The Girl in the Basement by Eoin Dempsey

Hello beautiful people! Welcome to a new review! For this review I get into another read I was given access to through NetGalley, The Girl in the Basement by Eoin Dempsey a fast-paced thriller, the book focuses on the past as present perspectives of the main character as she tells the story of being kidnapped in her youth, and how it comes back to haunt her 20 years later. When I requested this book from NetGalley it was because the blurb for the book seemed super interesting and I was curious to dive in. An interesting thriller with emotionally driven characters The Girl in the Basement is definitely an interesting read to get into and is available for all to check out now.

Main Characters:

• Ellie: Started dating Josh as a teenager when he moved to her school after having troubles at his last, tries hard to make the relationship work but when she is kidnapped when the two are at a party it crumbles, 20 years later the past that Ellie has been trying to forget may be back to find her
• Josh: Ellie’s boyfriend who left his old school due to being suspected but never charged for the death of his ex-girlfriend, when Ellie is kidnapped he isn’t there to protect her
• Jess: Ellie’s 17-year-old daughter goes missing at the same age Ellie did 20 years ago, its seems odd to Ellie that this would happen in their family so much and wonders if it may be connected to her own kidnapping

My Review

I was interested in checking out The Girl in the Basement by Eoin Dempsey due to the interesting blurb and thrilling theme. It’s a quick, fast-paced read that takes us through the past and present of main character Ellie’s life and how others have negatively affected it. With topics of domestic abuse, violence, and toxic relationships, the book is filled with dark but interesting themes.

Trying to think of the best way to put this… but I honestly didn’t find the blurb for the book to actually be all that accurate to what happens in the book. I landed on giving The Girl in the Basement a 6/10, it wasn’t a bad read but definitely not the best either. The Girl in the Basement follows Ellie as she takes us through her past, and how it’s affecting her present. Initially turned off by the new star football player at school Josh due to the rumors about him, Josh and Ellie start to get to know each other eventually create a relationship. It’s an interesting relationship for Ellie to try and work through due to Josh having the death of his ex-girlfriend following him everywhere he goes. Heavily suspected but eventually cleared Josh is well known for potentially murdering his ex-girlfriend Rachel. Ellie thinks that she’s gotten to know the real Josh, however, upon meeting his parents starts to see what Josh may be hiding. When Ellie is kidnapped one night after being at a party with Josh and a group of friends she must figure out how to get out alive, and why she is down there in the first place. Now 20 years later Ellie’s world is turned upside down again when her daughter Jess goes missing. Being the same age Ellie was when she went missing she can’t help but wonder if there is a connection. When Josh shows up back in town looking to help Ellie find her the question becomes is Josh involved in this, or does he really love Ellie and want to protect her?

Now with what I said right there you would assume that the majority of the book covers past and present kidnappings right? Well, kind of wrong. I was a bit shocked that in the 200-and-something page book by page 100 and something we are now just finally getting into Ellie being kidnapped in the past, and still haven’t even touched what happens to Jess yet. That literally does not come until the last 50 pages of the book. I just genuinely forgot on like page 50 that I was supposed to be reading a book about kidnapping and not Josh and Ellie’s budding relationship. I fully saw the vision for the story and the parts to it are good, but the story itself is just displayed in such a weird way. I just didn’t need 100 pages of background on Josh and Ellie in a 200-page book. Especially when in the grand scheme of it all when it comes to how the book plays out, it’s not that relevant. Some of it is, but we just didn’t need to take that long to get to the point.

I think the book would have been much more enjoyable if the kidnapping scenes once Ellie is taken were periodically dropped in between the 100 earlier pages instead of it all being left to the point of them getting to the party where it happens. It just would help the reader remember what we are actually here for and that’s not a coming-of-age love story. Once we do finally get into what we came for the kidnapping and mystery portions of the book are really enjoyable. I am not totally sure which I preferred more the past or present because both were pretty similar in terms of the intensity it brought to the book. It was a touch of lack luster though and that may have just been cause we were speeding through the kidnapping portions so quickly.

Again The Girl in the Basement by Eoin Dempsey is not a bad book, the plot and the twists are quite good. I totally didn’t see the ending and had a different idea of how it was going to play out than it did. I think it was just the structure that was the downfall of this book. If things had been displayed a bit differently it just may have kept my attention a bit longer in the first half. To work through the first half to get to the second is definitely worth it but it’s a bit of trouble, especially when you keep wondering “okay when are we getting to the main topic in this book which is the kidnapping?”

Have you checked out The Girl in the Basement by Eoin Dempsey? What did you think?

Thank you for checking out this review! I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to follow me on my socials @baddiebookreviews to be kept up to date for when I release a new review!