Gardner has developed a nice rhythm as the chapters cycle through these three voices, and there is never confusion about who is speaking. The book is written with the chapters cycling first through Flora five years ago, then Flora now, and DD Warren. DD Warren’s point of view is in third person.

Flora’s story lines are told in first person with the five year previous account in italics. This is not easy to accomplish, but Gardner does a nice job. This book is told in three voices: Flora Dane five years earlier when she was abducted for 472 days, Flora Dane today, and DD Warren when she investigates first the death of the bartender that Flora killed, and then Flora’s second disappearance. One of those words from English class that never made any sense. Lifts you up, actually, because your legs don’t work, and your muscles lack all strength, and your head lolls. You gaze upon his puffy cheeks, his beady eyes, his gaping mouth, yellow-stained teeth, and you think, thank God. When you first see his face, the man who has done this to you, you’re relieved. The Flora her family knew never came back, and the Flora today struggles with who she has become. In Flora’s case, the cost was her identity. The story deals with the price a survivor pays to stay alive. The few times she was let out of the box were for sexual abuse. She was deprived not only of space to move, but food, water, and light.

She spent most of the 472 days and nights of captivity in a pine coffin. Flora Dane was abducted by a truck driver five years ago.

Find her lisa gardner summary