Aussie Author Challenge - Book 2

Stolen - by Lucy Christopher
I finished this book on a commuter train, closed it, and thought to myself "f*ck". 

The premise of the book: Gemma is a sixteen year old girl from London who is kidnapped from the Bangkok airport while she is on holiday with her parents.  She is taken to one of the remotest places on Earth - the Australian Outback - the part where no one lives, no one goes to, barely anyone even knows about the expansiveness of some regions of Australia.  Ty, the kidnapper, is young, fit, good-looking, and resourceful...and he's a kidnapper, so he's also disturbed and delusional.  The characters are very well-written...so well-written that at times I felt like I was reading a work of non-fiction. 

Gemma is sixteen, and like any sixteen year old, her emotions run wild.  Plus, she's a sixteen year old in a frightening situation, so her emotions are even more unbalanced.  She ranges from terrified to courageous, conflicted to determined, confused to idiotic, gullible to irrational, simplistic to complex, numb to over-emotional.

Ty is a little more unrealistic...but again, he's a kidnapper so he's not exactly "normal".  He is convinced that if he takes care of Gemma, she will fall in love with him and want to stay with him.  So, the book deals with the Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim begins to warm to their perpetrator.

I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to give away any spoilers, and I think it's a book best read in a way where a reader is allowed to draw their own conclusions and opinions.  It's a thought-provoking book, a quick read (I read it in 2 or 3 days), and I highly recommend it. 

I read this book as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2015:

Since moving to Australia, I've discovered bands and music that I love as well as books and authors that I knew nothing about before moving here.  Why not join a challenge that promotes those discoveries?  (Because I'm already in three other challenges, and I host one of them)  I can do it!

I'm diving in to this challenge with the hopes of reaching "Kangaroo" status.  I'm really liking my list, so I'm happy to find yet another the challenge.

KANGAROO
– Read and review 12 titles written by Australian Authors of which at least 4 of those authors are female, at least 4 of those authors are male, and at least 4 of those authors are new to you;
– At least 6 fiction and at least 2 non-fiction, and at least 2 titles first published in 2014 or 2015.

Female authors:
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Frantic by Katherine Howell
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (published 2014)
Girl, Defective by Simonne Howell

Male authors:
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion (published 2014)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley (non-fiction) - Completed 10 Feb 2015

Authors new to me:
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Strange Places by Will Elliott (non-fiction)
All That I Am by Anna Funder
Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher - Completed 11 March 2015

Have you read any of these?  What did you think??