The Collector

(major spoiler alert, don't read if you haven't read the book)

While not a typical "horror" book, The Collector is a haunting, deeply chilling, terrifying account of an abduction, which will stay with you for years to come- and even endevour to change the way you live your life.

The collector is a novel which is told from the point of view of Frederic, a young man who is obsessed with collecting butterflies,photography and stalking Miranda Grey. After winning the lottery he moves to London, persuing her as she studies art at a university there. After some time he buys a house with a basement, and decides he'll abduct and imprison her there.

He prepares by big a big white van, art books he thinks will interest her, clothes that are about her size and decorations for his house. He then follows her on her way home from university, and uses chloroform to subdue her.

Some time passes, Miranda gives him long lists of things she wants in the basement and he complies, desperate that she will one day fall in love with him. Although sex is referred to openly, and is often on the captors mind- nothing of that nature ever occurs in the beginning of the novel. He is not openly perverse, and does not mistreat her in any way (apart from keeping her in the damp basement away from civilization) Above all, he wants to make her happy which is conveyed incredibly well.

She makes several attempts to escape, all of which fail. Around half way through the book, it begins to be told in a series of diary entries from Miranda's perspective. This provides a haunting insight into the realizations she comes to during her captivity, such as the realization that she is in love with G.P., a man who she has been friends with for a very long time (and he said he wanted to marry her at one point)
She comes to terms with all the choices she wants to make with her life, who she wants to be friends with, her religion, her career and her love life. She makes plans for the future, and all the places she wants to visit. These are all shattered when she contracts pneumonia in the basement and dies when Frederic refuses to get a doctor for her.

Overall, this book endevours to make you realize that you should do things that make you happy, and live the life you want to live because you want to-not because it is what is expected of you. One of the best books i've read in a long time.