Once upon a time, Alice got separated from her classmates on a field trip. Once upon a time, Ray came to take care of her. For five years now, Ray has been taking care of Alice, because he loves her. Once upon a time, things are not the way they look. 
 For five years, Alice has been living with Ray, while he abuses her physically, emotionally, and sexually. Alice is not without a plan for escape, but her plan involves dying, and anyway she knows she's not strong enough to follow through with it. She's been his love for 5 years, and now that she's 15 (and despite being starved, still fleshing out into a woman's body instead of a little girl's), Ray needs her to prove she loves him by finding what he needs: a new little girl to love and take care of. And Alice wants to do that for him, because once he has a new Alice, the old one can finally die. 
 This is engrossing, gripping, and a bunch of other superlatives, but most of all: disturbing. I'm not sorry I read it, but maybe I AM a little sorry I read it. This is dark, this is bleak, this is scary. This is not an uplifting tale of moral redemption. This is a chilling insight into victim-blame (Alice imagines the neighbors' reactions if she could get away: "and she never said a word. Why didn't she say a word? That's all she would have needed to do.") I can see this appealing to the A Child Called It fans, but I wouldn't hand it to young teens. 
 I've read it. I may never be the same.