Hailed as the first modern psychological thriller. The Collector is the internationally bestselling novel that captured John Fowles into the front rank of contemporary novelist. This tale of obsessive love- the story of a lonely clerk who collects butterflies and of the beautiful young art student who is his ultimate quarry- remains unparalleled in it's power to startle and mesmerize (Goodreads).
My Thoughts:
I've been meaning to read this book for some time now, actually ever since it was mentioned in one the Criminal Minds episode. I think it was end of Season one or two can't exactly remember. I checked out this book last year but I never read it, so I just ended up returning it to the library unread. Last week I was at the library and I saw this book on the display table and I thought to myself it is time to read this book.
I have to say that this was an excellent read. Even though it is not scary or gory, this book is creepy. What makes it creepy is the fact that the part of the story is told from the villains point of view. His reasoning why he kidnaps a young woman, justifications and so on. It is truly disturbing. Even though he is not violent or rapist it is still creepy. He is not what you expect a kidnapper to be, but I think that he could become all those things, serial killers do evolve in their profession of killing if you will.
Miranda, young woman who was kidnapped, was a well constructed character but I felt that the author did a better job with the kidnapper. I felt for Miranda and her situation, but I was also surprised that she was kind to her kidnapper at times. I would think that she would resent him every minute of the day. I admired Miranda and her attempts to escape but it was useless her prison was full proof. The second part of the book was told from Miranda's POV and I thought that it would be hard to read it. Hard to read it because of the situation she was in. I did feel sorry for her, but Miranda did not make it easy for me to feel sorry for her. Yes I felt sorry and I hoped that she escapes, but I felt that second part of the book was very distant and removed from me as a reader. Its almost like I was not suppose to feel a lot of emotions and sympathy. I do not know what it is, but it its almost like the author did not want his readers to sympathise with Miranda.
The struggle between the victim and her kidnapper was done wonderfully. There was constant verbal struggle to get the upper hand. Miranda tries to convince her kidnapper to let her go throughout the entire book.
Overall this was a good read and I enjoyed reading it. I do not think that this had a WOW factor to it like I was expecting it, but it was a good read. Book was well written, but I was not blown away by the authors use and manipulation of language. I am not sure if I would even call this book psychological thriller, psychological yes, thriller I think is a too strong of a word in this situation. I still and interested to read some of the other book written by John Fowles. I give this book 4/5 STARS and Happy Reading everyone.
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