If you liked ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue then you’ll love this! Gripping tale of Maggie of how she went from a normal 15 year old girl to being imprisoned with Max, her 3 year old son and why she only has 7 days to save him. Brilliantly written that shows the effects of how a missing child affects the whole family. Scary and thought provoking how sometimes the truth is just hiding in plain sight waiting to be discovered! Highly recommend!

Maggie is a normal 15 year old teenager until one day she is kidnapped had held captive ,forced to live in a dark damp cellar and being repeatedly raped and attacked.
This is a gripping novel not just focusing on Maggie but the impact it has on the whole family.

It's seven days until Max's 3rd birthday and Maggie knows only too well what will happen then, she's been through the same thing with her previous two children. She has seven days to make this time different. But how? She's been held captive in the same room for twelve years without being able to escape. Why does she think this time would be any different? Told in a countdown to Max's birthday with events from the previous twelve years told in flashback, we follow both Maggie as she tries to escape and Wynne, a police officer, as she tries to bring who she thinks is behind it all to justice. We also hear from Maggie's family and what happens to them.
This is a strange book, and I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all. It's just different to pretty much everything I have read recently. We follow Maggie from just before she was abducted to the present day when she is desperately trying to save her child from a fate she can only imagine. We also follow Maggie's family, parents and brother, as they come to terms (or definitely not in one case) with life after Maggie disappeared. And then there's the cop who KNOWS who did it but is scuppered at every turn proving it as she has to follow the letter of the law. And all the time the clock is ticking for young Max. Compulsive reading indeed.
There's a lot of nasty stuff going on in this book. Both what is happening to Maggie and also what happens to her brother in his efforts to cope with the loss of his sister. Hard hitting stuff at times but always with the underlying feeling of hope which is key to keeping the story going. This is aided by the majority of the chapters being short and punchy which both progressed the story well, whilst at the same time reminding the reader that they are on a countdown.
Hard not to mention the ending but I did think it was a bit contrived and, although well built up, and indeed the ending the book should have had, I just thought it was a little artificial! Difficult to expand on this without spoilers but I found that it didn't quite satisfy me as much as I wanted it to given what had gone before to get to that point.
I've read a couple of this author's previous books and had mixed results. I know that this is an author writing under a pseudonym and I can't help wondering if it is because they are pushing the boundaries. They have certainly achieved that with this book, as with others, but I am not ready to sever my relationship with them at this time. At least the books I have read have all been quick easy reads that are definitely well written, holding my interest throughout, if not quite always leaving me wholly satisfied. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Maggie was fifteen when she was taken off the street by a stranger. The man hides Maggie in a room . No window. Just a bucket and a bath. Here she remains for years. Here she becomes a mum.
However, when the children reach the age of three they are taken from her.
It’s now a week before her son Max”s 3rd birthday. She can’t let the man take him she has to get out that room. Max”s short life depends on it.
Told in flash backs the author covers what it was like for Maggie”s family in the weeks and years after she was taken.
Initially I felt I had already read the book! Other stories are so similar. However, as the book progressed it started to stand out. Well worth a read.

This is a really good book with a solid storyline. It draws you in from the first page and doesn’t let go! I really enjoyed it.

I never repeat the blurb. This could have been so good given the true cases there have been, but this was superficial in the extreme. So disappointing.

omg you need to read that book! i read it in one day i just could not put it down! i was tense from beginning to end, the plot is building up and you are holding your breath until the last moment
great thriller a real page turner!

Maggie has a son called Max who is fast approaching the age of 3. Maggie is in despair as she thinks she knows what happened to her sons Seb and Leo when they had their third birthdays. Maggie was kidnapped at the age of 16 and 12 years later, she is still locked in a room and for now, she has Max for company.
Can she let the man take yet another child away from her?
What a fabulous read this is! My heart was in my mouth throughout this story. What I really liked was seeing how the rest of Maggies family coped long after she had disappeared. You felt as though you were on the journey with them all. I found myself shaking as the 7 day countdown that Maggie had made for Max’s third birthday was getting closer and closer to that all important day. Excellent writing and I shall definitely be reading more from the author.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Really good thriller. I read this book in one sitting. I was hooked from the start. There is a lot of suspense and I got totally caught up in the characters worlds. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I loved this book from the start, it gripped me from the very beginning and i would completely routing for Maggie and Max. I always love a short chapter in books so this was amazing.
I love how it was written from many characters points of view and showed how Maggie's abduction also impacted them,

This is my first Alex Lake Novel and will definitely not be the last.

Thank you Netgalley, Alex Lake and Harper Collins for this copy to read.

