Book Review: Seven by Paige Agnew





I first met Paige Agnew as a writer when I read her first book, Starless Sky, which was a somewhat sweet but emotional book about dealing with loss and life as a teenager.  In her second book, Seven, she explodes away from sweetness with a ferocity that is almost startling.  Seven is definitely a completely different entity and a much more psychological read.



From the Publisher:
Seven strangers.
One purpose.
One horrible thing in common-kidnapped.
When seven people are pulled from their ordinary lives to be pawns in a madman's game of chess, the only way they will make it out alive is to put aside their differences and work together to escape to freedom. 



Meet the characters:  


Cecilia and Tommy: Two best friends who live on the wrong side of the tracks with crumbled lives and neglectful parents. They think running away from home will make things easier. They never imagined what they had in store. Can their friendship stand the test of Seven?
Greg: He wakes up in the morning with a fresh cup of coffee, goes to work, comes home, goes to sleep, wakes up to another fresh cup of coffee, goes to work, comes home, and goes to bed. When his route and monotonous life slowly starts to unravel, Greg, the puzzle solving lawyer, falls apart. Will be unravel completely before Seven's done with him?
Hazel and Kale: Just two teenagers madly in love. Kale's wanted Hazel since he first laid eyes on her. Hazel needs Kale as the only stability in her life, the only one that can really be there for her since her parents' jobs are more important to than their daughter. They thought the summer would be a chance for their newfound love to blossom. Will it even have the chance to before Seven rips it apart?
Kariann: Supermom leads a hectic life. When she's not taking care of her son, Noah, she's teaching and during the summer she works at the day care center, taking care of everyone else's kids. It's what she's good at. Taking care of people. Add to that list her needy sister and newly widowed father, along with an irresponsible, pestering ex-boyfriend who happens to be Noah's father. She's Ms. Fix-it. But how can she possibly make anything better when she's captured by Seven?
Jonathan: Finally, there's Jonathan. He's dark. Clever as a snake and as temperamental as one, too. All he wanted was to be left alone. Was that too much to ask? Yes. As much as he'd like to ignore it, the self proclaimed bad boy might be the only match for Seven.
When seven strangers are thrown together to be pawns in a psycho's mind game, they realize that they have to work together to reach their true potential or it could very well mean their death.
Seven strangers. 
Seven stories.
One chance to not only save their lives, but to change them in ways they'd never even imagined possible.
My Review:
As I stated before, Seven is a suspenseful thriller that creates a world where seven strangers all need each other to survive.  It spends the first third of the book setting the scene - each of the seven characters in their worlds, living their lives, which is interesting in itself but by the end of this section my attention started to wane, but am I glad that I persevered! 
Once all seven people are kidnapped and Seven becomes entwined in their lives and the story becomes a true thriller and I'm so glad I held on because the buildup created a roller coaster effect that takes you right through to the final words of the book!  
If you are looking for a great psychological thriller to get you into the Halloween mood and scare you just enough, you should definitely check out Seven by Paige Agnew. 


You can connect with Paige Agnew on her website and on Facebook.


Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost for the purpose of writing my review. All opinions are my own.