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The Catalogue: Kidnapping, Sexual Abuse and Survival; a Gripping Emotional Thriller.
Serena is a typical teenager; she is shy, uncertain of herself and longs to be confident like her best friend. One day she meets Dominik, a cool, good-looking boy that sweeps her off her feet. The only thing is...she must keep him secret from her family and friends- something she is willing to do to hold on to his love and affection.
Serena soon finds herself drugged and in a moving vehicle trapped with other girls just like her, kidnapped by the men they trusted, going to God knows where. She is thrown into a life of sex slavery experiencing unbelievable horrors and torture as she struggles to find the strength to keep alive and fight for survival. Will the prison she is trapped in be her final destination, or will Serena stay alive long enough to see her family again?
Serena soon finds herself drugged and in a moving vehicle trapped with other girls just like her, kidnapped by the men they trusted, going to God knows where. She is thrown into a life of sex slavery experiencing unbelievable horrors and torture as she struggles to find the strength to keep alive and fight for survival. Will the prison she is trapped in be her final destination, or will Serena stay alive long enough to see her family again?
368 pages, Paperback
Published July 28, 2023
2 people want to read
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April 10, 2024
I’ll be truthful that this is not my typical book choice, I’m a hardcore romance fan however I’d had the opportunity to attend a book fair and met Maaya Brooker. Maaya’s charisma and passion for her work is what sold me on reading The Catalogue, and truth be told I was intrigued to see in the love gone wrong brief synopsis, how Serena would fair through the book.
The title: If I were walking through a book store the titles of books draw me in, not just that but the covers too. The cover for this book I felt was accurate and appropriate however I did wonder the further I’d ventured into the story as to why it was called the catalogue when the actual role of the catalogue was very minor throughout the story, in such that I’d say it was never really focussed on more of a passing item.
Plot: Maaya has cultivated an intriguing plot line whereby in honesty, Serena experiences some truly awful events. The experiences however are written with care, thought and consideration and I felt dealt with some extremely tough topics very well. However that being said, I do feel that the overall plot felt quite prolonged and focussed on the suffering of the main character, with only the final few chapters being a rapid pace move through an escape and life post sex-slavery. I felt that this was almost an injustice because it felt a little too fast for me personally and unfortunately did not portray the aftermath of such awful events accurately given the extent of the focus and time Serena had endured suffering. Though there is potential to explore more around this post-experience in a potential sequel, and I’d be open to reading this should it ever occur.
Character Development: Given the nature of the book and the sheer volume of experiences Serena endures, I would have loved to have seen her character develop far more significantly than what was portrayed. It felt that Serena was stuck, having started the book as a shy, uncertain of herself, longing to be like her friends and fit in type character, this seems to remain the same through the book. There are pivotal moments Serena goes through that set her back in this character development such as continuing to make choices that make her almost an outcast even when surrounded by those who are also enduring the shared hell. I do however wonder if this was an extremely thoughtful choice from Maaya knowing that such horrific experiences like those that Serena experienced do have the ability to make a person regress into behaviours that are familiar to them. The only times during the book that I felt Serena had developed as a character was ultimately when she was forced to, they didn’t feel like active choices she was making but again things she was coerced into and then finishing the novel almost appearing as this leader to the other girls whom had experienced the same horrors felt a bit odd to me.
Quality: I own this book in paperback – yes I am absolutely one of those people who still insists of purchasing the paperbacks of books, not only because in instances such as these I was supporting an independent author, but I also love the smell of a physical book, the spines untouched and pages crisp, its art! But I digress, the quality of this book print is great, it’s clean and crisp, the cover and blurb are descriptive and give good insight into the journey set to unfold. There were a few occasions whereby I felt incorrect words had been used which did throw me off as a reader who genuinely enjoys the English language, but I appreciate that this is something built into the editing process.
The title: If I were walking through a book store the titles of books draw me in, not just that but the covers too. The cover for this book I felt was accurate and appropriate however I did wonder the further I’d ventured into the story as to why it was called the catalogue when the actual role of the catalogue was very minor throughout the story, in such that I’d say it was never really focussed on more of a passing item.
Plot: Maaya has cultivated an intriguing plot line whereby in honesty, Serena experiences some truly awful events. The experiences however are written with care, thought and consideration and I felt dealt with some extremely tough topics very well. However that being said, I do feel that the overall plot felt quite prolonged and focussed on the suffering of the main character, with only the final few chapters being a rapid pace move through an escape and life post sex-slavery. I felt that this was almost an injustice because it felt a little too fast for me personally and unfortunately did not portray the aftermath of such awful events accurately given the extent of the focus and time Serena had endured suffering. Though there is potential to explore more around this post-experience in a potential sequel, and I’d be open to reading this should it ever occur.
Character Development: Given the nature of the book and the sheer volume of experiences Serena endures, I would have loved to have seen her character develop far more significantly than what was portrayed. It felt that Serena was stuck, having started the book as a shy, uncertain of herself, longing to be like her friends and fit in type character, this seems to remain the same through the book. There are pivotal moments Serena goes through that set her back in this character development such as continuing to make choices that make her almost an outcast even when surrounded by those who are also enduring the shared hell. I do however wonder if this was an extremely thoughtful choice from Maaya knowing that such horrific experiences like those that Serena experienced do have the ability to make a person regress into behaviours that are familiar to them. The only times during the book that I felt Serena had developed as a character was ultimately when she was forced to, they didn’t feel like active choices she was making but again things she was coerced into and then finishing the novel almost appearing as this leader to the other girls whom had experienced the same horrors felt a bit odd to me.
Quality: I own this book in paperback – yes I am absolutely one of those people who still insists of purchasing the paperbacks of books, not only because in instances such as these I was supporting an independent author, but I also love the smell of a physical book, the spines untouched and pages crisp, its art! But I digress, the quality of this book print is great, it’s clean and crisp, the cover and blurb are descriptive and give good insight into the journey set to unfold. There were a few occasions whereby I felt incorrect words had been used which did throw me off as a reader who genuinely enjoys the English language, but I appreciate that this is something built into the editing process.
Displaying 1 of 1 review