This is such a powerful story that set my emotions on fire. There wasn't really a lot of time to get to know Maggie, she was just a typical fifteen-year-old teenager. A boyfriend, talking to friends on the house phone, someone her little brother looked up to and the apple of her dad's eye. Then one day she went out and didn't come home.
Twelve years later Maggie is still being held captive in an underground room with her almost-three-year-old son and she is counting down the last seven days till his birthday. A day she dreads because the man will come and take him away like he has her other two sons that she has given birth to in the small room.
My arms are covered in goosebumps just writing this review. This is a belting story that dips in and out of the past and present-day in the lives of her family and the effect on them as the years go by and her life in the tiny room with the man who she doesn't even know his name. You know as a reader, you know his life outside the tiny room. I knew I loathed this man, arrogant, cruel and taunting.
The story is about the effect on the whole family as the years past. Heartbreaking as the hope of finding her fade and the self-destruction paths that can open up and welcome you in. There is more than one way to lose a child as this family is finding out.
As the last seven days count down Maggie has to find a way to save her son from the man. To say this story builds with tension as the days decrease just doesn't cover the intensity that bursts from these pages. It is like that atmospheric change when you know there is going to be a belting storm and boy this surpasses even that with a tsunami of tidal waves of emotions in this climactic ending. Awesome!
I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly

Thanks to Alex Lake and Harper Collins for the ARC of Seven Days...
Horrifying, stomach churning, deeply disturbing, and utterly brilliant.

Maggie has seven days until her son is three. On that day he will be taken away from her, exactly as his two brothers were. Maggie is determined it won't happen again. but how can she stop it?
Twelve years ago she was abducted and has been kept in one windowless room since. She has been repeatedly raped and abused and how will she ever escape?
But sometimes the impossible happens.
This is a roller coaster of a book and I couldn't put it down. It is heartbreaking at times but will a mothers love win this time.

A good psychological thriller with a well developed story line, dark and twisty and full of suspense with good descriptive characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Although it is something of a reviewers cliche this truly is a roller coaster of emotions as a read.
Firstly I recommend not reading it if you have had a trying day with a 3 year old as by chapter 2 it just makes you want to gather them up out of bed and hold them tight forever.
Secondly do not start this book if you do not have time to finish it in one sitting- it will not let you put it down!

The book begins with a calendar as Maggie counts down to her sons birthday- not with excitement and gifts but with fear and pain as she knows that on the day he turns 3 he will be taken from her. Abducted and trapped in an underground room by "the man", she spends her days trying to make her childs life a happy one, building her strength and planning for and wishing for an opportunity to escape.
The characters in the book are so well written that you feel everything along with them, from her families anguish at her disappearance to her own fear an loathing in equal measures for the man and to the police officers (Wynne) gut feeling that she cannot shake but cannot prove.
The book made me almost shout out loud at various points as the creepy man carries on his life undetected whilst Maggie and Max suffer in the basement of his construction.

A fantastic read that will stay with you for days after you close the final page.

Even though this is a fictional story, I love the way that it showed that if you really want to try something, you will succeed, you will not let anything get you down. It was also a harrowing story that I think happens more than we would like to think!
Thanks to netgalley for the ARC!
Recommended.

This is my first book I have read by Alex Lake and I have discovered a new author. This book was gripping from the very start. I couldnt put it down and read it in a day. Staying up until late into the night to finish it as I just had to know how it ended. We meet Maggie and her family and encounter their worst nightmare with them when Maggie is taken. She goes through some testing things and i am in awe of her strength and her bravery. This book is stunning and i will definitely read more by this author. Especially his next book due out next year. After the snippet at the end of this one i was hooked already. I will definitely be looking out for it.

This has to be my favourite Alex Lake book. Definitely 5 stars for this.

A unique and different angle to kidnapping, mostly from Maggie's point of view. Good insight in to how Maggie came to be where she was. Another angle was from the family at home, bearly holding it together with the disappearance of Maggie. Also, yet another angle was from DI Wynne for trying to find Maggie and the determination to link Mr Best to the case. Oh so close.

A brilliant story. Really enjoyed the tension of the whole plot. I couldn't put it down and spent a good few hours finding out how the story ends.

Maggie was abducted 12 years ago, aged 15, while on her way to her cousins house. Her captor never tells her his name, he is just ‘the man’ trying to keep her pure. She’s tried to escape several times but is punished hard for each failure. She’s getting more desperate to escape now, as her son, Max, will be 3 years old in a weeks time. ‘The man’ took her 2 older boys away on their 3rd birthdays.

Alex Lake doesn’t just focus on Maggie, but also her family and friends, how they cope, and the impact it has on their lives and careers. Even the lead detective, who continues searching for Maggie, convinced that her initial suspect was responsible. Around the anniversary of the abduction the officer is taunted with letters from the person responsible for the abduction. I found the ending slightly rushed in comparison to the earlier chapters. I didn’t find this book easy to read, mainly because of the subject matter, but it is gripping enough that it kept me reading to the end

A very well written an suspenseful story. I was hooked from the first chapter. The characters and the plot are will thought out. I was gripped until the very end.