John Fowles is probably better known for the narrative experiments and mind-bending twists of The Magus and The French Lieutenant’s Woman, but The Collector is a quieter book of devastating power. Beautiful Miranda is kidnapped by ‘Fred’ and made to live in his specially adapted basement so he can admire her and keep her all to himself. A rapport gradually builds as she tries to win over her captor, desperately fighting to stay alive. We alternate between Miranda’s memories and despair and the chilling mind of The Collector.
You should read it because novels where ‘the killer narrates’ are ten a penny, but this is how to do it so it’s truly terrifying and moving, not just a cardboard cut-out thinking in crazed italics. Both are rounded, fully realised characters caught in an increasingly impossible situation. The book was written before Room or the real-life horrors of the Fritzl case, but continues to be as relevant and shocking as ever.
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