Captive: The Story of the Cleveland Abductions

by Allan Hall

In Captive: One House, Three Women and Ten Years of Hell, Allan Hall reconstructs one of the most shocking cases of abuse in modern times.

Hall reveals the dark obsessions that drove the Cleveland abductor, Ariel Castro, to kidnap and enslave three young women. Using interviews with witnesses, psychologists, family, friends, and the police, he shows how these girls remained undetected for ten years in a home just three miles from the block where they all went missing, and the extraordinary moment when they triumphed over their tormentor.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Biography, History, Mystery

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/...
Reporter for UK Daily Mail and tabloids on crime, paranormal, history, and the unexplained.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/searc...
Freelancer: Daily Mail, Daily Star, Daily Express, Observer, Daily Mirror, Daily Record, The Scotsman, The Age, Melbourne, Sunday Times, The Times, Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, Sunday People, Sunday Mirror, Sunday Express, Evening Standard, London, Daily Sport.
http://journalisted.com/allan-hall
When based in Berlin worked for: Daily Mail - London, the Age - Melbourne,
Australia, the Scotsman - Edinburgh, New York Post NY. Formerly bureau chief for Britain’s biggest-selling papers – the Sun, then the Daily Mirror – NY.
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk...
NOT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_H... 1929-2001 wine
http://www.allanhall.com/bio.html musician Selah

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was published in 2013. The court case was in 2013. Sooo, that should tell you that this book was just rushed to print ... to make money, most likely. If you haven't read anything at all about the Cleveland abductions, then this book will enlighten you ... a bit. But if you followed the news reports, you won't learn anything new here.

2 Stars = Blah. It didn't do anything for me.

[Mindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too repetitive and long winded. Poorly written book. It gave me a feeling that this book was written without a proper interview with the victims. But was written based on newspaper clippings and Google search.

[Debra Komar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is why "true crime" gets such a bad rap. Gratuitous, pointlessly sordid - actually, just pointless. There is nothing here that is not already widely available on line or in the media, save for a few interviews "with the author of the book" (hmmm...you mean you?) with very minor players in the saga. There are no references, notes or any indications as to the sources of the information. The reader is expected to just take Hall's word for it. Hall had written two books prior about other pedophiles who kept sex slaves and uses every opportunity to crow-bar in needless comparisons with those offenders. A lot of high-school level pop psychology and it all boils down to two reactions: one - that the people who knew Castro thought he was weird and creepy before they found out what he did or two - that they thought he was a nice guy and were fooled by him. Please save your time and money.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another book about the Cleveland Kidnappings written by journalist Allan Hall, detailing the horrible atrocities that the three victims had to endure. We get an insight into the mind and personality of the monster who perpetrated these terrible crimes and tortured and abused these women for years as well as the women themselves. Just like when I read Michelle Knight's book about her abuse at the hands of this monster, I struggled to comprehend that one human being could do these things to not one but three women and continue doing it for a decade, without any detection. I can't say I enjoyed this book but it certainly was an eyeopening read.

[Suzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read and followed everything about Cleveland kidnappings. Was excited to read this...was bummed...this was information gathered from news.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very difficult book to read. Small doses was all I could take. And I think I’m a well seasoned book reader if true crime. This one turned my guts. It’s was great to hear about all the wonderful things that are being done to help the girls. And I know police did the best they could looking for 2 our of 3 of the girls that were kidnapped. But it saddens my heart to hear what little was done for Michelle. And what little family she had to care about her before and after the kidnapping. I feel a deep sorrow for her as I know that she’ll forever struggle and forever feel so unloved. The other two girls will carryon and be safe with the family and friends they have surrounded dung them. But poor Michelle…

[Dan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book by a man who has become something of an authority on abducted women. I read his others - Girl in the Cellar and Monster - and think this is the best, even though Castro is, in the author's words, more "low rent" than the other criminals he has written about. Hall has a good eye for detail and a reporter's nose for the truth. It is a very good read that should appeal to all lovers of the genre -ie, the monsters who live among us. Excellent.

[Alex Rogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poor treatment of this story, could have been written by a high-school kid with some basic research skills. No particular insight, story-telling skills, journalistic integrity - just a repetitive mish-mash of emotive writing. Pity, it is a terrible and fascinating story that I'd like to know more about, but the writing was too bad to endure and I quit early

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the Cleveland Abductions from an author who has obviously studied this case and other similar cases pretty extensively. Of course this is a case that made headlines, and even in Australia we knew the basic facts, but there were many things that happened during the escape and after that I did not know. All of the background information made for an interesting read, and the author simply presents the facts without going too much into the mind of Castro- while that would have been interesting too, at the printing of this book I believe it would have been harder to make a complete analysis.

