In 2013, the world was shocked to learn that three women from Cleveland—Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight—had escaped from Ariel Casto's house after years of sexual slavery. True crime investigative writer Glatt (The Prince of Paradise) tells the gripping story of how these three teenagers were deceived by Castro and how they endured his physical and psychological torture. Castro fixed his house so no one could see his actions, while being friendly to his neighbors and not raising any suspicions. The physical beatings were brutal, especially to Knight who ended up miscarrying five times because Castro did not want her children but rather Berry's instead. When his common-law wife left him for another man, Castro convinced his daughters to make sexual allegations against her new partner, Fernando Colon. (Colon still sits in prison trying to get his conviction overturned.) After he was convicted and sentenced to prison, Castro committed suicide and his house was demolished to prevent it from becoming a shrine. Glatt writes a compelling story but doesn't cite sources for his material, which makes it hard to know if the conversations actually happened. VERDICT Libraries will see a demand for Glatt's book as a companion to Knight's Finding Me and Berry and DeJesus's Hope, as well as a planned Lifetime movie. [See Prepub Alert, 11/24/14.]—Michael Sawyer, Pine Bluff, AR
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