Tuesday, August 4, 2015

REVIEW: THE GIRL IN 6E (DEANNA MADDEN #1) BY A.R. TORRE

Published by Orion, 2014, Kindle Version, 336 pgs

**This is an erotic thriller. Violent content and extremely graphic sex scenes are present throughout most of the book so be warned.

I heard about this on Lindsey Rey's Booktube channel, as well as seeing it on a To-Be-Read video for Rachel for her Booktubeathon challenges. I was in between books, and on a whim downloaded it to my Kindle. I read it until 1 am  (rarely do I stay up that late), and immediately finished it when I woke up in the morning.

Deanna has some problems. The major one being constantly plagued with the desire to kill everyone she encounters in the slowest, bloodiest way possible. Part of this is a result of horrific family trauma as a teenager. As a freshman in college, she decides she can no longer control her urges and rents an apartment, installs a steel door, and conducts her life solely through the internet.

What ensues is a fascinating, compulsively readable book about a lifestyle that is unimaginable to me. We hear about her means of financial support, the profession of webcamming. We are given descriptions of her 900 square foot apartment, and what her day-to-day existence has been for the last three years. This includes how she acquires food and basic necessities, the strict daily schedule, the personalities and requests of her vast clientele, her continuous internal monologue, and discussions with therapists. Her loneliness, occasional despair, and lack of outside stimuli is palpable.

We also get the perspective of Jeremy, the UPS driver who leaves packages outside her door and wonders about the mysteriousness of the girl who lives in 6E. Besides this content, (which is more than enough to sustain the novel), we have a mystery/action plot line that allows us more glimpses into Deanna's tendencies and how she might possibly train herself to control them. 

There was an instance with Jeremy that I found pretty unbelievable given the circumstances, and the likelihood of her carrying out one of the tasks was a bit unrealistic, but I found the story so gripping it didn't affect my overall rating. The inner demons she struggles with on a daily basis sound terrifyingly plausible, and the book makes you wonder how many people we are surrounded by that have killing tendencies. The writing wasn't super literary, but perfect for the fast-paced story. A.R Torre spent time researching the sex industry and interviewing popular webcam girls to make the story be a realistic representation of what the job would entail. This is great read if the content won't offend, and you are searching for a can't-put-it-down book. Already downloaded book two, Do Not Disturb.



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