I don't know why I occasionally delve back into crime books. I'm not sure if was the presence of them in shelves around my house growing up, or a reminder of the monsters out there. I always get so sad, thinking of the victims of these crimes, but at the same time don't want their stories to be forgotten.

While not a subject everyone will want to read, I nevertheless felt like this is a book crime readers will enjoy for the bald facts and lack of opinion presented. Four out of Five stars.

[Amy Maddess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written & organized. I took away a star because the authour plugs his other books a lot lol. I understand self promotion, but you need to use sources other than yourself.

[Barbara Kinsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember so clearly seeing this case on TV as it made enormous headlines here in SA about how the girls eventually managed to escape. I also remember saying, a book will be released and I will be at the bookstore to buy it! Traumatic but fantastic read! Cannot wait for Michelle Knights book to be released, called Finding Me.

[Darice Yerkovich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really wasn't a whole lot in here that I didn't read in the news. But it was good.

[Edgarr Alien Pooh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captive is the story of the three young women who were kidnapped and held captive by Ariel Castro in Cleveland, Ohio. In August 2002 Michelle Knight disappeared followed by Amanda Berry in April 2003 and then Gina DeJesus in April 2004. They were eventually found and set free in 2012 after suffering hundreds of rapes and assaults at the hands of Castro. Amanda Berry gave birth to Castro’s daughter as a result of one such rape.
Castro is currently in prison serving a life sentence plus 1000 years for these horrendous crimes but the fascinating aspect to this story is how he managed to get away with it for so long. All three women were snatched from the same city block and were held prisoner in Castro’s house no more than three blocks away. Gina DeJesus was actually the daughter of one of Castro’s friends. The windows to the house were covered in plastic and the area was so troubled that police were actually outside the house attending other incidents hundreds of times during their girls’ incarceration. Due to the poor living standards in the area nobody blinked an eyelid at a house that almost looked abandoned from the outside.
Hindsight is a wonderful and as the women were set free the local community began asking itself a series of questions. Why did we not find it odd that the windows were all blacked out? Why did we see Castro hauling in large amounts of food if we knew him to be living alone?
Castro managed to have everyone fooled. His brothers visited on many occasions but never asked why he insisted that they not roam around his house, happy to sit with Ariel in the kitchen only. He controlled with fear, promising more beatings and rapes if the girls did not do as instructed which meant they were to stay in their rooms at all times unless Ariel decided to take them to the basement where he chained them up, beat them and raped them.
Although I doubt very much any of the three women will ever read this review I would still like to pass on my sorrow for what they went through and my respect for their abilities to make it through. These conditions can never truly be imagined by any of us but they drew strength from one another and from Jocelyn, the child Amanda gave birth to in the house, and won in the end – although it would never feel like a true win. These girls are remarkable even to the point of educating young Jocelyn as she grew up in the house.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a true crime book describing the Cleveland abductions of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. They were kept captive by their abductor from 2002 (Michelle), 2003 (Amanda) and 2004 (Gina) until they managed to escape in May 2013. I was actually visiting my sister in Ontario at the time of their escape and their story was certainly front page news while I was there. It was not still in the news, if indeed it ever had been in the UK, when I returned to the UK some weeks later.

When I saw this book in our library, I remembered the case and wondered what happened next.
It's a horrible story, not least because the man who kidnapped and abused them managed to keep them captive for such a long time with no one suspecting. I'm not going to go into details - you can read it for yourselves if you want those - but would just observe that this could have happened just about anywhere. We are too busy living our lives and not noticing our neighbours to be sure it couldn't happen in our own neighbourhood!

I felt for the police, who did try hard to find Amanda and Gina, who were minors at the times of their abductions - they did do the best they could with the resources and knowledge available to them. As this book points out, the only way that the police would have had of spotting the little clues that might have given the perpetrator away was to have spent lots of time in the neighbourhood simply doing old-fashioned foot-slogging patrolling the beat, and that is something that society in general has decided we cannot afford. I was unimpressed with the effort they put into tracing Michelle, who was officially an adult at the time of her abduction, though vulnerable beyond what might have been expected at her age, but I'm sorry to say that I doubt any more effort would have been put into tracing her here and now, as all adults, however young and vulnerable, seem to be automatically viewed as voluntary runaways. I don't know the solution to this, but the Cleveland police certainly didn't find it!

[gremlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

i expect true crime books to be straight forward but i was surprised to find some issues in this - such as the claim that castro was lacking 'masculine discipline' from a father figure in his childhood, unnecessarily and repetitively calling women 'bitches', some victim blaming and probably the most irritating: applying responsibility to the neighbours and police to have prevented castro's crimes. first of all i think 100% for committing a crime is on the criminal. of course, bystander syndrome has an unfortunate presence in society but you can't blame a police officer for missing that castro was committing some atrocities when there was nothing that would have made them suspect this at all. i liked that the author mentioned the lack of funding to the police force and subsequent loss of efficiency. but mainly hall heavily implied it was the fault of neighbours and police that castro's crimes carried on as long as they did, rather than, say, castro?
i also didn't enjoy the implication that psychopaths are inherently evil, irredeemable and unreceptive to therapy and therefore you just gotta lock 'em up!!!
i picked this book up in an op shop because i was interested in the case but i will not be picking up any more books by this guy.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book gives little detail about the actual case and crimes. It mostly compares the case to similar, previous crimes and discusses with experts what could be the reasoning behind Castro’s crimes. It’s a lot of conjecture and not much fact. The author also seems to have a lack of sympathy for the women involved, which is bizarre when writing about their experiences. The author seems dismissive and condescending towards the three survivors.

As a whole, this book is not a good dive into the Cleveland Kidnappings.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Between 2002 to 2004, three girls, Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry & Gina DeJesus, went missing from the streets in Cleveland. Many thought they ran away or something even worse, but no one expected that they were being kept as prisoners at 2207 Seymour Avenue in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. At this house, Ariel Castro did the unthinkable to these 3 girls for over 10 years. Thankfully, in May 2013, Amanda Berry was able to find the strength and escape finding help. However, while that tragic journey came to an end, their healing and their journey to create a new life had to slowly begin under the media spot light.

I remember when this story broke and it was beyond tragic. To think these girls were just next door and being held there for so long was unreal. I was looking forward to reading more about this story, but this book fell flat. The first biggest issue I had is that it focused a lot of Castro and I wish the author would have put most focus on the victims. Second, the author being English, I think he just missed a mark on understanding some American lifestyles. This certainly displayed in some of the texts. I am not sure if there are other books out there on, this story, but if you are looking to learn more about the tragic kidnapping story in Cleveland, this is not the one for that.

On the Cat Scale:
😺😺

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read the girls own books of their personal accounts, and was very moved by what they endured. This book was far too removed and made more references to other crimes than needed to. I really disliked the language used to describe the girls suffering - "Intellectually incapable" of being unable to dissociate and separate mind from body whilst being repeatedly raped several times a day for over a decade. WTF author?

[Taylor Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not like how the author portrayed the women, especially Michelle as being stupid. They aren't stupid, may have intellectual issues but that doesn't mean they are stupid. It really disturbed me. But he did, however, describe Castro perfectly. He was an animal. Glad he died alone, unloved and in fear just as he wanted his victims to feel but they won. They got out. And he got thrown in a cell.

[Alfi Mukharamova · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t like they way this book was written.
1. It Was Repetitive. I felt like the author kept on saying the same thing thing, over and over.
2. Didn’t like the style of writing. For me, it was not descriptive enough.
3. Didn’t learn anything new. It’s like the author used “hey google” to write this book.
I expected more.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good summary for non-American of the crime. Easy to read but not much in depth confession from the monster. Or what other horrible things it was done to the poor girls. It felt like your everyday newspaper summary. Author was trying to link what his view is on the criminal based in other crimes like this. It was ok

[Brandon Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book very difficult to read. The chapters are lengthy. They could have easily been broken up to make for a more easy read.

It was clear that this book was written fast, there were many instances where the same thought would be written multiple times in different wordings.

Overall very thorough and factual.

[Clive Macmillan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many quotes from people generalizing about the types of people who commit these types of crimes, instead of facts specific to this crime. I'm not really sure that the author knows too much about what really happened.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book. It's a story about a cruel man who kidnaps young girls and putting them through a living hell. I usually never feel bad within when I'm reading a book, but this one made me feel very bad, sad and extremely angry, all at once.

[Natalie S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't say I enjoyed the writing, it felt like I was reading a newspaper, not a book. Also, quite repetative. However, it was informative and gladly did not speak in detail of the acts that occurred.

[Dan Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone wants to know more about this horrible crime you should read this!!keep in mind this book was wrote before (the coward who did these insane things to the 3 innocent young girls) Ariel Castro took his own life while serving time for everything he did.

[Simone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like the way it was written, to much comparing to other cases, an mind you telling the ending if other cases that I may have been interested to read about, but now don't see the point as this book has ruined that. Just think it's poorly written.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little familiar with the story when I started, but the detail the authors went into we’re not only startling but honestly horrifying. The amount of time and interviews they must’ve went through is amazing. Definitely one of the best true crime novels I have read.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, but seems to be stuff that could be read in papers and does not go into many details

[Maddison Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got to the point very quickly of just wanting the book to end. Very drawn out.