Dark Room Etiquette

August 15, 2022
A teen's sense of self is unsettled by a kidnapping. After a prologue reveals the hero's captive status, the story introduces Sayers Wayte as he was before--an uber-wealthy, hard-partying, privilege-flaunting Texas teen who's falling in with a meaner crowd (including a friendship with a bully who ridicules Sayers' best friend for his bisexuality and targets a vulnerable nerd in encounters that rapidly escalate to disturbing levels off-page). The first act balances Sayers' charm and potential with his character failings while keeping readers guessing who the kidnapper will be (and what their motivations are). Once he's been kidnapped, Sayers must attempt to manipulate his kidnapper by playing along with who the kidnapper wants him to be--at first, it's a ruse to create chances to try to escape, but eventually Sayers' identity and feelings toward his kidnapper begin to blur. A dangerous discovery pushes his mind to the brink to protect him and keep him alive. Unlike hostage stories that end with the rescue, Roe digs deep into what happens in the aftermath as Sayers tries to learn how to be a functioning individual again and struggles with rebuilding his entire self. There are no easy answers for Sayers' issues, but with determination and help from key friends, he finds hope. Aside from a character with a Guatemalan father, most characters default to White. A deep dive into trauma, with light at the end of the tunnel. (Thriller. 15-18)

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Starred review from September 19, 2022
Roe (A List of Cages) offers an intense, mind-bending thriller about a privileged teenager struggling to cope with his kidnapping and its aftermath. Sixteen-year-old Texan Sayers Wayte is rich, arrogant, and always knows what to say to get himself out of trouble. He lives a life of luxury until, lost on a rural road, he is kidnapped by Caleb, a man who claims that Sayers is actually his long-lost son, Daniel. Locked in a house and shackled to a bed, Sayers endures emotional manipulation while navigating Caleb’s erratic personality. To survive, he plays along, assuming the role of Daniel, but Sayers’s perception of his real self begins to warp amid the masquerade. When Caleb leaves town for a few days, Sayers is left with an unsuspecting chaperone, and the two uncover startling truths. Roe expertly cultivates suspense and intrigue across three distinct acts, which detail Sayers’s personality before, during, and after his kidnapping. The propulsive climax gives way to a reflective resolution that provides a clear-eyed picture of one teen’s experience with PTSD. Characters cue as white; an author’s note details Roe’s inspiration. Ages 14–up.

October 1, 2022

Gr 9 Up-Roe's abduction thriller opens with protagonist Sayers "Saye" Wayte chained in a room, beholden and captive to a man with an unknown motive. Roe quickly shifts the narrative to the start of Saye's junior year at Laurel High School, where readers learn of his popularity, wealth, and complete disregard for the rules. The first chapters show Saye, knowing the influence of the Wayte family name, interrupt a school assembly, bully a fellow student without consequences, and cut class to hang out with his friends. This is when he is abducted, with his captor, Caleb, believing Saye to be his missing son, Daniel. Caleb forces Daniel's identity onto Saye through emotional and physical abuse, and almost a full year passes before Saye is rescued. The final third of the book encompasses Saye's recovery from the trauma, and how he makes amends while trying to forge a new identity. Unfortunately, Saye's entitlement and actions in the early chapters make him hard to identify with, and supporting characters are flat, two-dimensional, and default to white. The captivity is disturbing, but it proceeds too slowly to hold readers' interest. References to drugs, sex, and alcohol exist, but connect to school events and exist separately from Saye's abduction. VERDICT The premise certainly grabs interest, but a lack of strong supporting characters, slow plot development, and a meandering resolution will frustrate even the most patient readers. Not recommended.-Michael Van Wambeke

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September 23, 2022
Grades 9-12 After a prologue revealing the first-person narrator is held captive in a dingy room, the first chapter of this thriller introduces Sayers Wayte, a young man with a serious case of affluenza--he does whatever he wants and doesn't care much about anything. Then Sayers is kidnapped by Caleb, who believes Sayers is his missing son, Daniel, and tries to ""deprogram"" his captive. After Caleb's routines infantilize him, Sayers eventually begins to believe that he is Daniel. When Sayers is finally freed, he struggles to bounce back to his old self; he has to learn how to become socialized again. It is fascinating to watch Sayers' transformation into ""Daniel"" as Stockholm syndrome sets in, and it's sadly horrifying how he responds when Caleb sets the boundaries and gives him the attention no one else seemed to give him. Later, when he struggles to become whole and tries to integrate ""Daniel"" into his identity. At the end, there's a moving burst of hope for his future. A sprawling but gripping and impossible-to-put-down read.

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