35. The Perfect Victim - Carla Norton

I'm sure you can tell just by the title that this is not one of the most cheery books I've ever read but I do so love a bit of true crime (reading the books from both sides of the Casey Anthony trial and books about scientology and the Brian Jonestown Massacre are a few of my favourites).

Anyway, this tells the story of Colleen Stan who was kidnapped by Cameron Hooker and his wife and kept as a sex slave. She was kidnapped while hitch-hiking in the 70s and moved to the basement of the Hooker's home. From the get-go he kept her head trapped in a box of his own creation, which completely deprived her senses and kept her in claustrophoic condition. Her torture went on in the form of being hung by her wrists, forced to provide for him sexually and kept in a tiny coffin-like box under the couples bed.

The most interesting part of the story is the fact that Stan was given increasing amounts of freedom over the 7 years of her captivity, including being allowed to visit her family and keep a job, but she never once tried to escape or tell anyone of her situation. This, in part, was due to the creation of a fictional sex-slave company invented by Hooker. He told Stan they were watching her and knew her movments and would kill her family if she tried. Eventually, due to increasing jealousy and falling out of love with her husband, Hooker's wife told Stan it was all fiction and the two woman left him.

It's not an easy read, especially the tales of the torture that Hooker used against Colleen but thankfully it goes through her courtcase and ultimate "happy ending" in Hooker being sentenced and imprisoned, though happy ending is not the right term as obviously this woman still deals with her past. I don't recommend this if you are in any way deeply effected by similar stories as it is intense and hard to read but it is also incredibly interesting. The only thing I wish I'd known more about was what went on in Hooker's head and what possessed him to do what he did. We hear the sides of Colleen and his wife but not really from Cameron about why he kept this woman locked up for 7 years - aside from the fact he was a completely fucked up individual (pardon my language).

So if you are interested in true crime, I definitely recommend this but just remember it is not going to be a fun read.