When I sit down to read a book, I find a comfortable spot because I usually plan to be there for some time. With Above, I never found that comfort zone because I was putting the book down every few chapters. Why? It was such an intense read that I had to walk away but I was only able to stay away for a few minutes and then I was right back into it because I had to know more. If there’s one thing I didn’t expect from this book, it was the intensity.

At sixteen, Blythe Hallowell is a smart girl, not necessarily boy obsessed, but there is one boy she can’t wait to see at the Horse Thieves Picnic. When the boy is called away and doesn’t return, Blythe is hurt. Walking home later, a local man named Dobbs Hordin drives by and tells her that her brother has been hurt. She gets in the car with him, and instead of being the day she met a boy at the picnic, it becomes the day she goes missing from Eudora, Kansas. Dobbs Hordin is a local survivalist and has been preparing a missile silo for the end of days. He takes Blythe to the silo, locking her in with his other gathered possessions, and when the door is locked, her life all but stops.

The first few days and months of her captivity, Blythe focuses solely on getting out. She wants to go home to her family, she wants to see her best friend, and she wants to walk in the sun again. Blythe soon comes to the sad realization that isn’t going to happen and it’s a crushing blow to her mentally. Months pass and she falls slowly into a dark place fueled by loneliness, anger, and despair. After she gives birth to a stillborn daughter, her mental state becomes even more precarious making even her captor nervous.

Seventeen years pass and Blythe, Dobbs, and their son Adam, live out their meager lives in that silo. All Blythe can think about is her son and going above. She never gave up hope that one day she would be able to see sunlight in place of the sickly light that governs their waking hours below. Wanting her son to understand the world above, she tells him stories about what it will be like once they leave. Dobbs, who does come and go during those seventeen years, never tells Blythe or Adam about the outside world. When an unexpected and unplanned event gives Blythe and Adam the chance to leave, they walk into a world they didn’t expect and weren’t prepared for.

I can honestly say I didn’t see the twist coming. I wanted Blythe and Adam to walk out into the sun, admire the flowers and blue sky. I wanted to see them walk to her parents’ home and be welcomed with open arms. After seventeen years of captivity, they walk into a world that neither understands. It’s devastating to not only Blythe and Adam but you as the reader. I’m not one for happy endings, but I thought Blythe deserved something after what she’d been through and she wasn’t going to get it.

There’s something really wonderful about this twist though, and by wonderful I don’t mean good. I like that Morley doesn’t let the reader have the happy ending. I like that she takes everything away and leaves Blythe with nothing. In more than one way, Blythe gets to start over with a clean slate even if she doesn’t see that. While no one forgives Dobbs for anything — and he certainly doesn’t deserve forgiveness — Blythe does come to realize a few things about him that she never would have given thought to if she had still been locked behind concrete walls.

I won’t lie — this is a book you won’t be able to put down. And if you do put it down, you’ll pick it back up in a few minutes because you won’t be able to stay away. Having devoured it in a day, trust me when I say this. Morley delivers a book that will drive you through every possible emotion before you get to the end, and once you get there, your heart will be sore from the beating.

Above

By Isla Morley

Simon and Schuster/Gallery Books

ISBN: 9781476731520

In addition to this blog, I also write reviews for the Bookreporter. You can find my review of Above here.