I knew what I was getting myself into when I started Captive in the Dark. I really did. The knowing did not help the absolutely disturbingly fucked up feelings that I had through out the read though. This is the type of book that makes you ashamed for reading it, ashamed for enjoying it, ashamed for getting off on it. It is the type of book that makes you feel like you need to take a shower after reading it. Not too cool down but to scrub off the clingy creepy griminess of it all and the fact that you loved it in all its fuckery.Caleb is a master in more than one way. He steals Livvie from her unfortunate life and artfully makes himself the only person in her world. He feeds her by hand, he washes her by hand, he pleasures her by hand. Everything she gets is by his hand alone. Disobedience means punishment, obedience means reward. And when Caleb rewards he does it with such care and tenderness that Livvie can't help but fall for that side of him. Regardless of the side that repeatedly abuses her into submission...which she fights tooth and nail. "He was my tormentor and my solace; the creator of the dark and the light within." Livvie is supposed to be a tool. A means to an end. The end to a very long passionate plan of vengeance. Vengeance for a lost life Caleb never had a chance to live and for the loss of so much innocence over the years. Caleb will do anything for that vengeance. Living in Olivia's head through out this book was pure torture. You feel scared, desire, attraction, helplessness, loss, insanity. It's a heart breaking mixture of emotion and all completely relatable...which is just scary as hell.Livvie works her way into full on Stockholm Syndrome but at the same time Caleb is developing a strong case of Lima Syndrome, the inverse of Stockholm. Livvie cares entirely too much for Caleb and he can't help but be sympathetic to the trauma of this girl. Trauma caused solely by him. "Whatever your little school-girl brain told you about men is absurdly wrong. This isn't a romance. You're not a damsel in distress, and I'm not the handsome prince come to save you."How do you survive a situation like that? Can there ever truly be resolution? Livvie may survive her life as sex slave to the man Caleb plans to sell her to so she can help him destroy him. She might live through that but she'll want her revenge before it's over. She won't be whole, she'll be broken, bruised and battered. The one person who might see Caleb as more than he portrays may also be the instrument to his own utter demise.I don't have the words or mental capacity to truly express what this book elicits from a reader. I can say that Roberts has one beautifully messed up mind and I will be jumping right in to book two of this series. Though, I may be sucking my thumb and rocking in a corner before it's all said and done.
