: psychological study
• Characters: Lily, who was kidnapped and escaped; Abby, Lily's twin sister; Rick, the abductor (we meet him almost immediately); Eve, Lily's mom; Sky, Lily's daughter; other people from Lily's past; the police
• What I like so far: Here's my best recommendation at this point—I picked up the book intending to read only a little bit to get a feel for it, and I was on page 40 before I knew it. So far, it's not as much of a thriller as it is an examination of coping in the aftermath of the kidnapping. I plan to keep reading. Also, the story is told from different viewpoints, which I almost always enjoy. My initial impression is that it's going to be a quick read.
• Learn more: To read an excerpt and to learn more about Hollie Overton, visit her website, like her on Facebook, and/or follow her on Twitter. To learn more about the novel, which will be on bookstore shelves today, follow #BabyDollBook on your social media. To buy the book from an independent book store, visit IndieBound.

The Giveaway
Thanks to the nice people at Redhook Books, I can offer one of my readers a copy of Hollie Hoverton's Baby Doll. All you need to do to be entered for a chance to win is to fill out the following form and have a USA mailing address. I'll pick a winner via a random number generator on July 21. Once the winner has been confirmed, I'll delete all personal information from my computer. Good luck!